Banned in Arabia: Lawrence of Afghanistan? Lawrence of Iraq?..........
“For Nagl, a veteran of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Desert Storm, Lawrence's writings are a valuable component of modern COIN literature, albeit a bit out of step. "Lawrence is one of very few insurgent leaders who survived to tell the tale. Most insurgents don't succeed, and many also tend not to be literate, but Lawrence was an extraordinarily literate and successful insurgent leader. The biggest disadvantage, of course, was that Lawrence was an insurgent – not a counterinsurgent. He does not break down how to defeat an army that fights as he recommends – as his insurgents fought – like a 'vapor.' "….. "The temptation is reading too much into Lawrence's characterization of Bedouin Arabs in World War I. He was dealing with a specific subset of Arab culture at a specific time, which has changed immensely. But T.E. Lawrence has in some ways become the patron saint of the US Army advisory effort in Afghanistan and Iraq…....”
True, Lawrence was the insurgent, the Taliban, the terrorist in today’s Iraq. And the Hashemites of 1916 were not anything like the Taliban or the indiscriminate murderous Salafi and Ba’athist thugs of today’s Iraq. Most of the thugs come from neighboring Arab countries.
The film Lawrence of Arabia, with the most-stunning visual effects of any film, was banned in all Arab countries. I am not sure if it still is banned in all of them, but surely it is still banned in some (including Saudi Arabia).
Cheers
mhg
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