Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing A successful counter-insurgency program requires a coherent government to implement it. Though resting on a few elementary premises, counter-insurgency entails coordination of an unwieldy number of bureaus that are not likely to have worked well together before. Counter-insurgency also requires reliable army and militias as local security Read More …
Brian M Downing A review of Marc Sageman, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, we were inundated by hysterical books which purported to give thoughtful analysis of al Qaeda but which instead only added to Read More …
Brian M Downing Two remarkable events took place in recent days involving the war against the Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, and al Qaeda. Neither event augurs well for US/NATO efforts in Afghanistan, though important opportunities may arise. In any case, recent events signal a new phase in the war in Read More …
Brian M Downing Pakistan might collapse. It faces regional insurgencies, political failures, rising Islamism (in the public and army alike), and reprisals from India over the Mumbai attacks of last November. The trouble in the US’s principal though duplicitous partner in the war on terror is all the more worrisome Read More …
Brian M Downing The war in Iraq and almost all foreign policy issues are usually seen in partisan terms. Accordingly, the GOP is now the party of reckless wars, the Democrats the party of thoughtful diplomacy. A look at our foreign policy over the last several decades, however, will reveal Read More …
Brian M Downing Last week President Bush humbly and movingly announced that to show his “solidarity” with our troops fighting in the Middle East he would refrain from playing golf. The magnanimity of the act, evocative as it is of our nation’s long tradition of noblesse oblige, speaks for itself. Read More …
Brian M Downing In recent weeks we’ve seen numerous supporters of the war point confidently to positive indicators and to benchmarks being met or neared. And we’ve also seen numerous critics of the war assert just as confidently that there’s been little if any progress. It all makes me think Read More …
Brian M Downing Something’s developing in Central Asia. There, amid expansive steppes and imposing mountains, numerous militant Islamist groups are planning, training, and coalescing. They are thriving amid the three great powers they oppose and plan to fight – the US, Russia, and China. The region has been Islamic for centuries, but Read More …
Brian M Downing But we in it shall be remembered – We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. – William Shakespeare, Henry V We’re stuck over here God knows how long, just waiting and sweating it out, and finding out things about yourself that, by God, it don’t pay Read More …
Brian M Downing In recent months, the George W Bush administration has been touting successes in Iraq, and polling data show a modest increase in US public support for the war. Various reports on the war will be released in the next week or so, the interpretations of which will Read More …