Educational Institution
The debate over such notions as counterterrorism and counterinsurgency has recently heated up. Even though some academics state that the line between these two doctrines has blurred within the last years, they are still very distinct.
According to the U.S. Army Field Manual (as cited in Rineheart, 2010) counterterrorism is offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, preempt, and respond to terrorism. This is a rather broad definition and it implies that all nation’s resources should be mobilized in order to neutralize a terrorist threat. Modern U.S. counterterrorism operations involve direct hits on terrorist organizations in order to take terrorists out and eventually eradicate them. Counterinsurgency is defined as military, paramilitary, economic, political and civic actions by the government to end an insurgency (Rineheart, 2010). It is a rather all-inclusive strategy and it considers solely military approach as inefficient. Counterinsurgency is aimed to undermine terrorists’ organizations by limiting population’s support and preparing local troops to resist insurgents. During the past years, both counterinsurgency and counterterrorism strategies were used to wage the Global War on Terror. Both were effective to some extent, however both had their let downs. Offensive tactics of counterterrorist operations very often led to collateral damage, which resulted in the loss of support of the local population. At the same time counterinsurgency tactics very often failed to develop and sustain strong opposition to terrorist organization among locals.
In my opinion both strategies are very effective and vital for the GWOT. Even though these two approaches bear different tactics and goals, they should be used as a complex of measures to fight terror. Precise termination of terrorist during counterterrorist operations (no collateral damage) and strong support of the local population as a result of counterinsurgency measures are the key to win the GWOT.
References
National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.nctc.gov/
Rineheart, J (2010). Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/122/html.
U.S. Government (2009) U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/119629.pdf
