Long War, Petty Battle, Cheap Shots
If the world were a perfect place, I’d advise David Kilcullen at Small Wars Journal not to waste any time or energy responding to the intellectually dishonest Andrew Bacevich’s trashing of Kilcullen’s The Accidental Guerrilla. Not least because lately Bacevich has been incapable of managing a coherent essay, not that that stops people from printing them. But Australian Army LTC Kilcullen (ret’d), former aide to Gen. Petraeus, didn’t ask me and it’s far from a perfect world. Boston University IR prof and former armor Col. Bacevich is widely viewed as an authoritative voice, which leaves Kilcullen little choice but to respond to this mountebank.
Full disclosure: I have not read “Accidental Guerrilla,” only excerpts and reviews, and I’m not sure I agree with all of Kilcullen’s conclusions as I’ve seen them presented, but I’ll grant he’s beyond qualified to make them. I had to force myself to read all of Bacevich’s Kilcullen review, and avoid the temptation to bail during the extended backing-in that constitutes the top half, in which this celeb academic devotes paragraphs bashing as a celeb academic someone who devoted years on the ground as well as years of intellectual energy to this war, disparaging the value of a direct participant’s account and lessons learned. While Bacevich sneers that “The Long War has been good to Dr. Kilcullen,” he neglects to note that, in book sales, opeds and media attention, he’s done OK himself, probably considerably better.
Tragically, this war cost him his son. 1st Lt. Andrew Bacevich enlisted and then became a US Army officer in 2004, well into the war his father questioned and disparaged, and was killed in Iraq in May 2007, during the surge that was guided in part by Kilcullen, and helped secure the current state of security and stability in the nascent democracy that is Iraq. I’d be disinclined to say anything about the elder Bacevich, but he’s the one who chose to make a career out of Long War trashing.
Back at Small Wars, Kilcullen is astonished at the viciousness of an attack from a person he thinks he agrees with, but I don’t think he gets that Bacevich doesn’t actually want to fight this war smarter, shorten the prospects of a Longer War, he wants to stop fighting it entirely and go fight the Cold War again.
Prior re Bacevich:
Re Not Fighting The Current War
Prior re Kilcullen:
Topics: Afghanistan, Iraq, academia, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:48 am on Monday, March 9, 2009
One Response to “Long War, Petty Battle, Cheap Shots”
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March 9th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Kilcullen is a class act. I am reading his book now. I purchased it as soon as I saw it was available, on the strength of having read an interview with the guy. Excellent thinker, wonderfully clear writer. His rebuttal at the link provides an excellent example of just how reasonable, intelligent, and dryly humorous the man can be on the page. A truly moral person who believes to his core in the value of clear-headed assessments and honest dialog. So refreshing.
In the post you link, I think he takes the views of his critics a bit too seriously. As faults go, that’s one we could use quite a bit more of these days.