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Last night I listened to ABC Radio National's 'Big Ideas' program and was absolutely blown away by what David Kilcullen had to say about the rise of terrorism, ISIS, and the things we did (and still do) wrong in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
David Kilcullen is a former Australian army colonel, with a PhD in insurgency movements. He has been a counterterrorist adviser to the US and worked closely with Iraq War supremo, General David Petraeus, and US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Kilcullen is critical of many aspects of the West’s strategy, post 9/11, which, he argues, led to the rise of Islamic State. He warns the global terrorist threat is now the new normal and poses the question, "So how do we defeat ISIS?"
He gives some of the answers in his essay Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State which is a must-read for anyone interested in this the greatest challenge of our times (well, apart from legalising same-sex marriage and whether public servants should be allowed to wear ugg boots and onesies to work ☺)
I'm not into ebooks and ordered the hardcover from Penguin - see here.
"Out of the Mountains: The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla"
