By Brett A. Friedman The world is in the grips of the group known as ISIS. Unable to look away but equally unable to fathom the group’s extreme violence, the civilized world marvels at a terrorist threat that is seemingly al Qaeda cranked up to eleven. Its media blitzkrieg has recently been described by Jessica…
Category: Counter-Insurgency
Psychological Warfare Files: Ghost Tape #10 and Operation Wandering Soul
“Vietnamese legends held that on the anniversary of a person’s death, a spiritual channel between our world and the afterlife can open making communication possible. Was this just such a phenomenon?” JUST AFTER dusk on the night of Feb. 10, 1970, the jungles near the U.S. Army’s Fire Support Base Chamberlain in Hau Niga Province, South Vietnam…
It is Time for the U.S. Military to Innovate like Insurgents
These three Army captains built a gun that kills drones. It took them ten hours and cost $150. What can the Army learn from them? The recently concluded meeting of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) has become a yearly tradition for senior military leaders, congressional staff, and members of foreign armies to…
Al Shabaab pledges Loyalty to ISIS
With ISIS gaining the support of both Boko Haram and now Al Shabaab in Africa, it has solidified its position in that politically fractured country and at the same time secured its Southern Flank in its campaign to conquer Europe.-SF The Islamic State has already won the loyalty of Boko Haram in Nigeria and many…
Know Your Enemy: The Believer
IBRAHIM AWWAD IBRAHIM AL-BADRI was born in 1971 in Samarra, an ancient Iraqi city on the eastern edge of the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad. The son of a pious man who taught Quranic recitation in a local mosque, Ibrahim himself was withdrawn, taciturn, and, when he spoke, barely audible. Neighbors who knew him…
Cartel Corner #4: War! Three Miles South of Brownsville, TX
Just 3 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, in the city of Matamoros, Mexico, a small-scale war is raging, and this war is not your typical drug cartel violence that most of the local residents have grown accustomed too. No, this war is the result of the capture of the Gulf Cartel’s top leaders, Angel Eduardo “Ciclon…
History of Guerilla Warfare: How Would Lawrence of Arabia Defeat ISIS?
Lessons from the Early 20th century for the Chaotic, Modern Middle East By James Stavridis A Colleague of mine recently watched the Oscar-winning classic 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia. His brief comment on its merits in regard to understanding the Middle East of today: a cynical shrug of his shoulders and the words “nothing has…
The Moral Hazard of Proxy Warfare
It has been a very bad month for advocates of the “indirect” approach to U.S. national security policy. U.S.-trained rebels in Syria handed over their weapons to al-Qaeda; and the United States has been forced to sit back helplessly and watch as Russian bombers target CIA-backed rebel forces. The Department of Defense’s train-and-equip program has…
Doomsday Scenario: Reviewing the ISIS Apocalypse
The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. William McCants. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015. pp 256. Apocalyptic anticipation thriving in a sectarian bloodbath is the focus of this text, which was released alongside a biography of the group’s leader available from Brookings. Despite the claims of a recent…
What Would We Lose by Winning?
Though it does not specifically mention it in the article, this is a PRIME example of why the scourge of islam must be stopped from spreading across Europe and America. It is not just the religion itself, but the despicable and perverted customs (that are seen as socially acceptable by muslims) that it carries with…