Iraq, Syria, and the Islamic State: A Matter of Control
In the opening days of America’s ongoing air campaign in Iraq, many critics and pundits decried the admitted absence of a strategy guiding the Obama administration’s response to the emerging threat...
View ArticleJihad on our doorstep
Last month I was invited to deliver the Henriette van Lynden lecture which is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands. Along with the Guardian journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad,I was...
View ArticleThe Fight Goes on in Anbar: ISIL vs the World
Over the past week, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been able to build on its previous gains in Iraq’s Anbar province. The situation in the province has rapidly deteriorated. At...
View ArticleDestroy ISIL’s Heavy Weapons and Vehicles: Level the Playing Field
President Obama has committed U.S. power and prestige to assist local Iraqi and Kurdish forces in their battle against the brutal terrorists. To succor the hard-pressed defenders, the U.S. military,...
View ArticleHow About Some Unconventional Warfare? Thoughts On Countering ISIL
The past month’s media cycle has certainly articulated the strengths of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as it has expanded control and governance across eastern Syria and western Iraq....
View ArticleMountains, Mines and Memories: The Idea of Kurdistan
Francesca Recchia, Picnic in a Minefield (Foxhead Books, 2014). We have heard the tales of soldiers, diplomats, journalists, and humanitarian aid workers. They have chronicled the American invasion of...
View ArticleWar, Interrupted, Part I: The Roots of the Jihadist Resurgence in Iraq
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part series. A popular narrative holds that the surprising recent events in Iraq can be attributed mainly to the unraveling of Syria. The story goes something...
View ArticleWar, Interrupted, Part II: From Prisoners to Rulers
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series. Read part I of War, Interrupted here. Orange is the New Black The life of a jihadist usually means serving extended periods of time in the...
View ArticleThe Islamic State’s Stalled Offensive in Anbar Province
In September, the Islamic in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched a devastatingly effective offensive in Iraq’s Anbar province that for a time masked the losses the group was experiencing elsewhere (see...
View ArticleSaving Iraq and Destroying ISIL are Not the Same Thing
It has been reported that President Obama is revisiting his policy toward Syria. Perhaps he is now pausing to assess, before incautiously and unadvisedly wading into a conflict with no clear or...
View ArticleService in a Time of Perpetual Conflict
Elizabeth D. Samet, No Man’s Land: Preparing for War and Peace in Post-9/11 America (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014). The author writes from the perspective of the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S....
View ArticleTen Rules for Building Militias in an Era of Terrorism and Persistent Conflict
Iraq stands on the precipice. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has taken control of vast stretches of territory in the north and west of the country and is now poised at the gates of...
View ArticleWeekend Reading: December 12-14
Happy Friday from War on the Rocks, where our heads have been spinning all week trying to pay attention to everything that’s been happening in the world—and unfortunately, not much of it is cause for...
View ArticleCatch and Release in the Land of Two Rivers
National security officials are slowly realizing that its foes in the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) look very familiar—embarrassingly so. They look an awful lot like the people in various...
View ArticleCan Political Struggle against ISIL Succeed where Violence Cannot?
It is widely believed that violent savages such as those fighting on behalf of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) understand only force. This default thinking is reinforced by...
View ArticleBrothers Forever at Rest in Arlington’s Section 60
Tom Sileo and Tom Manion, Brothers Forever: The Enduring Bond Between a Marine and a Navy Seal that Transcended their Ultimate Sacrifice (Da Capo Press, 2014) Warriors, shipmates, battle buddies,...
View ArticleNot So Chickenhawk: Pushing Back Against Fallows
“The country thinks too rarely, and too highly, of the 1 percent under fire in our name,” so says Jim Fallows in a 10,000-word cri de couer in this month’s Atlantic that bemoans the growing cultural...
View ArticleMilitary Command in the 21st Century Through the Eyes of Two Generals
David Richards, Taking Command (Headline, 2014) Stanley McChrystal, My Share of the Task: A Memoir (Penguin, 2013) David Richards and Stanley McChrystal, who both commanded the International Security...
View ArticleGetting to Iraqi Ownership of Iraqi Security
“This has to be about you. This has to be your campaign plan.” This is what the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey said to Iraqi leaders when he visited the country in the...
View ArticleWhy American Sniper isn’t a Great War Film
American Sniper has been nominated for six Academy Awards and, according to initial viewing figures, is likely to be one of the most successful war films of all time. In the first 10 days of release,...
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