Global Radical Islamist Insurgency: Al Qaeda Network Focus Vol. I: 2007-2011
A Small Wars Journal Anthology
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It is easy to get lost in media sound bites, hyperbole, and those few Americans peddling hysteria, which is analytically worthless. But for those American men and women who have invested intellectual capital thinking about complexity and coming to terms with ideas to manage strategic problems, the Small Wars Journal is a refuge. It is a forum by which ideas are tested, knowledge is shared, and simplicity as well as extremes in debate are both shunned. If you are looking to demonize or prejudge a region, its people, religion, or culture do not continue reading. But if you wish to truly feel how a segment of leaders and thinkers have struggled with ideas in the midst of Operations Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and are comfortable with ambiguity then these works focusing on al-Qaida’s global insurgency are for you. These essays are grounded in a world as it is and not a world as one wants it to be. The collection of essays featured takes readers into the evolution of al-Qaida regionally, globally, intellectually, as a network, a lifestyle, and an idea. The Small Wars Journal website represents cutting edge thinking on such diverse topics related to al-Qaida from foreign fighter recruitment, the insurgent landscape in Waziristan, to a preliminary exploration of the slides of the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan. When these essays were published on-line, they represented the earliest serious commentary at the time, and the beauty is that Small Wars Journal.com was established by a U.S. Marine, and has come to attract not only members of the Marine Corps, but all the services.
CDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, U.S. NavyWashington, D.C. January 5, 2015
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About the Book
This anthology—the first of an initial two volume set—specifically covers Small Wars Journal writings on the Al Qaeda network spanning the years 2007-2011. It will be followed by a planned second volume covering the years 2012-2014 that highlights both Al Qaeda and Islamic State activities. Depending on the receptivity of the readers to these volumes, future anthologies may be published. Conceptually, these volumes have been inspired by the four Small Wars Journal—El Centro anthologies published to date between 2012-2015. These new anthologies are meant to contribute to US security debates focusing on radical Islamist global insurgency by collecting diverse SWJ essays into more easily accessible formats. This volume is composed of forty-nine chapters divided into sections on radical Islamist OPFORs (opposition forces) and context and U.S.-allied policy and counter radical Islamist strategies, a preface by Youssef Aboul-Enein, a postscript by Hakim Hazim, this introduction, an acronym listing, extensive chapter notes, and short biographies of the forty-five contributors showcased in this work.
About the Author
Dave Dilegge is Editor-in-Chief of Small Wars Journal and a retired USMCR Intelligence and Counterintelligence/HUMINT officer, and former USMC civilian intelligence analyst. Dr. Robert J. Bunker is 2015 Futurist in Residence (FIR), FBI Academy, Quantico, VA., and Adjunct Research Professor, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA.