Customer Reviews

Low Intensity Operations: Subversion, Insurgency and Peacekeeping

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I find it rather amazing that I, in early 2006, am the first to review this classic in asymmetric warfare. As current events in Iraq and elsewhere show, the Americans are not as adept as their former colonial masters in using stealth and deception to achieve military victory. Kitson, as a serving officer of the Crown, witnessed Britain's largely successful counter insurgency moves in places as diverse as Kenya, Cyprus and the North of Ireland and he formalized much of the approach militarily dominant powers like Britain and Israel should take to their militarily weaker opponents. He stresses the dirty tricks department: psychological warfare, fifth columns, double agents and anything that weakens or demoralizes the enemy or cuts off their logistics. Kitson was an officer in Britain;s shadowy Special Air Services (SAS) who have been credited, rightly or wrongly, with all kinds of undercover military actions, some brave, other nefarious. This book is definitely worth a read and worth buying for anyone interested in the historical evolution of asymmetrical warfare, where Britain has an impressive record.

This is a rare insight to the thinking behind the British Military Intelligence establishment. Or is it? It is, of course, an act of black ops in and of itself. This work is very familiar to Irish Republicans. It many ways it was written with them in mind. "Over in '75" was a lovely piece of nonsense - that many fell for. A careful reading between the lines is where you will find the meat. This is a must read (and re-read!) classic.

To start, I give any one great credit if they have the will power to actually finish this book. "Low Intensity Operations" was written in such a tedious manner that I could only manage to read a single chapter a day and looked to the next day's reading with dread. Kitson managed to reduce a potentially fascinating subject to something about as appealing as a piece of dry toast. The best use of this book would be to make captured insurgents read it - a truly horrible punishment.

This book is essentially a laundry list of lessons Frank Kitson learned while fighting various insurgencies for the British Crown from the 1950's thru the early 1970's. There is nothing new here. He mentions that unconventional wars may be more common in the future, he describes some common insurgent tactics, and he offers ways that the Army can contribute to a counter-insurgency campaign. While he offers some useful tidbits, hidden in between mountains of painful prose, modern counter-insurgency warfighters will find little here that is either innovative or unique.

I only purchased the book because Kitson is often described as the originator of the operational model the British used to fight the war in Northern Ireland. However, in the book, he predicts that the war in Northern Ireland will be over by 1975! Also, it is clear, Kitson did not even follow his own suggestions from his own book. He alienated the Catholic population in Northern Ireland, arrested people on very imprecise intelligence, and failed to determine the real cause of Catholic discontent.

I have seen this book for sale for over $450...are you kidding me?...it's worth maybe $10.