The COIN Myth: Searching for Human Intelligence (Jeff Huber)

[laststeamtrain]

January 14, 2010
The COIN Myth: Searching for Human Intelligence

Posted by Jeff Huber

Part I noted that two key requirements of our counterinsurgency doctrine – a legitimate host-nation government and a competent, trustworthy host-nation security force – will never be accomplished in Iraq or Afghanistan. Part II will illustrate the lack of reliable intelligence in our woebegone wars.

The counterintelligence field manual that Gen. David Petraeus supposedly wrote but really didn’t says, "Counterinsurgency (COIN) is an intelligence-driven endeavor." That’s bad news for us, because our intelligence systems in both Iraq and Afghanistan can best be described as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. meets Inspector Clouseau.


The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) recently published a report titled Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan. The authors, who include Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan, tell us that the intelligence apparatus in Afghanistan "is unable to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which U.S. and allied forces operate in."

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, says, “Our senior leaders – the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of defense, Congress, the president of the United States – are not getting the right information to make decisions with."

As tragic as the incident was, one can’t help but view the suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA agents and wounded six others on Dec. 30 as a prime example of what Flynn and McChrystal are talking about. It’s been amusing listening to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough echo the latest spin from his "inside sources" at the CIA’s excuse division, inside sources who have been telling the open media the same fables they’ve been telling Joe.

It’s what they always feared, Joe says, a double agent gaining their trust and turning on them, but the narrative of the bombing changes as fast as the reasons we invaded Iraq changed during the Bush administration.

<more>

http://www.atlargely.com/atlargely/2010/01/the-coin-myth-searching-for-human-intelligence.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Flariska%2Fatlargely+%28at-Largely%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

[bertman]

1. "The Man from U.N.C.L.E. meets Inspector Clouseau". Now that's an image I won't soon forget.

:rofl:

Bystander: "Does your dog bite?"

Clouseau: "No."

Bystander pets dog and gets bitten.

Bystander: "I thought you said your dog doesn't bite."

Clouseau: "It's not my dog."

[laststeamtrain]

2. Blake Edwards & Peter Sellers had a great run with the 'Pink Panther' films.

Of course they did great work apart too.


Closeau to beggar/hurdy-gurdy man:
"Do you have a license for your monkey?"

Beggar to Closeau:
"I am a musician and the monkey is a businessman. He doesn't tell me what to play and I don't tell him what to do with his money."

[bertman]

3. So many hilarious memories. Thanks for that one, laststeamtrain.