Kenneth J. Conboy

In this survey of CIA activities in Cambodia, from being mostly hands-off observers during the Second Indo-China War to the activist period of the Reagan/Bush years, one will gain a finely grained examination of the secret armies that flourished at the expense of the Cambodian people. At the very least it makes me want to peruse Conboy's other studies of the CIA's secret wars. Two, it reignited my wonder at how a man such as Prince Sihanouk could remain so essential to so many power brokers show more after so much misrule. That I don't rate this book a bit higher is due to how the general reader is likely to bog down in the minutia of resistance politics in the aftermath of the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. Still, the portions dealing with the intrigue that poisoned politics in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge conquest, the trials of CIA personnel in Cambodia prior to the fall, and the Vietnamese military effort are especially enlightening. show less

Not for everyone, certainly not the casual reader. But this is the most thorough and accurate book available on the war in Laos during the postwar era. Incredibly detailed, the reader will never find another source that explains so well what took place during those years. The war in Laos, the politics, Lao society, and, of course, Lao geography are some of the most complicated byzantine affairs I've ever encountered. Conboy's Shadow War is like a field guide to recognizing what was show more happening. Superb. show less

In this short book we are given overview of Indonesia's special forces in East Timor conflict in period of 1975-77. Following Portuguese retreat from East Timor Indonesia immediately jumped in but to their surprise what started as a relatively straight forward police action with goal of occupying the territory ended as a rather difficult counterinsurgency, and East Timor guerillas proved themselves a tough nut to crack.

In general this book seems like it was a product of a conversation author show more had with some of the veterans and decided hey, this would make nice little book, appendix to the existing published work on Indonesian's special forces.

Book depicts how Indonesia adapted their tactics from using front strike troops and ranger-like airborne and Kopassus troops to using counter-insurgency troops that started winning hearts and minds of local population. This approach bore fruits and very soon Indonesian COIN operation used to the max local troop knowledge of terrain and population. But as it always in cases like these bureaucracy decided to move back to old ways using predominantly Indonesian strike forces (locals were put back to second-rate positions) and conflict got prolonged. Also interesting is how Indonesia tried to present situation in East Timor as done thing to UN. Talking about sneaky politicians.

Very interesting book, but somehow I had a feeling that this was like an excerpt from the bigger work. It was just that it .... I dont know, it was like it was missing stronger background.

In any case interesting read, highly recommended. show less

Great little read on a hard to find subject, it deals mostly with the Cambodian Army and only a little with the anti-Communist guerrillas and the Khmer Rouge or even the Americans in Cambodia. But it is the Cambodian Army that it is hard to find information on and for that it is great. There is a map which is useful but it would have helped if more places mentioned were on the map.