On March 10th, at 7pm in Lawrence 105, Prof. Douglas Porch will be presenting “Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of War”. A decade of military occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq has revived historical debates about the costs of operations designed to eliminate guerrillas and build nations. Douglas Porch’s sweeping history of counterinsurgency challenges the myth that this is a humane and effective way of war. The reality, he reveals, is that these campaigns have shattered and divided societies and unsettled civil-military relations.
Douglas Porch is Distinguished Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. His books include The French Foreign Legion, The Conquest of the Sahara, The French Army 1871-1914 and Wars of Empire. The Path to Victory: The Mediterranean Theater in World War II (2004), received numerous awards. Porch’s latest work, Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of War (Cambridge University Press) has been placed on the Army Chief of Staff’s reading list for all officers.
