Human Intelligence Lessons From the Mau Mau Revolt

<p>The true center of gravity for any insurgency is the support of the people.89 Neither Kitson nor the British as a whole positively affected the hearts and minds of the Kikuyu. The repressive actions of Anvil and 'villigisation' swayed the populace to favor the Mau Mau. Although the British declared a victory and an end to the Emergency in 1960 three years later they awarded independence to the Kenyan government. Britain's military won tactical and operational battles but Britain lost their strategic goal to maintain Kenya as a colony. 90 Similarly the US military can achieve tactical victories but will require synergistic efforts with the other instruments of power to achieve strategic goals in Iraq and the GWOT. Employing lessons learned from the British experience in Kenya that synergy begins with a HUMINT network established early through FID operations supported by politicians and executed by culturally savvy interagency players. Once emplaced the network can identify insurgent motivations leadership and infrastructure. Enabled with this knowledge politicians can employ diplomatic and economic tools at the right place and time to assuage causal frustrations before the insurgency grows to kinetic action. If deterrence fails an established HUMINT network facilitates precise air power applications just as Frank Kitson realized in Kenya. Although the Kikuyu differ in motivation communication and education the autonomous operations of al Qaeda and the Mau Mau bare enough resemblance to discuss emulating Kitson's pseudo-gangs in Kenya. The US can create pseudo-gangs comprised of moderated religious fundamentalists to infiltrate collect on and selectively terminate al Qaeda affiliates.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>