How Many Fighters Does the Islamic State Really Have?
Estimates of the number of fighters in the ranks of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are extraordinarily wide-ranging. On the low end of things, CNN’s Barbara Starr recently reported...
View ArticleHow the Islamic State Makes Sure You Pay Attention to It
The Islamic State (IS) has played us. It’s been playing us for a long time now. Since it captured the Iraqi city of Mosul in June last year, the cogs of its propaganda machine have continually turned,...
View Article(W)Archives: Is the Past Prologue for the Islamic State?
The Islamic State’s capture of large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria has reignited interest in what many had hoped was a closed chapter of U.S. military history in Iraq: the fight against Al...
View ArticleIraq after the Islamic State: Politics Rule
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) – known by most people in the Middle East as Daesh – will lose its battle to hold territory in Iraq. It may well take one to two years to reduce their...
View ArticleA Collapsing Regional Order: Turkey’s Troubles in Iraq and Syria
Turkey continues to be a frustrating ally for the United States, with Ankara’s reluctance to allow for, or engage in kinetic strikes against the Islamic State emerging as the key source of divergence...
View ArticleThere Are No Tea Leaves to Read About the “Mosul Plan”
A mostly forgotten Arab adversary of American influence in the Mideast, the late Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser, once said “The genius of you Americans is that you make no clear-cut stupid moves,...
View ArticleMosul: A Bridge Too Far?
As the Iraqi government’s campaign to liberate Tikrit wraps up, there will undoubtedly be questions about the next target of the campaign to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)....
View ArticleMeans Matter: Competent Ground Forces and the Fight Against ISIL
What will it take on the ground to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)? What is the nature of America’s current conflict against ISIL? Can the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), bolstered...
View ArticleChina’s Middle East Choice
The Chinese government thinks U.S. policy towards the Middle East is misguided. Citing the invasion of Iraq, support for political transitions, and a willingness to embroil itself in regional...
View ArticleThe Bush Wars: Ellis on Population-Centric Counterinsurgency
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of three adapted excerpts from 21st Century Ellis: Operational Art and Strategic Prophecy for the Modern Era, published by Naval Institute Press. It...
View ArticleBlowback as National Policy
“Empires are lost when inadequate men become leaders and wage war for base reasons or no reason at all.” – Sun Tzu The chorus of hawks and neocons, for whom Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham...
View ArticlePODCAST: The Islamic State’s War in Iraq and Syria
This is the podcast in which War on the Rocks fixes the Middle East…ok, we kid, but it is a fascinating conversation with some of the most astute and informed U.S. experts on Iraq and the Islamic State...
View ArticleIn Search of Post-9/11 Veterans’ Missing Perspectives
“We, as warfighters, yearn to give a narrative to our story, to the war we fought, to make sense of the madness.” – Marine Corps veteran Sebastian J. Bae Recent discussions at military blogs and...
View ArticleISIL’s Small Ball Warfare: An Effective Way to Get Back into a Ballgame.
Der Spiegel recently published a blockbuster article that chronicles the activities and personal papers of Haji Bakr, a high ranking member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who led...
View ArticleIraq after Ramadi: Saving the Anti-ISIL Strategy
The seizure of Ramadi on May 17 by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was a tactical defeat for the Iraqi Army, the Iraqi government, and — by extension — the U.S.-led coalition. ISIL had...
View ArticleWrong for 20 Years: Rand Paul’s Break with Republican Foreign Policy
Republican presidential hopeful Senator Rand Paul has finally done the unthinkable. He has opened Lemarchand’s Box and sparked a critical foreign policy debate that has been avoided since the rise of...
View ArticleThe War Against ISIL: In Search of a Viable Strategy
Recent gains by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria mark major setbacks in the nearly year-old campaign against the group. These developments undermine Obama administration...
View ArticleTraining Foreign Military Forces: Quality vs Quantity
The United States has sent its latest tranche of 450 troops to Al Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq to train that country’s new army recruits. The hope is that this will bolster the Iraqi army, which could...
View ArticleLike It or Not, a Solution in Syria Is the Only Way to Defeat ISIL
Thirteen months have passed since the city of Mosul and one-third of Iraq fell to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The U.S.-led coalition, however, still has no comprehensive strategy...
View ArticleHow Turkey’s entry into the anti-ISIL campaign might save the Islamic State
When Turkish air force F-16s struck Islamic State targets in Syria, it signaled that NATO’s only Middle Eastern member had finally joined the campaign against the proclaimed caliphate on its borders....
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