The Accidental Guerrilla

David Kilcullen talked about his book The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One (Oxford University Press, USA; March 16, 2009). He defines accidental guerrillas as locals fighting primarily because outsiders (often Westerners) are intruding into their physical and cultural space, but they may also be galvanized by high-tech, internationally oriented ideologues. He argues that this interaction of two kinds of nonstate opponents renders both traditional counterterrorism and counterinsurgency inadequate. Mr. Kilcullen, former senior counterinsurgency adviser to General Petraeus in Iraq, talked about the relationship between the war on terrorism and smaller guerrilla wars being fought around the world. He also discussed President Obama’s plans for Afghanistan. Mr. Kilcullen was interviewed by David Ignatius at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security at the Willard InterContinental Hotel. He also responded to questions from members of the au close