Exploring the complex interrelationship between national security policy, strategy, and operations, and the difficulties and challenges of combating terrorism, asymmetric warfare, and non-state actors in the 21st century.
That the President desires to bring “an end to endless wars” is an admirable and rational objective. However, it ignores the fact that, as trite as it has become to state, the enemy (in this case ISIS) has a vote in what happens on the battlefield. It also illustrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the enemy.
Read my full article below at Small Wars Journal.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/ending-endless-wars-and-islamic-state
“Fools pretend that you can only gain experience at your own expense, but I have always managed to learn at the expense of others.” Attributed to the master Prussian politician and architect of German unification Otto von Bismarck, this sentiment was likewise embraced by George C. Marshall, arguably the preeminent American soldier-statesman of the 20th century. After the defeat of the Axis powers in 1945, Marshall was specifically interested in discovering the actions the enemy themselves put into motion which prevented the achievement of their political objectives. Beyond the military superiority and industrial might brought to bear by the Allies, “of almost equal importance,” he stated, “was the failure of the enemy to make the most of the situation.” At critical moments, he opined, the enemy made strategic mistakes in their long-range planning that greatly contributed to their own defeat. Some 70 years later, the same can be said about the Islamic State. Borrowing Marshall’s premise, this essay explores the strategic and operational missteps of the Islamic State which resulted in the collapse of their caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
Read my full article below at Small Wars Journal.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/their-own-hand-seven-steps-destruction-islamic-state-caliphate
An unsolicited letter to the Iraqi Prime Minister to wisely utilize the fruits of Iraq’s and the Global Coalition’s destruction of the Islamic State caliphate within his country.
Read my full article below at Small Wars Journal.
http://50.56.4.43/jrnl/art/iraq-the-islamic-state-and-war-termination
Brace for it, America. Terrorist attacks like those seen over the past 19 months in Western Europe will soon be occurring within the borders of the United States.
Read my full article below at War On The Rocks.
A Military Assessment of the Islamic State’s Evolving Theory of Victory
The concept of the “center of gravity” is described in U.S. joint doctrine as the “linchpin in the planning effort.” Within his magnum opus, On War, Carl von Clausewitz explicitly outlines the concept of a center of gravity, and provides his readers examples which to attack to achieve one’s desired political objective. This essay examines the military campaign plan designed to destroy the Islamic State caliphate through the lens of the Clausewitz’s centers of gravity, and the declaration of the cities of Mosul, Iraq and Raqqah, Syria as center of gravity of the campaign.
Read my full article below at Small Wars Journal.
Wicked Good Strategy 