Understanding the Concepts of Irregular Warfare

In June of the year 2005 in Bagdad Iraq, a convoy with female U.S marines was bombed, the gunmen ambushed and killed two marines and four other American troops. This attack led to the death of one female and 11 others were badly injured (Associated Press. 2005). This has been regarded to be one of the lethal terror attacks against marines, and most especially against women in the country by al –Qaida. The number of American female soldiers in Iraq is increasing as the U.S troops continue to battle to the raging insurgency in Iraq. Female soldiers in Iraq are normally stationed at various check points to help in security search on women as a way of showing respect to the Iraqi culture (Associated Press. 2005).

Muslim women in Iraq are not supposed to be searched by men, and so the female soldiers come in handy during such procedures. The female soldiers that were killed in the 2005 attack were a part of the marine team that were assigned various check points within Fallujah (Associated Press. 2005). These marines were attacked after a hard day work as they were going back to their base at Camp Fallujah. Fallujah was an insurgent’s fortress that the U.S forces invaded in the year 2014 and so it brought a lot of rivalry between the Insurgents and the U.S forces. The U.S worked with the Iraq government to help liberate Fallujah from the Insurgents and to help rebuild this city to limit the return of the insurgents.

This Fallujah attack is a good case example of an irregular war. An irregular war is the term that is used to define little wars, primeval warfare and low force conflicts in nations. In the Fallujah attack case scenario, this was a fight for the city of Fallujah by the insurgents that felt that this land belonged to them. The insurgents were against their government because they felt that it betrayed them by joining hands with the U.S to get rid of them and that is why this automatically qualifies to be defined as an irregular war. Irregular wars normally exists in highly specific working environments, this are ‘microclimates‘ that require to be understood by intelligence experts, the military commandants and the policy creators (White, 2008).

There are challenges that come with this, for one these working environments consist of elements including, ecology, ethnicity, religion, politics and even geography. The military experts do not really pay attention to this issues and it is one thing that contribute to irregular warfare. Another challenge is the fact that specific local geography, politics and history plays a great role in irregular warfare. Intelligence experts, the policy makers and war fighters do not really take time to collect, analyse and assimilate data to help prevent irregular wars and this hence become a challenge (White, 2008).

It is equally important for military combats to consider cultural geography putting in mind that the geography of small areas is important in tribal context. It is important for the commandants to consider the tribesmen, their culture, their religion, to help understand the kind of forces that should be applied and the effect that it will have on the people from the regions (Jones, 2018). In the case of the Fallujah attack, the main reason for the attack was because of the Iraqi cultural beliefs that do not allow women to join the army (Hunt & Posa, 2004). Women in Iraqi culture are expected to stay at home and take care of children and their husbands. Iraqi women are restricted from pursuing professional goals, and most especially any masculine perceived professions (Hunt & Posa, 2004).  The U.S choice to bring female soldiers in the region was miscalculated and it triggered the attack. The Iraqi felt disrespected by this decision and their response was through the attack of the female convoy to help pass on their message of resistance. This is an attack that could have been avoided if consideration was given to the ethnic beliefs of the Iraqi. A better strategy would have been employed to ensure that no female soldiers were present in the troops sent to Iraq to avoid disrespecting of the Iraqi culture.

Another important concept that should be considered is the terrain of the region, it is important to consider how the terrain is affected by different weather conditions. This consideration can greatly help to understand the best forces that can be used to effectively operate within this type of terrain (Pelleriti et al., 2019). Irregular warfare normally occurs in rugged, remote and what can be defined as difficult terrains that constrict modern forces. A terrain that is difficult limits mobility and reduces technological advantages. A good illustration of this concept is the U.S operation in regions such as Mogadishu, Beirut and Mogadishu. The geography in all these regions is what contributed to either failure or success of U.S operations in Lebanon and Somalia (Jones, 2018). It is hence an important element for the policy makers, the intelligence experts and the operators to understand the geography of the region they are operating in.

In irregular warfare, the forces do not approach the rigidity of the modern forces. The units much smaller in size and in structure, this makes it difficult to exhibition how the enemy power looks like and how they are organised (Pelleriti et al., 2019). The concept of deployment actually loses meaning because the forces are closely assimilated with their civilisation. The weaponry that is used in the irregular warfare is something that should be considered, most of the weapons that are used by the enemy forced are those that work best against the modern force in the enemy terrains (Jones, 2018).

In relation to the Fallujah attack, the terrain played a great role in favouring the attackers. Fallujah at the time was a small, remote town, with a very small population and no electricity. With this type of terrain, the U.S combat did not expect any form of ambush most especially a bomb. The bomb used during the attack was an improvised explosive device, a common cause of U.S causalities in Iraq (Associated Press. 2005).. This was a weapon that the U.S combat could not detect using their modern technology and so modern technology in this case worked against them. With the concept of a small population, the U.S military did not expect much action from such a population. The small population made it difficult for the U.S combat to detect any form of resistance from the locals.

The main reason why an irregular warfare is normally defined as irregular is because of its emphasis of operation, which is to advance or uphold power on the pertinent population through political, psychological or economic methods. What was in the past defined as rebel, criminal and bandit is what has come to be known as the combatant on the irregular battlefield (Pelleriti et al., 2019). The department of defence (DOD) in U.S defines Irregular warfare as ‘ a violent struggle among state and none-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant population’ (Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States. 2017). It goes ahead to indicate that Irregular warfare can employ full range of military and other competences in order to erode an opponent’s power, impact and resolve. It is through the destruction of the opponent’s forces that the target population can be controlled.

Since the 9/11 attack, Irregular warfare has been expanded to encompass terrorism, counterterrorism, insurgency and counterinsurgency by the U.S. The department of defence (DOD) is trying to stress the fact that irregular warfare should have a diverse mind-set, proficiencies and policies than conformist warfare that is more dedicated on overpowering the enemies (Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States. 2017). The fact that the objective of the conflicts in irregular warfare is winning the support of the population or their acceptance, politics hence becomes an active instrument and remains to be foremost throughout the war. There is always an intended goal in starting any sort of war and a plan on how the war will be steered (White, 2008). By proper diagnosis of the type of insurgency is critical when considering provision of external support. The U.S has come to understand this concept and that is why their choice of countries that they support in the irregular warfare is always those whom they hope to gain from economically for instance their support and presence in Iraq.

References

Associated Press. (2005, June 25). Convoy is ambushed in Fallujah. Retrieved from

https://www.deseret.com/2005/6/25/19899325/convoy-is-ambushed-in-fallujah.

Hunt, S., & Posa, C. (2004). IRAQ’s Excluded WOMEN. Foreign Policy, (143), 40–45.

            https://doi.org/10.2307/4152909

Jones, S. G. (2018). The Great Irregular Game. National Interest, (157), 57–64. Retrieved

from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=131399703&site=ehost-live

JP 1, Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States. (2017, July 12). Retrieved from

            https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp1_ch1.pdf.

Pelleriti, J. A., Maloney, M., Cox, D. C., Sullivan, H. J., Piskura, J. E., & Hawkins, M. J.

(2019). The Insufficiency of U.S. Irregular Warfare Doctrine. JFQ: Joint Force Quarterly, (93), 104–110. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=136571943&site=ehost-live

White, J. B. (2008, June 27). Some Thoughts on Irregular Warfare. Retrieved from

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/96unclass/iregular.htm.