Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War
Since September 2001, the United States has waged what the government initially called the global war on terrorism (GWOT). Beginning in late 2005 and early 2006, the term Long War began to appear in U.S. security documents such as the National Security Council's National Strategy for Victory in Iraq and in statements by the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the JCS. The description Long War—unlimited in time and space and continuing for decades—is closer to reality and more useful than GWOT.

Colonel Robert Cassidy argues that this protracted struggle is more correctly viewed as a global insurgency and counterinsurgency. Al Qaeda and its affiliates, he maintains, comprise a novel and evolving form of networked insurgents who operate globally, harnessing the advantages of globalization and the information age. They employ terrorism as a tactic, subsuming terror within their overarching aim of undermining the Western-dominated system of states. Placing the war against al Qaeda and its allied groups and organizations in the context of a global insurgency has vital implications for doctrine, interagency coordination, and military cultural change-all reviewed in this important work.

Cassidy combines the foremost maxims of the most prominent Western philosopher of war and the most renowned Eastern philosopher of war to arrive at a threefold theme: know the enemy, know yourself, and know what kind of war you are embarking upon. To help readers arrive at that understanding, he first offers a distilled analysis of al Qaeda and its associated networks, with a particular focus on ideology and culture. In subsequent chapters, he elucidates the challenges big powers face when they prosecute counterinsurgencies, using historical examples from Russian, American, British, and French counterinsurgent wars before 2001. The book concludes with recommendations for the integration and command and control of indigenous forces and other agencies.

1117991521
Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War
Since September 2001, the United States has waged what the government initially called the global war on terrorism (GWOT). Beginning in late 2005 and early 2006, the term Long War began to appear in U.S. security documents such as the National Security Council's National Strategy for Victory in Iraq and in statements by the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the JCS. The description Long War—unlimited in time and space and continuing for decades—is closer to reality and more useful than GWOT.

Colonel Robert Cassidy argues that this protracted struggle is more correctly viewed as a global insurgency and counterinsurgency. Al Qaeda and its affiliates, he maintains, comprise a novel and evolving form of networked insurgents who operate globally, harnessing the advantages of globalization and the information age. They employ terrorism as a tactic, subsuming terror within their overarching aim of undermining the Western-dominated system of states. Placing the war against al Qaeda and its allied groups and organizations in the context of a global insurgency has vital implications for doctrine, interagency coordination, and military cultural change-all reviewed in this important work.

Cassidy combines the foremost maxims of the most prominent Western philosopher of war and the most renowned Eastern philosopher of war to arrive at a threefold theme: know the enemy, know yourself, and know what kind of war you are embarking upon. To help readers arrive at that understanding, he first offers a distilled analysis of al Qaeda and its associated networks, with a particular focus on ideology and culture. In subsequent chapters, he elucidates the challenges big powers face when they prosecute counterinsurgencies, using historical examples from Russian, American, British, and French counterinsurgent wars before 2001. The book concludes with recommendations for the integration and command and control of indigenous forces and other agencies.

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Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War

Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War

by Robert M. Cassidy
Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War

Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War

by Robert M. Cassidy

Hardcover

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Overview

Since September 2001, the United States has waged what the government initially called the global war on terrorism (GWOT). Beginning in late 2005 and early 2006, the term Long War began to appear in U.S. security documents such as the National Security Council's National Strategy for Victory in Iraq and in statements by the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the JCS. The description Long War—unlimited in time and space and continuing for decades—is closer to reality and more useful than GWOT.

Colonel Robert Cassidy argues that this protracted struggle is more correctly viewed as a global insurgency and counterinsurgency. Al Qaeda and its affiliates, he maintains, comprise a novel and evolving form of networked insurgents who operate globally, harnessing the advantages of globalization and the information age. They employ terrorism as a tactic, subsuming terror within their overarching aim of undermining the Western-dominated system of states. Placing the war against al Qaeda and its allied groups and organizations in the context of a global insurgency has vital implications for doctrine, interagency coordination, and military cultural change-all reviewed in this important work.

Cassidy combines the foremost maxims of the most prominent Western philosopher of war and the most renowned Eastern philosopher of war to arrive at a threefold theme: know the enemy, know yourself, and know what kind of war you are embarking upon. To help readers arrive at that understanding, he first offers a distilled analysis of al Qaeda and its associated networks, with a particular focus on ideology and culture. In subsequent chapters, he elucidates the challenges big powers face when they prosecute counterinsurgencies, using historical examples from Russian, American, British, and French counterinsurgent wars before 2001. The book concludes with recommendations for the integration and command and control of indigenous forces and other agencies.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780275989903
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 04/30/2006
Series: Praeger Security International
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Robert M. Cassidy has served in leadership and staff positions in the 4th Infantry Division, the 8th Infantry Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the Third Army, and the Seventh Army. He is a graduate of the French Joint Defense College and he has a PhD in International Security Studies from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is the author of Peacekeeping in the Abyss: British and American Peacekeeping Doctrine and Practice After the Cold War (Praeger, 2004) and he has published articles in Parameters, Military Review, Small Wars and Insugencies and The Fletcher Forum.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. World War X: The Revolution in Global Insurgency
2. Big Powers and Small Wars: The Paradoxes of Asymmetric Conflict
3. Russian Military Culture and Counterinsurgency: Pavlov Meets Jihad
4. British Military Culture and Counterinsurgency: Less Is Better
5. American Military Culture and Counterinsurgency: Another Street Without Joy
6. Success in Counterinsurgency
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Professor Richard H. Shultz

"Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror is a must read for academics, military professionals, and national security practitioners. The author combines his unique perspective as a military professional with his academic credentials to create a cogent work that explains how embedded military cultural preferences can influence or impede the preparation for and conduct of counterinsurgency. In a contemporary security environment that sees the U.S. military prosecuting multiple counterinsurgencies, and where the future may hold more of the same, this well written book is very relevant. Overall, the book is balanced, insightful, and well researched. For military professionals and security experts involved in employing our armed forces in this era, this is a book to read."

John Mackinlay

"Colonel Robert Cassidy is at the cutting edge of a new generation of US military officers who boldly contemplate global security issues, undaunted by the caveats of Summers and Weinburger and unencumbered by the baggage of Vietnam. In Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror, Cassidy bravely repudiates the military obsession for technology and firepower and instead methodically explores Russian, British and US military cultures for more complex lessons of success. His conclusions lead to a long term, multi-department, multi-disciplined strategy that is wiser, less industrial in scale and without the televisual qualities of a knock-down victory that is associated with US defense policy thinking. A must-read for military staff searching for an alternative dimension of experience from which to understand today's security discourse."

Wayne A. Downing

"Recommended professional reading. LTC Cassidy's analysis, drawing on relevant historical examples over the last century, illustrates the profound impact of military culture on counterinsurgency operations. A valuable read for any officer, the lessons learned in this book apply to today's operations in Iraq as well as to preparing our military for future conflicts."

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