Winning the Long War
Retaking the Offensive against Radical Islam
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- USD 54.99
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- USD 54.99
Descripción editorial
Winning the Long War is a trenchant examination of the past seven years of the Global War on Terror, the future battlegrounds that will confront the United States in the struggle against radical Islam in the years ahead, and how America can reclaim the initiative in what has become the defining struggle of the twenty-first century. Middle East expert Ilan Berman offers new thinking on counterterrorism strategy and provides the new administration with ways to close the gaps in current American counterterrorism strategy. While there are many books about fighting terrorism, none offer Berman's approach of integrating diplomatic, legal, economic, military, and theoretical strategies into a comprehensive national security action plan. Using cutting edge analysis of current terrorism trends, Winning the Long War identifies three central failings that triggered the West's retreat and radical Islam's simultaneous advance: the failure to properly define the enemy, the inability to dominate the battlefields, and the inability to calibrate counterterrorism strategies. Demonstrating the need for more creative thinking about the nature of the conflicts in which the West now finds itself, this book lays out the steps that must be taken to win the long war.
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Berman (Tehran Rising), vice president for policy at the American Foreign Policy Council, offers a comprehensive strategy for reclaiming "the offensive" in the "global war on terror." He expresses optimism cautiously, but warns that the gains especially in Afghanistan are tenuous and that the U.S. risks losing the initiative to the terrorists. He proposes a broad approach that emphasizes the political, economic and legal fronts in this long war, cautioning as has Defense Secretary Robert Gates that "the military should not... be the tip of the spear." As concerned with Iran as with al-Qaeda, the author recommends an array of tactics some more hopeful than helpful including political outreach, an Iranian embargo, educational assistance, updated laws of war and disrupting terrorist fund-raising. There is much of interest, although the main thrust of Berman's argument the need for a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy is the new conventional wisdom. Nevertheless, Berman's careful analysis and thoughtful conclusions are a welcome addition to the ongoing debate about the way forward .
