DOCSLIB.ORG

The Iraqi Insurgency Actors, Strategies, and Structures

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Iraqi Insurgency Actors, Strategies, and Structures SWP Research Paper Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs Guido Steinberg The Iraqi Insurgency Actors, Strategies, and Structures RP 13 December 2006 Berlin All rights reserved. © Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, 2006 SWP Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs Ludwigkirchplatz 3−4 10719 Berlin Germany Phone +49 30 880 07-0 Fax +49 30 880 07-100 www.swp-berlin.org [email protected] ISSN 1863-1053 Translation by Darren Hall (English version of SWP-Studie 27/06) The translation and publication of this research paper was made possible through the generous sup- port of E.ON AG, Düsseldorf, and the collaboration of the Forum Ebenhausen Table of Contents 5 Problems and Findings 7 Phases of the Insurgency in Iraq 8 The Insurgent Organizations 8 National Islamists 8 The Islamic Army in Iraq 10 The 1920 Revolution Brigades 10 Jihadists 10 Ansar al-Sunna (Ansar al-Islam) 11 al-Qaida in Iraq 14 Goals and Strategies 14 Goals and Visions of Political Order 15 Strategies and Their Implementation 17 Conflicts between National Islamists and Jihadists 19 Characteristics and Structures 19 Decentralization 20 Areas of Operation 22 Financial Sources 23 The Number of Fighters 24 Motives and Origins of the Insurgents 24 Who Are the Indigenous Fighters? 25 Who Are the Foreign Fighters? 28 Dividing the Insurgency? 29 Conclusion: From Insurgency to Civil War? Problems and Findings The Iraqi Insurgency: Actors, Strategies, and Structures Four years after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Sunni groups continue to fight an insurgency against the occupation forces, and the violence that erupted in summer 2003 has yet to let up. Some insurgents specifically target members of the Shiite majority in an effort to provoke a civil war in Iraq. al-Qaida in Iraq, which was headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until his death in June 2006, is especially guilty of this. Since summer 2005, there have been increasing signs that they might succeed in this strategy. Sectarian violence is claiming more and more civilian victims. Mean- while, the number of foreign and Iraqi soldiers and security forces killed is declining. The example of Afghanistan before 2001 shows just how dangerous these sorts of conflicts can be for the international community if they are not brought under control. Under the protection of the Taliban, al-Qaida succeeded in establishing a trans-national terrorist organization with an international agenda. In Afghanistan, they could plan and organize the September 11th attacks. Similarly, al-Qaida in Iraq also has international ambitions, in addition to their fight against the occupation forces and the new Iraqi state. Since the end of the Cold War, the number of intra- state conflicts has risen markedly compared to inter- state conflicts. Usually these involve conflicts between the state and one or more nonstate actors, and it is more important than ever that we study these actors in order to better understand them. The insurgency in Iraq presents such a case, and up to now our knowledge about the players involved has remained superficial. In order to understand the insurgency’s role in the development of Iraq and the region, we need to know about its structure, organization, ideology, goals, strategies and tactics. How should Germany and Europe respond to the insurgents’ activities? There are four characteristics of the insurgency in Iraq that are especially relevant to German and European policy: Iraq is a failed state. For years to come it will remain unstable and the insurgents will bear con- siderable responsibility for the instability. Through their attacks against the Iraqi military, police, and members of the emerging civil service, they have SWP-Berlin The Iraqi Insurgency December 2006 5 Problems and Findings thus far made it difficult, if not impossible, to tralized and diffuse insurgency scenarios in its cur- establish functioning state institutions. Since the rent and future missions. insurgents cannot defeat their enemy militarily, European policy in Iraq should differentiate they focus their efforts on simply not losing the between those insurgents and groups who are not fight. The stakes for the military, on the other engaged in a “holy war” (Jihad) against the West and hand, are much higher. In the eyes of world public anti-Western Jihadists. Neither the national Islamists opinion, they must at least appear to contain in- in Iraq nor their supporters abroad have posed a direct surgent activity. Anything less would spell defeat. threat to Europe so far. Efforts to involve them in The insurgency in Iraq is likely the best example of the political process should definitely be supported. an increasingly decentralized form of warfare, in The Jihadists, on the other hand, are another case which insurgent groups with flat hierarchies con- altogether. Although their role in Iraq is less promi- front their enemies with new threat scenarios. The nent than the national Islamists’, they pose a threat insurgency in Iraq differs from most conventional to neighboring states, and they will most likely insurgencies in that it lacks a center of gravity and become active in these states, particularly in Syria a hierarchical command structure. and Lebanon. The insurgency is increasingly taking on an Islamist character. This is consistent with the trend toward the Islamization of Iraqi society which began in the nineties. As a result, national Islamists, which represent groups whose military and political agenda is focused on Iraq, are also gaining ground within the insurgency. Due to their more limited political objectives, they hold open prospects of reaching a negotiated settlement. The Jihadists, defined as members of militant Islamist groups who are ideologically aligned with Usama bin Laden’s al-Qaida, are not the dominant force in the insurgency, and they are losing ground vis-à-vis the national Islamist groups. Nevertheless, they continue to play an important role. In particu- lar, it appears that they are succeeding in provok- ing a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis. Regard- less of whether a civil war erupts or not, they will attempt to shift their activities to neighboring countries and possibly even further afar. Germany should be prepared for Iraq to be unstable for the foreseeable future. Given that German and European influence on events in Iraq is negligible, they ought to pay special attention to what is going on in neighboring states. Representatives of neighboring states and Egypt have met on several occasions to dis- cuss the impact of the Iraq War. The European Union and Germany should try to promote such initiatives, with the long-term objective of establishing a new regional security architecture. In the future, German and European policy needs to be prepared to meet the challenges of threat sce- narios emerging from decentralized forms of warfare. Current counterterrorism measures already address this to some extent, but it also affects the German military. The Bundeswehr increasingly faces decen- SWP-Berlin The Iraqi Insurgency December 2006 6 Phases of the Insurgency in Iraq Phases of the Insurgency in Iraq The insurgency in Iraq can be divided into four phases. the fourth phase had begun. In this phase, which While events in each phase were primarily influenced coincides with the national Islamist phase, the con- by different insurgent groups, there was activity flict has increasingly taken on characteristics of a civil across the spectrum of the insurgency during all war. The sectarian violence reached an initial high- four phases. In the “Baathist phase” from early water mark in spring 2006 following the bombing of summer 2003 until the winter of 2003/2004, the one of the most important holy places for Shiites in dominant group was the so-called Army of Muhammad Iraq, the Askariya shrine in Samarra, which houses the (Jaish Muhammad). They allegedly maintained close ties tombs of the Shiite Imams Ali al-Hadi and al-Hasan to Saddam Hussein, who was still a fugitive at the al-Askari, and it has persisted unabated ever since. time, and consisted primarily of former members of the Baath Party.1 The organization fought a more or less classic guerrilla war, in which they would attack military targets with mortars and hand grenades, explode roadside bombs and try to shoot down coalition forces’ aircraft. Spectacular suicide attacks were conducted as early as August 2003, but they were rare in comparison to the years that fol- lowed. By the end of 2003, the influence of the Army of Muhammad and the Baathists was on the decline.2 This was followed by the “Zarqawi” or “Jihadist” phase, which, from the beginning of 2004 until the summer of 2005, was dominated by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In early 2004, he released his first audio message announcing the goals of his organiza- tion Jama’at al-Tauhid wa-l-Jihad (Monotheism and Holy War).3 Zarqawi was able to catapult his organization to the forefront of the insurgency through spectacular acts of terrorism, kidnappings and an effective public relations. This was a particularly heated phase of the insurgency, as Shiite Islamists under the leadership of the populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had also started to actively resist the occupation forces. It was not until the third, “national Islamist phase,” beginning in spring 2005, that groups more narrowly focused on Iraq, such as the Islamic Army in Iraq (al-Jaish al-Islami fi l-Iraq) and the 1920 Revolution Brigades (Kata’ib Thaurat al-’Ashrin), were able to gain more public attention and emerge as competitors to Zarqawi’s organization. During this period, the conflict between national Islamists and Jihadists intensified. By February 2006, 1 al-Hayat, February 25, 2006. 2 Los Angeles Times, November 16, 2004.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Looking Into Iraq
    Chaillot Paper July 2005 n°79 Looking into Iraq Martin van Bruinessen, Jean-François Daguzan, Andrzej Kapiszewski, Walter Posch and Álvaro de Vasconcelos Edited by Walter Posch cc79-cover.qxp 28/07/2005 15:27 Page 2 Chaillot Paper Chaillot n° 79 In January 2002 the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) beca- Looking into Iraq me an autonomous Paris-based agency of the European Union. Following an EU Council Joint Action of 20 July 2001, it is now an integral part of the new structures that will support the further development of the CFSP/ESDP. The Institute’s core mission is to provide analyses and recommendations that can be of use and relevance to the formulation of the European security and defence policy. In carrying out that mission, it also acts as an interface between European experts and decision-makers at all levels. Chaillot Papers are monographs on topical questions written either by a member of the ISS research team or by outside authors chosen and commissioned by the Institute. Early drafts are normally discussed at a semi- nar or study group of experts convened by the Institute and publication indicates that the paper is considered Edited by Walter Posch Edited by Walter by the ISS as a useful and authoritative contribution to the debate on CFSP/ESDP. Responsibility for the views expressed in them lies exclusively with authors. Chaillot Papers are also accessible via the Institute’s Website: www.iss-eu.org cc79-Text.qxp 28/07/2005 15:36 Page 1 Chaillot Paper July 2005 n°79 Looking into Iraq Martin van Bruinessen, Jean-François Daguzan, Andrzej Kapiszewski, Walter Posch and Álvaro de Vasconcelos Edited by Walter Posch Institute for Security Studies European Union Paris cc79-Text.qxp 28/07/2005 15:36 Page 2 Institute for Security Studies European Union 43 avenue du Président Wilson 75775 Paris cedex 16 tel.: +33 (0)1 56 89 19 30 fax: +33 (0)1 56 89 19 31 e-mail: [email protected] www.iss-eu.org Director: Nicole Gnesotto © EU Institute for Security Studies 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sunni Tribes in Iraq: Between Local Power, the International Coalition 1 and the Islamic State by Hosham Dawod
    Report September 2015 The Sunni tribes in Iraq: between local power, the international coalition 1 and the Islamic State By Hosham Dawod Executive summary Particularly in the Middle East there is increased interest in the social and political realities that the term “tribe” now refers to in societies experiencing internal conflict, with both local and global implications. Nearly everywhere the Arab Spring has ended in civil war, attempts at neo-authoritarianism or, more visibly, a spiralling increase in Islamic State-type radical jihadism. In the face of the weakness and even collapse of states, the international powers’ flexibility has been reduced and recourse to tribal support has become increasingly common. The following analysis looks briefly at the phenomenon of the Sunni tribes in Iraq – a country that is experiencing a political break-up, a weakening of the state, radical jihadism, a sectarian war, and regional and international intervention. In the Arab Muslim world the tribe is back at the centre of do not necessarily trigger or accelerate the disappearance political, military and – more generally speaking – security of a range of sociohistorical phenomena (local communi- considerations. There is now no secret about the interest ties, infra-ethnic identities, tribes, etc.). On the contrary, that the U.S. army, after getting bogged down in Iraq, has we see in various places a significant dynamic resulting in taken in the tribal question in that country since 2004, i.e. a resurgence of these phenomena – to the extent that they a year after invading it. This interest was manifest espe- are situated at the heart of conflict resolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents
    IRAQI INSURGENT MEDIA: THE WAR OF IMAGES AND IDEAS Table of Contents 1 Key Findings ................................................................................................................. 3 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4 2.1 Two Days in Iraq ....................................................................................... 4 2.2 The War of Ideas ....................................................................................... 6 3 Products ....................................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Texts ....................................................................................................... 7 3.1.1 Statements...................................................................................... 8 3.1.2 Periodicals .................................................................................... 19 3.1.3 Books ........................................................................................... 24 3.2 Audiovisual ............................................................................................ 25 3.2.1 Videotaped Attacks ........................................................................ 25 3.2.2 Films ............................................................................................ 28 3.2.3 Recorded Statements ..................................................................... 30 3.2.4 Songs ..........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Iraq: Falluja’S Faustian Bargain
    Iraq: Falluja’s Faustian Bargain Middle East Report N°150 | 28 April 2014 International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i Recommendations..................................................................................................................... iii I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Round Two in Falluja: Sectarian Polarisation ................................................................. 5 III. The View from Falluja ...................................................................................................... 9 A. Past as Prologue ......................................................................................................... 9 B. A Tenuous Unity ........................................................................................................ 10 C. Catch-22 ..................................................................................................................... 13 IV. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 16 APPENDICES A. Map of Iraq ......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Iraq: Politics and Governance
    Iraq: Politics and Governance Kenneth Katzman Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs Carla E. Humud Analyst in Middle Eastern and African Affairs March 9, 2016 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RS21968 Iraq: Politics and Governance Summary Iraq’s sectarian and ethnic divisions—muted toward the end of the 2003-2011 U.S. military intervention in Iraq—are fueling a major challenge to Iraq’s stability and to U.S. policy in Iraq and the broader Middle East region. The resentment of Iraq’s Sunni Arabs toward the Shiite- dominated central government facilitated the capture in 2014 of nearly one-third of Iraqi territory by the Sunni Islamist extremist group called the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, ISIS, or the Arabic acronym Da'esh). Iraq’s Kurds are separately embroiled in political, territorial, and economic disputes with Baghdad, but those differences have been at least temporarily subordinated to the common struggle against the Islamic State. U.S. officials assert that the Iraqi government must work to gain the loyalty of more of Iraq’s Sunnis—and to resolve differences with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)—if an eventual defeat of the Islamic State is to result in long-term stability. Prospects for greater inter- communal unity appeared to increase in 2014 with the replacement of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with the current Prime Minister, Haydar al-Abbadi. Although both men are from the Shiite Islamist Da’wa Party, Abbadi has taken some steps to try to compromise with Sunnis and with the KRG. However, a significant point of contention with the KRG remains the KRG’s marketing of crude oil exports separately from Baghdad.
    [Show full text]
  • Iraq in Crisis
    Burke Chair in Strategy Iraq in Crisis By Anthony H. Cordesman and Sam Khazai January 24, 2014 Request for comments: This report is a draft that will be turned into an electronic book. Comments and suggested changes would be greatly appreciated. Please send any comments to Anthony H. Cordsman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, at [email protected]. ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy [email protected] Iraq in Crisis: Cordesman and Khazai January 24, 2014 Update ii Acknowledgements This analysis was written with the assistance of Burke Chair researcher Daniel Dewitt. Iraq in Crisis: Cordesman and Khazai January 24, 2014 Update iii Executive Summary As events in late December 2013 and early 2014 have made brutally clear, Iraq is a nation in crisis bordering on civil war. It is burdened by a long history of war, internal power struggles, and failed governance. Is also a nation whose failed leadership is now creating a steady increase in the sectarian divisions between Shi’ite and Sunni, and the ethnic divisions between Arab and Kurd. Iraq suffers badly from the legacy of mistakes the US made during and after its invasion in 2003. It suffers from threat posed by the reemergence of violent Sunni extremist movements like Al Qaeda and equally violent Shi’ite militias. It suffers from pressure from Iran and near isolation by several key Arab states. It has increasingly become the victim of the forces unleashed by the Syrian civil war. The country’s main threats, however, result from self-inflicted wounds caused by its political leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jihad and Reform Front” Condemns
    November 2008 “The Jihad and Reform Front” condemns the American attack in Syria On October 27, 2008, the “Jihad and Reform Front” (Jabhat Al-Jihad W-Al- Taghyir)1 posted a message on its website2 condemning the American attack in Syria on October 26.3 The message read as follows: Regarding the American aggression on our neighbour Syria, In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful, "And when he turns away, his effort in the land is to make mischief therein and to destroy the crops and the cattle, and Allah likes not mischief" (Al-Baqarah, 205) In a heinous crime based on a flagrant lie visible to all, that is added to the American government’s black list already replete with lies, American occupation helicopters carried out an act of aggression against the Arabic neighbour and sister Syria, an attack which brought on the death of eight civilians and the injuring of others. We in the “Jihad and Reform Front” condemn and denounce this criminal act of aggression, and view it to be a result of the hysteria and frustration felt by the American government and its troops in Iraq, especially following the public’s outraged response to the security agreement4 about to be signed with the “Green Zone”5 Government… It seems that the occupation troops – laden heavy with the burden of hundreds of thousands Iraqis, who 1 The “Jihad and Reform Front” is a Sunni umbrella-organization of Jihadi groups operating in Iraq, founded in May 2007. For additional information about the organization, see: http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP157107 2 http://www.jhadfront.com, and also http://jrfront.info/english 3 http://www.jhadfront.com/index.php?p=378 4 A security agreement between Iraq and the United States, extending the presence of American forces in the country 5 The Green Zone is an area in central Baghdad that was the center of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and remains the center of international presence in the city 1 1 P.O.
    [Show full text]
  • Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 (PDF)
    Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 August 2010 ________________________________ United States Department of State Publication Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism Released August 2010 Page | 1 Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 is submitted in compliance with Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f (the “Act”), which requires the Department of State to provide to Congress a full and complete annual report on terrorism for those countries and groups meeting the criteria of the Act. COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM 2009 Table of Contents Foreword Chapter 1. Strategic Assessment Chapter 2. Country Reports Africa Overview Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership The African Union Angola Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cape Verde Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Cote D’Ivoire Djibouti Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Kenya Liberia Madagascar Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria Page | 2 Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Somalia South Africa Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe East Asia and Pacific Overview Australia Burma Cambodia China o Hong Kong o Macau Indonesia Japan Republic of Korea (South Korea) Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) Laos Malaysia Micronesia, Federated States of Mongolia New Zealand Palau Philippines Singapore Taiwan Thailand Europe Overview Albania Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Page | 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kosovo Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Malta Moldova
    [Show full text]
  • Audio Statement from Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi September 14, 2007 [Please Note: Images May Have Been Removed from This Document
    Audio Statement from Abu Omar al-Baghdadi September 14, 2007 [Please note: Images may have been removed from this document. Page numbers have been added.] “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful... During this month of Ramadan, Allah sent down his Quran as a tool of guidance to all people… Allah has told you in his holy Quran to fight… Those who are loyal amongst you shall bring jihad and victory over the enemies of Allah. Take care not to… waste your opportunity because of a political agenda or secretive agreements with the occupiers and his agents, because if you do so, you will be part of those who have decided to remain behind and disappoint.” “Nation of Islam: presently, the jihadi project in Mesopotamia is facing a fierce attack by those who have decided to betray us. These people have a history of being agents and traitors. Every time a region awakens from its deep sleep, they make sure to attack back and eliminate its nascent awakening. They implement their agenda in the name of our religion and under the guise of preserving the interests of the Muslims. Both our local and international enemies benefit from these internal battles and use them to implement their own plans. We shall be frank with you no matter how bitter the truth sounds. Our nation should realize that the Muslim Brotherhood in Mesopotamia under the leadership of the Islamic Party is engaged nowadays in the ugliest campaign to bury the signs of Islam in Iraq, especially in the field of jihad.
    [Show full text]
  • How Militias and Paramilitary Groups Shape Post-Conflict Transitions
    Hybrid Conflict, Hybrid Peace How militias and paramilitary groups shape post-conflict transitions Adam Day, Case Study Authors: Vanda Felbab-Brow and Fanar Haddad Adam Day Adam Day is the Head of Programmes at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research. Vanda Felbab-Brown is Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and Fanar Haddad is Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore. The author would like to thank Erica Gaston and Cale Salih for their review and insights provided to this paper and Eamon Kircher-Allen for editorial support. The paper was written in close consultation with Vanda Felbab-Brown and Fanar Haddad (the authors of the case studies in this volume). Any errors herein are the fault of the author(s). This material has been funded by UK aid from the UK government; however the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies. ISBN: 978-92-808-6513-4 © United Nations University, 2020. All content (text, visualizations, graphics), except where otherwise specified or attributed, is published under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial- Share Alike IGO license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO). Using, re-posting and citing this content is allowed without prior permission. Citation: Adam Day, Hybrid Conflict, Hybrid Peace: How Militias and Paramilitary Groups Shape Post-conflict Transitions (New York: United Nations University, 2020). Cover photo: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool (Licensed) Back cover photo: UN Photo/Stuart Price Contents Executive Summary ....................................................2 I. The Risks and Rewards of PGMs ...........................6 II. Case Studies ..........................................................10 III. Towards a Strategy for Dealing with Pro-government Militias ..................................18 IV.
    [Show full text]
  • Iraq in Crisis
    MAY 2014 Iraq in Crisis ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN AND SAM KHAZAI AND SAM ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW| Washington DC 20036 t. (202) 887-0200 | f. (202) 775-3199 | www.csis.org Iraq in ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Lanham, MD 20706 t. (800) 462-6420 | f. (301) 429-5749 | www.rowman.com Crisis AUTHORS Cover photo: Photo by Kaveh Seyedahmadian. http://www.flickr.com/photos/samanvari/3388535986/. Anthony H. Cordesman ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD ISBN 978-1-4422-2855-9 Sam Khazai Ë|xHSLEOCy228559z v*:+:!:+:! A Report of the CSIS Burke Chair in Strategy Blank Iraq in Crisis Authors Anthony H. Cordesman Sam Khazai A Report of the CSIS Burke Chair in Strategy May 2014 ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK About CSIS For over 50 years, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has worked to develop solutions to the world’s greatest policy challenges. Today, CSIS scholars are providing strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to help decisionmakers chart a course toward a better world. CSIS is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center’s 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. Founded at the height of the Cold War by David M. Abshire and Admiral Arleigh Burke, CSIS was dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world. Since 1962, CSIS has become one of the world’s preeminent international institutions focused on defense and security; regional stability; and transnational challenges ranging from energy and climate to global health and economic integration.
    [Show full text]
  • An Adaptive Insurgency Confronting Adversary Networks in Iraq
    An Adaptive Insurgency Confronting Adversary Networks in Iraq Jeffrey White Policy Focus #58 | September 2006 All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any infor- mation storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. © 2006 by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Published in 2006 in the United States of America by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1828 L Street NW, Suite 1050, Washington, DC 20036. Design by Daniel Kohan, Sensical Design and Communication Front cover: In Ramadi, Iraq, a masked gunman keeps watch while another man puts up a campaign poster for a Sunni Arab group ahead of the December 2005 parliamentary elections. Copyright AP Wide World Photos/Bilal Hussein About the Author Jeffrey White is the Berrie defense fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He also serves as a defense and security affairs consultant to several government agencies and defense corporations. He retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in October 2002 at senior executive service grade 4. He held the following senior-level positions at DIA: chief of the Regional Military Assessments Group, chief of the Middle East/Africa Regional Military Assessments Office, and special assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff/J2. Mr. White holds a -mas ter’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. He has authored or coauthored numerous papers on the insurgency in Iraq and has appeared frequently in the media as an analyst on the Iraq situation.
    [Show full text]