Blog Posts

“Several hundred such volunteers have arrived since the Syrian civil war began six years ago, according to local estimates, and several dozen remain.”

“The most critical factor feeding jihadi movements is the collapse of effective central governments — a trend in which the West, especially the U.S., has been complicit.”

“Will the War of 1812 slip back into historical irrelevance in the decades to come? Why did Britain quit while it was ahead?”

"The battle of Mosul is over, but the war against the Islamic State is far from done."

Files of Grunt walking through the deep green….the rice paddies…the sand dune broken plain…the rough scree and pine branches of impossibly steep hills…

“From day 1, Iran saw a chance to make a client state of Iraq, a former enemy against which it fought a war in the 1980s.”

“The Iraqi military's hard-fought victory over the Islamic State group in Mosul marks a defining moment not just for them. It is also a key win for the US doctrine behind it.”

Continue on to download this classic book - and a tip of the hat to Colonel John Collins (The Warlord), U.S. Army Retired, for sending this along.

“Marines are back in Helmand with a changed mission, looking at an overwhelmingly changed map.”

"U.S. forces in Afghanistan killed the head of Islamic State’s branch in the country earlier this week, the Pentagon said Friday."

President Donald Trump was the guest of honor today at France’s Bastille Day celebrations, an elaborate display that marked the centennial of the U.S. entry into the First World War.

“U.S. leaders seem to believe that America can kill its way out of this mess—and that’s totally wrong.”

“IS Militants deployed suicide bombers and sought young boys for battle, according to commanders and residents.”

The United States and its partners are intensifying global pressure against the terrorists and rallying support for more resources for post-conflict stabilization efforts.

"The Russian Way of War: Force Structure, Tactics, and the Modernization of the Russian Ground Forces" by Lester W. Grau and Charles K. Bartles - TRADOC G-2 Foreign Military Studies Office.

“Could such a plan actually improve counterinsurgency, leading to the success that has thus eluded the U.S. (and NATO)? In a word: no.”

“The photographs, the documents, the whistleblower testimony are all there - the brutal details of our diggers' conduct brought forward into the harsh light of day.”

“The marriage of local ground forces with U.S. drones, warplanes and intelligence has been potent.”

“The Islamic State described the loss of Mosul as a loss for all Muslims against the Shiites and the ‘Crusader coalition.’”

Continue on for the video.

“Trump should explain the theory of success, the stakes and why, after all these years, America’s longest war must persist.”

“Advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon’s plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan.”

“The day after announcing Islamic State’s defeat in Mosul, Iraqis turned to the enormous challenges of rebuilding and resettling the country’s second-largest city.”

“The senior US commander in Iraq has warned that the war against so-called Islamic State is not over, despite a 'historic' victory in Mosul.”

Continue on for a Washington Post news analysis of the battle for Mosul.