Now I remember...

You might remember an excellent essay penned by Major Mehar Omar Khan, entitled "Is There an Islamic Way of War?". Major Khan, a Pakistani officer studying at the US Army's Command and General Staff College ("CGSC"), shatters the myth that "Islamic" terrorism and insurgency being a purely Muslim phenomenon. Major Khan notes, correctly, that many of the tactics of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Hezbollah are ripped directly from the playbooks of Mao, Lawrence, Giap, and the IRA.

Major Khan wrote the article in response to a class at the CGSC called "An Islamic Way of War?". At the time, I thought that this topic sounded intriguing. In fact, it seemed as if someone could write an entire book about the myth of Military Orientalism.

Then I looked at my "to-read" pile and noticed that someone did, in fact, write such a book. Patrick Porter--a former King of War who runs the "Offshore Balancer" blog--just released a book called "Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes", which is getting some awesome reviews, including one from Martin Van Creveld.

I should be able to get to this in a little while. I'll have to sequence it in after I finish reading about the American Revolution...