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Begin New Search Political Geography Middle East Author Thomas Donnelly

11. Iraqi Freedom and American History

Author:
Thomas Donnelly
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
With the capture of Saddam Hussein and the diminishing number of attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, there is a new sense of confidence and optimism about the direction of the Bush administration's foreign policy. It is important, however, to place these recent developments within the broader context of the endeavor to which the president has committed our nation. The invasion of Afghanistan in the autumn of 2001 and that of Iraq in the spring of 2003 together mark a significant departure from longstanding American strategy in the greater Middle East. In place of "off-shore balancing," wherein the United States sought to preserve the status quo by supporting a revolving rogue's gallery of native regimes, American power is now actively engaged in reshaping the political order of the Islamic world. This is, by definition, a generational commitment.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, and Middle East

12. Fighting a Global Counterinsurgency

Author:
Thomas Donnelly
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
More than two years after the September 11 attacks, the American military finds itself entrenched in a host of open-ended, low-level counterinsurgency campaigns across the Muslim world. These guerrilla conflicts have become, to no small extent, the operational reality that defines the global war on terror. But our current experience in Iraq—the central front of that broader conflict—suggests that the Pentagon still has a long way to go before it can prosecute these "small wars" with the same primacy it displayed during the "big war" this spring. Thus, if the United States is to succeed in creating a different kind of Middle East, it must create a different kind of military, redefining defense transformation to meet the strategic challenge now before us.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Middle East

13. U.S. Counterinsurgency in Iraq

Author:
Thomas Donnelly
Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Since sweeping Saddam Hussein's regime from power this spring, U.S. forces in Iraq have been confronted by an amorphous guerrilla resistance, concentrated around the so-called Sunni Triangle. While growing numbers of Iraqis are working with coalition soldiers, provisional authorities, and international aid workers to lay the foundations for a democratic society, insurgents are waging a determined campaign of terror against them. To prevail, the U.S. military must develop an effective counterinsurgency strategy. History offers several precedents on how to do so.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

14. Iraq Is the Central Front

Author:
Thomas Donnelly
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
On the evening of September 7, President George W. Bush declared the struggle to establish a more decent political order in Iraq "the central front" in the global war on terror. This was not merely a rhetorical flourish in the president's speech. Rather, it represents a further clarification of the Bush Doctrine and of U.S. national security strategy for the twenty-first century. What is at stake in Iraq extends beyond the borders of Mesopotamia. It defines what sort of world the American superpower wants-and what sort of sacrifices it is willing to make to create it.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

15. Fighting Terror: Lessons and Implications from the Iraqi Theater

Author:
Thomas Donnelly
Publication Date:
08-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
U.S. military operations in Iraq offer valuable lessons about the broader global war against terror. The ultimate prize in this conflict was never simply Saddam Hussein's elusive weapons programs, but the chance to establish a more durable international order. In sweeping aside the Ba'athist regime and by helping the Iraqi people build a prosperous, pluralistic, democratic society, the struggle between the forces of political liberty and the forces of repressive Islamism is now being joined in the heart of the Arab world. It is a battle we cannot afford to lose.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, and Arabia