The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One

Description

David Kilcullen is the world's foremost expert on this way of war, and in The Accidental Guerrilla, the senior counterinsurgency advisor to the Pentagon and architect of 'the Surge', surveys war as it is actually fought in the contemporary world. Colouring his account with gripping battlefield experiences that range from the jungles and highlands of South and Southeast Asia to the mountains of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to the dusty towns of the Middle East and the horn of Africa, this book will change the way we think about war. It is based on extensive fieldwork in the world's most dangerous places and examines how terrorists exploit traditional societies and explores the backlash created by external military intervention.

David Kilcullen is one of the world's leading experts on guerrilla warfare and, rarely among his kind, has a PhD in political anthropology. He has served in every theatre of the 'War on Terror' since 9/11 as special advisor for counterinsurgency to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, senior counterinsurgency advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq, and chief counterterrorism strategist for the US State Department. He is a former Australian army officer with combat experience in South-East Asia and the Middle East.