Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Women are supposed to celebrate here

"Simpson and Davidson are key figures in a loose but expanding circle of defense theorist-practitioners who study, advocate and implement counterinsurgency — a method of warfare that emphasizes economy of force, intimate knowledge of host populations and politico-economic incentives to win that population’s allegiance. At the risk of stating the obvious, they, and many of their colleagues, are women. While women are still underrepresented in the national-security apparatus — and at the Pentagon specifically — counterinsurgency, more than any other previous movement in defense circles, features women not just as equal partners, but leaders." (thanks Jobo)