Conflicts of a COINista - Book of the Week

Dr. John Nagl has published an autobiography distinguished by eloquence and insight.  His just released Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice is the Book of the Week.  The Agile Strategist was fortunate to attend the official book launch this week at the Center for a New American Security, where NPR’s Steve Inskeep moderated an hour’s conversation with the author.  There was a little humor, but Nagl’s analysis and recommendations for our course in Iraq were sobering.   

Dr. Nagl has seen war and high-level defense policy deliberations at close range.  Both experiences have left him determined to promulgate his observations.  The ghosts of the men lost under his command in Iraq will permit no other course.  He is unflinching in his assessments of the mistakes of our recent defense policy decisions, and urges a cold eyed but necessary future course.

A “COINista”, one of the free-thinking and obstreperous group that agitated successfully for the Army to re-learn how to fight a counter-insurgency war in Iraq, (and then literally helped write the book on how to do so) Nagl populates his memoir with a sense of sadness undaunted.  He was justifiably proud to serve, but the journey has had its costs.  Readers should avail themselves of his insights.  We owe that to the thousands of war casualties whose sacrifices he seeks to recount and turn into waypoints for the future.