Counterinsurgency
Five ISIS Weapons of War America Should Fear
Editor’s Note: Please also see Five American Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear as well as Five Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear. Over the past year, ISIS has...
The Best Strategy to Handle ISIS: Good Old Containment
The Obama administration claims that it has a strategy to defeat ISIS. It does not. The forces of this most radical of Islamist groups continue to grow, even as it...
Does France Have the Master Plan to Defeat ISIS?
Early last year, France intervened in Mali against Al Qaeda’s North African affiliate. They struck the jihadist groups violently with airpower and special forces, and then chased them out of...
What Obama Left Out of His IS Strategy: A Political Settlement in Syria
Three weeks ago in the National Interest, I proposed a five-step plan to destroy the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. The plan called for the United States to:...
Who Is More Responsible for the Rise of ISIS? Bush or Obama?
The challenge posed to the Middle East, and ultimately to America, by the group calling itself the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) has unleashed a U.S. debate...
Five American Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear
Editor’s Note: Please see previous works by Robert Farley including the Five Worst Fighter Aircraft of All Time , the Five Best Submarines of All Time, Five Revolutionary American Weapons...
Why Obama’s War on ISIL Won’t Hold Its Popularity
With the prime-time announcement of his campaign to destroy ISIL, President Obama is staking his presidency in a place he certainly never intended. Obama launches his campaign with what appears...
The Real Challenge When It Comes to Destroying the Islamic State
The expert consensus on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has jelled with remarkable rapidity. The vast majority of commentators on this site and others like it concur...
Could Airpower Have Won the Vietnam War?
Editor’s Note: Please see previous works by Robert Farley including: The Five Most Overrated Weapons of War and America’s Troubled F-35: Five Ways to Replace It. With the advent of...
Whack-a-Mole: Obama’s Real ISIS Strategy
Two weeks after declaring that he had no strategy for dealing with ISIS, President Obama declared his existing policy a strategy. Given that he came to national prominence and won...
For America’s Military, Less Is More in the Middle East
The U.S. military is back in Iraq. The Obama administration is currently conducting airstrikes against ISIS militants and is slowly increasing the number of troops on the ground. Critics like...
What Does International Law Say about Bombing ISIL in Syria?
Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey has stated that ISIL cannot be defeated without attacks on the Syrian territory the group has occupied. Surveillance flights to...