Dictionary definition of “oil spot strategy”

oil spot strategy

n. a tactic in which a political or military organization secures an area to be used as a launch site for campaigns to other areas. Also oil spot theory. Subjects: English, Military, Politics

Editorial Note: Also known as the ink blot strategy. The French version of oil spot strategy, tache d’huile, was used in Indochina prior to 1895 by Joseph-Simon Gallieni, according to The French Overseas Empire (2000, Praeger Publishers) by Frederick Quinn. The French term was also used in English at least as far back as 1864 in a more general political context as a metaphor for something that spreads.

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Citations: [1864 Times (London, England) (June 8) “Prussia” p. 7: In these facts it is to read a prediction of the ultimate Germanizing of the whole of that peninsula.…To use a common French expression, the German race fait tache d’huile; it spreads and spreads, and gradually covers the surface upon which it at first was but a spot.] [1947 Drew Pearson Washington Post (Sept. 8) “Army Reports Reds Plot to Take Italy” p. 12: The movement would immediately extend into Vento and the Liguria and gradually embrace the surrounding regions “like an oil spot,” either through disorganizing and flanking operations of the militarily less organized Red elements of those districts, or by direct armed action.] 1964 Ed Meagher @ Saigon Los Angeles Times (Mar. 8) “Viet Premier Outlines One-Year Plan to Unify People, Defeat Reds” p. 23: Establish hamlets in groups, spreading the oil spot from the rich and populated areas outward. Give equal stress to the economy and the living standard of the population and the security factor. 1964 William Belcher @ Saigon Wall Street Journal (July 31) “U.S., South Vietnam Spur Propaganda Drive To Counter Viet Cong” p. 14: The South Vietnamese government’s primary task, before it can hope to move toward needed political, economic and social reforms, is to provide villages with maximum security from communist harassment. This is the key objective of a phase of the current military effort that’s been dubbed the “oil spot” approach.…The “oil spot” strategy—now being implemented in nine scattered locations—aims to keep troops in a particular community until an effective local self-defense militia has been trained. 1970 Jeffrey Race Asian Survey (Aug.) “How They Won” vol. 10, no. 8, p. 634: The actual strategy which the government adopted in its attempts to prevent a communist takeover was only articulated to any appreciable degree in the military domain. It might be summarized as an urban-based strategy involving the abandonment of the rural areas and withdrawal into population centers. These were then to be employed as bases for a gradually widening net of operations into rural areas, or the so-called “oil-spot” theory. According to this strategy as communist units were worn down, the heavier government units could be moved into a wider perimeter, with their place being take by police or paramilitary organizations, which could maintain sufficient security to reestablish the local organs of government. 1987 James Adams Sunday Times (London, England) (Apr. 26) “Spectrum (Warfare): Bomb myth explodes”: Sir Robert Thompson, who played a key role in Britain’s successful campaign against communist guerrillas in Malaya in the 1950s, developed the “oil spot” theory. A small force of speically trained troops would move into an area, secure a village and train the local people to look after their own defence. 2000 Frederick Quinn French Overseas Empire (May 30) p. 144: Gallieni called this carefully coordinated military and social strategy the tache d’huile, the oil spot. Start out and carefully secure a hundred such bases and you are on your way to conquering a country. 2000 Douglas Porch Middle East Journal (Oct. 1) “French Military Rule in Morocco: Colonialism and its Consequences” vol. 54, no. 4, p. 654: France’s Moroccan policies were skillfully guided by the flamboyant Resident General Hubert Lyautey, whose patient “oil-spot” strategy of conquest and “indirect” methods of governing both avoided a bloody and divisive conquest and preserved much of Morocco’s traditional political structure. 2005 Andrew Krepinevich (Political Transcripts by Federal Document Clearing House) (March 17) “U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) Holds Hearing On Training Iraqi Security Forces&Mdash;Committee Hearing”: Traditionally, there’s a real menu of strategies for dealing with insurgencies and insurrections. The oil spot strategy: clear and hold; enclaves, search and destroy. 2005 Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr. Foreign Affairs (Sept.-Oct.) “How to Win in Iraq”: U.S. and Iraqi forces should adopt an “oil-spot strategy” in Iraq, which is essentially the opposite approach. Rather than focusing on killing insurgents, they should concentrate on providing security and opportunity to the Iraqi people, thereby denying insurgents the popular support they need. Since the U.S. and Iraqi armies cannot guarantee security to all of Iraq simultaneously, they should start by focusing on certain key areas and then, over time, broadening the effort—hence the image of an expanding oil spot.

Posted 4 Oct 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend