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From the Dept. of Friends Selling the Books of Friends
June 1, 2009 | Posted by Abu Muqawama - 2:13pm | 9 Comments
I just finished moderating a great conversation with Thomas Rid about his new book, War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Those of you in the below post on Afghanistan had some good questions about information operations and how to measure their effectiveness. More than any other book or article I have read, Thomas and his co-author (Marc Hecker, the French scholar) explain the importance of information operations in contemporary insurgent conflicts and how some military organizations perform with skill while others fail. I have added this book to the counterinsurgency reading list we maintain and, again, would encourage you all to buy it (despite the prohibitive Praeger price).
The book, after carefully examining information operations of counterinsurgents and insurgents alike, puts forth several provocative theses, among them the idea that al Qaeda, because of the way their message only appeals to a small elite, will never grow to be a popular movement -- a true insurgency -- but that the governments of the West will never be able to eradicate the terror threat. The "long tail" idea at the end -- and how al Qaeda will always be a "terror" group appealing to a niche audience and never a true popular insurgency -- is really interesting.
For those of you who were unable to attend today's event -- and many of the blog's readers were there and were kind enough to say hello afterward -- we might get a sound recording of the event to post on the blog. Irony of ironies, we had a technological malfunction while discussing information technology, but hopefully the recording is still audible.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Those of you in the below post on Afghanistan had some good questions about information operations and how to measure their effectiveness. More than any other book or article I have read, Thomas and his co-author (Marc Hecker, the French scholar) explain the importance of information operations in contemporary insurgent conflicts and how some military organizations perform with skill while others fail. I have added this book to the counterinsurgency reading list we maintain and, again, would encourage you all to buy it (despite the prohibitive Praeger price).
The book, after carefully examining information operations of counterinsurgents and insurgents alike, puts forth several provocative theses, among them the idea that al Qaeda, because of the way their message only appeals to a small elite, will never grow to be a popular movement -- a true insurgency -- but that the governments of the West will never be able to eradicate the terror threat. The "long tail" idea at the end -- and how al Qaeda will always be a "terror" group appealing to a niche audience and never a true popular insurgency -- is really interesting.
For those of you who were unable to attend today's event -- and many of the blog's readers were there and were kind enough to say hello afterward -- we might get a sound recording of the event to post on the blog. Irony of ironies, we had a technological malfunction while discussing information technology, but hopefully the recording is still audible.
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