Dirty Wars

Twentieth and 21st century conflict is dominated by counterinsurgency operations, where the enemy is almost indistinguishable from innocent civilians. Battles are gunfights in jungles, deserts, and streets, and winning "hearts and minds" is as crucial as winning territory. From struggles in Ireland to Malaya; fighting the Viet Cong in Vietnam; operations in India, Yemen, Kenya, Aden, and Palestine; and of course Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, this book covers the strategy and doctrine of counterinsurgency and how often it has been spectacularly unsuccessful, leaving soldiers embedded in a hostile population, immersed in costly and dangerous nation-building. This book explores not only the British and American experience, but also details operations by France, Israel, Russia, India, and China. Eyewitness accounts from Special Forces reveal what it is like to fight a war in the shadows against an enemy that can disappear as quickly as it is located.