The Importance of Building Local Capabilities: Lessons from the Counterinsurgency in Iraq

July 31, 2006

This report argues for fundamental changes in the way the US plans to fight counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns. It argues that the US must place far higher reliance on local allies in both counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns. It also argues that the US must work with existing allied governments and seek reform and transformation at the far slower pace that Middle Eastern and other nations and societies in the developing world can accept.