More questions about COIN (V): Are the historical precedents we cite any good?

By Major Tom Mcilwaine,
Queen's Royal Hussars

Best Defense guest columnist

Question Set Five -- Historical case studies suggest that
minimum force, civil primacy, and acting within the law are vital. But those
historical case studies -- are we sure about them? Now I know all about the
wide and varied research that could be used to back up the principles
articulated in FM 3-24; I have read Christopher Paul's and Colin Clarke's
skillful deconstruction of Gentile's argument that FM 3-24 is "evidence free". The
supplementary questions that underpin this question relate to how many of these
campaigns were actually used by the authors of FM 3-24? Was the insurgency in
Tajikistan really at the forefront of the authors' minds? Or were they in fact
relying more on a narrow spectrum of British and French experiences? I suspect
they probably were. Are Malaya, Kenya and Algeria ringing any bells?

So we are in fact
drawing some pretty big conclusions from a pretty narrow sample size. And as
the next question will suggest, some of those historical case studies might not
actually stand up to scrutiny.

(To be continued)