McClintock, Michael. Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerrilla Warfare,
Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940-1990. New York: Pantheon
Books, 1992. 604 pages.
Michael McClintock spent 16 years as a human rights monitor, traveling
extensively in Latin America, Thailand, and the Philippines. With 122 pages
of end notes, this is something of an academic tome, and it functions as a
counterweight to the fascination that some academics have demonstrated for
elitist military doctrine. McClintock is always aware that "counterterrorism"
is too often another name for torture and assassination, and despite such
fancy terms as "psychological warfare," "counterinsurgency," "unconventional
warfare," and "low intensity conflict," when you take away the rhetoric
there seems to be a problem. For one thing, U.S. special warfare has always
been cast in an anti-Communist mode, regardless of whether the "Communist"
insurgents had the support of the local population. The techniques have
emphasized "fighting fire with fire," with much more emphasis on winning
respect out of fear than soliciting popular support out of enlightened
self-interest.
McClintock's numerous quotes from military manuals and experts begin to
drag after a few hundred pages, but his material on Edward Lansdale, and on
President Kennedy's love affair with Special Forces, are almost worth the
effort it takes to wade through them.
ISBN 0-394-55945-2
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