COIN in a Tribal Society: an interview with William S. "Mac" McCallister

William S. "Mac" McCallister is a retired military officer, a U.S. Army major, who served in numerous special operations assignments specializing in civil-military, psychological and information operations, with focuses in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

I was introduced to Mac a few weeks ago, when he forwarded to Maj. Jim Gant his paper "COIN and Irregular Warfare in a Tribal Society," which he'd written in 2007, and which focuses on Iraq. Mac was in Iraq around the same time Maj. Gant...