Hearts And Minds

S2 · 21 Jul 09,, 06:52

From the British Journal of Strategic Studies comes this comparison of American and British counterinsurgent strategies-

Hearts And Minds- Paul Dixon/Journal of Strategic Studies

"The ambiguity of British counter-insurgency theory may be useful in public relations terms but it undermines the theory as a guide to operations because it can be interpreted in such divergent ways."

How ambiguous is the term "hearts and minds"? How is it understood on both sides of the Atlantic? Is sincerity accurately conveyed by the use of the term "hearts and minds" or is this an intentionally vague, ill-defined media manipulation to mask more conventional strategies?

A very interesting paper...

**HistoricalDavid** · 21 Jul 09,, 15:03

From what I've heard, especially from staff officers, everyone wants a different thing. You have to personally deal with your brigade command, the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office, the Prime Minister himself, your possibly foreign superiors, foreign high-ups, your own tactical objectives... each one has a different understanding of the situationn and thus different objective - ranging from "we're at war, kill the bastards" to "provide security for local reconstruction projects" to "interdict heroin supply" etc. It's symptomatic of coalition warfare I suppose.

**mikado** · 21 Jul 09,, 17:11

Originally Posted by S-2

From the British Journal of Strategic Studies comes this comparison of American and British counterinsurgent strategies-

Hearts And Minds- Paul Dixon/Journal of Strategic Studies

"The ambiguity of British counter-insurgency theory may be useful in public relations terms but it undermines the theory as a guide to operations because it can be interpreted in such divergent ways."

How ambiguous is the term "hearts and minds"? How is it understood on both sides of the Atlantic? Is sincerity accurately conveyed by the use of the term "hearts and minds" or is this an intentionally vague, ill-defined media manipulation to mask more conventional strategies?

A very interesting paper...

"Hearts and minds" is often misinterpreted to mean "getting people to love you" whereas in reality it means (or meant, as originally used) something very different.

It's an interesting article. The British failed to crush the Northern Irish Nationalists precisely because they failed to apply "hearts and minds" a la Malaya. (Because to have done so would have been politically unacceptable, of course.)

**sappersgt** · 21 Jul 09,, 22:38

Originally Posted by mikado

"Hearts and minds" is often misinterpreted to mean "getting people to love you" whereas in reality it means (or meant, as originally used) something very different.

We used to call it the "15% rule". 15% of the people love you, 15% hate you, the other 70% just want to get on with their lives.