Counter-Insurgency Strategy

Insurgency relies on the following principles:

1. Defend against strength, attack weakness
2. Suprise
3. Mobility
4. Deception

Without these principles, insurgents can't beat larger forces such as the American military. Understanding how to beat insurgents requires you must know thye rely on these principles. Some of the tactics they use to achieve these principles is isolating and destroying units, feints such as a feigned retreat or feint attack, sabotage, and the most common, the ambush.
Isolated units are always prone to encirclement by large attachments of guerilla units. You can always expect them to encircle the isolated units. This means that you could counter them with a hidden ambush. Showing up on their rear, they will be suprised and forced to withdraw. Push the retreat all the way and maximize casualties before they can set up a feigned retreat. Ambushes of guerilla units also rely on predicting the route the enemy will take. Not only can you take an uncommon route, but you could also could maximize suprise by taking this route and possibly arriving on the rear of the ambush.
In the Vietnam War, 90 plus percent of the battles were decided and initiated by the Vietcong. Without the initiative, they would be prone to conventional battles they know they can't win. We couldn't take the initiative in invading the communist North because that would force China into the war. That's why the offensive and initiative are so important to counter-insurgency tactics: because they force the enemy to fight on the ground that put you in advantage. For example, if the Americans forced al Qaeda to fight in the desert, the Americans would be free to use air support, although the guerillas would likely bring the fight to close quarters. But that isn't the point. A desert fight would make the insurgents more predictable. If you knew that air support would force them to hug you, then you know they are weak against a flanking attack or against the superior American weapons. These tactics are so key against future enemies such as the Taliban or al Qaeda, usually Muslim organizations.
Next Post I will discuss American affairs in the Middle East and why it is so important.