Winning the New Iraq - Counterinsurgency Operations
Abstract
The thesis of this paper is the United States is winning in Iraq. Our political and military leadership have established clear objectives (tasks) that can be successfully accomplished and properly measured. To prove my thesis I will proceed down a four step process. First, define the US end state in Iraq what is winning? In a press conference in March 2003, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld stated the eight military objectives for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) focusing on regime change, WMD, terrorism, and intelligence collection. Second, there will be a review of basic insurgency patterns and phases (grievance, opening round and success) as defined by Julian Paget in his book, Counter-Insurgency Operations: Techniques of Guerrilla Warfare. During this step, I will apply Paget's generic insurgency description to the current Iraqi situation. The U.S. is currently in the opening round as Iraqi Security Forces are trained and a legitimate government is formed. Third, measuring our efforts in Iraq includes developing and measuring critical criteria to determine if we are on the road to success in Iraq. Establishing legitimate governments, professional security forces, and targeting the population through civil projects are critical parts of the road to success. This road to success has to be navigated in a complex environment of religion, culture and global terrorism issues. Being able to properly measure your progress on this road is critical. Finally, given our criteria, what steps can we take to continue our operations in Iraq? In the end, transforming Iraq from a dangerous place threatened by a deadly insurgency into a free democratic nation with a new representative government and professional security forces.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 17, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA463588
Entities
People
- William B. Hickman
Organizations
- Naval War College