The text is dry, to say the least, which made the book less than palatable to me. I had a hard time reading this book, but felt that it was an important piece of history that I should digest.
I was right. Many of the ideas expressed by administrators and progenitors of The War of the Running Dogs are still in use today. A perfect example of this is found on page 179 when author Noel Barber discusses a slogan that became famous during the war, “The battle for the hearts and minds of the people.”
It is a slogan I’ve heard bandied about more than once during my own war here in Iraq.
One of the central characters in War of the Running Dogs is Bob Thompson, a highly placed government administrator who comes up with the idea that common people should be able to receive tours of how the war is being conducted. The idea is a very successful one – one that should work again and again throughout the ages. Modern wars are won or lost now based on public opinion more than anything other single factor.
Often times, this book is less of a war novel than it is an ode to competent bureaucracy. While bureaucracy is a necessary evil, it isn’t a glamorous thing, and I find reading about the exploits of bureaucrats rather boring. On the other hand, the struggle between colonial imperialism leading to a form of capitalism versus communism leading who knows where is historically significant.
The War of the Running Dogs reiterates a point that has been made personally clear to me in recent years; while I might have disagreements with the government in charge, I certainly wouldn’t want to trade it for a bunch of murdering thugs who don’t even pretend to care about rule of law. Terrorism is not a valid or morally sound form of political expression, and is not a realistic method of toppling a government unless it can maintain popular support from a large majority of the citizenry.
The Communist terrorists in Malaya fail on many levels by combining wanton brutality with bribery, blackmail and bombastic bamboozlers as representatives. This makes it almost impossible for the British government working in conjunction with Malayan sultans and Chinese locals to fail.
Both the insurgents and the reigning bureaucrats promise independence for the nation and in the end, British bureaucracy wins the day. One point that author keeps reiterating is that the British masterstroke was insisting on civilian rule even in wartime (this despite the fact that Churchill chooses a general to run the war).
In the end, the war was won largely because the British offered a better more benevolent method of rule than their would be competitors who time and again proved that they would resort to brutality and horrific acts of violence against the general population of Malaya in order to try and achieve power.
The same cycle seems to be playing out again here in Iraq. The most interesting aspect of War of the Running Dogs has been the parallels between what happened 50 years ago and what is happening now while I watch and participate.
Dry reading, but historically significant, The War of the Running Dogs will appeal to history buffs and government administrators but not many others.
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