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December 13, 2007
Winning "Hearts and Minds" in Action
A story in today's Washington Times, I think makes it clear that we are winning hearts and minds in Iraq's Anbar province.
First, though, a rehash of what exactly "hearts and minds" means, because it is usually taken to mean what is is not; "getting them to like us". This was my impression until I found otherwise.
From the Small Wars Journal blog (authored by some pretty heavy hitters)
Counterinsurgency: FM 3024 / MCWP 3.33.5 defines the true meaning of the phrase hearts and minds as the two components in building trusted networks in the conduct of COIN operations:“Hearts” means persuading people that their best interests are served by COIN success. “Minds” means convincing them that the force can protect them and that resisting it is pointless. Note that neither concerns whether people like Soldiers and Marines. Calculated self-interest, not emotion, is what counts. Over time, successful trusted networks grow like roots into the populace. They displace enemy networks, which forces enemies into the open, letting military forces seize the initiative and destroy the insurgents.I think Dr. David Kilcullen defined hearts and minds as two components of COIN operations quite nicely during a COIN seminar at Quantico, Virginia, several weeks ago.
In addressing the reality of hearts and minds Kilcullen explained how the following 1952 statement by General Sir Gerald Templer, Director of Operations and High Commissioner for Malaya, has been misinterpreted:
"The answer lies not in pouring more troops into the jungle, but in the hearts and minds of the Malayan People"General Templer did not mean (or say) that we must "be nice to the population" or make them like us. What he meant, and his subsequent actions played out, was that success in COIN rests on the popular perception and this perception has an emotive ("hearts") component and a cognitive ("minds") component.
Read the whole thing.
Here are a few excerpts from the story in the Times, and I think you'll see how it's relevant
Terrorist attacks have dropped from an average of 75 a week in January to about 24 a week now as tribal sheiks cooperate with one another, Iraqi provincial authorities and U.S. forces."You can only trust people to do what is in their best interests," Col. Clardy said. "The Iraqis are doing what is in their best interest.
"They see their success and future will be built on the relationship they have, we hope, with their own government and with us being here as well, and with the Iraqi security forces to which they contribute their sons.
"At some point, they realized that was not going to happen" with al Qaeda in Iraq, or AQI as the terror group is known to the Marines.
"These are a practical people," Col. Clardy said of Anbar's residents. "But it takes trust. And we've built that trust, and so are the Iraqi security forces. People are now going to them to provide tips" about arms caches and the presence of terrorists.
...Attempts to improve cooperation among the tribes still are slowed by the long distances and poor communications. The Marines are responding by providing regular helicopter rides to carry tribal and municipal officials to meetings with their provincial counterparts.
"When you get them in a room together, they solve problems," he said. "When you don't, they don't. And they don't always like being in a room together, but when they do, they work it out. They are a very compromising people. ... They don't like personal confrontation too much."
This sure sounds like "hearts and minds" to me. It's not about "making them like us", it's about making them choose. And so far, they seem to have chosen us and the Iraqi government.
Posted by Tom at December 13, 2007 9:28 PM
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