Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq (Hardcover)

~ Ahmed S. Hashim (Author) "Iraqi officials vowed before the war-when it seemed inevitable-and during it that they would use any method to fight the Coalition..." (more)
Key Phrases: former regime elements, combatant cells, cessed online, United States, Sunni Arab, Saddam Hussein (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

More than two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a loosely organized insurgency continues to target American and Coalition soldiers, as well as Iraqi security forces and civilians, with devastating results. In this sobering account of the ongoing violence, Ahmed Hashim, a specialist on Middle Eastern strategic issues and on irregular warfare, reveals the insurgents behind the widespread revolt, their motives, and their tactics. The insurgency, he shows, is not a united movement directed by a leadership with a single ideological vision. Instead, it involves former regime loyalists, Iraqis resentful of foreign occupation, foreign and domestic Islamist extremists, and elements of organized crime. These groups have cooperated with one another in the past and coordinated their attacks; but the alliance between nationalist Iraqi insurgents on the one hand and religious extremists has frayed considerably. The U.S.-led offensive to retake Fallujah in November 2004 and the success of the elections for the Iraqi National Assembly in January 2005 have led more "mainstream" insurgent groups to begin thinking of reinforcing the political arm of their opposition movement and to seek political guarantees for the Sunni Arab community in the new Iraq.

Hashim begins by placing the Iraqi revolt in its historical context. He next profiles the various insurgent groups, detailing their origins, aims, and operational and tactical modi operandi. He concludes with an unusually candid assessment of the successes and failures of the Coalition's counter-insurgency campaign. Looking ahead, Hashim warns that ethnic and sectarian groups may soon be pitted against one another in what will be a fiercely contested fight over who gets what in the new Iraq. Evidence that such a conflict is already developing does not augur well for Iraq's future stability. Both Iraq and the United States must work hard to ensure that slow but steady success over the insurgency is not overshadowed by growing ethno-sectarian animosities as various groups fight one another for the biggest slice of the political and economic pie.

In place of sensational headlines, official triumphalism, and hand-wringing, Insurgency and Counter-insurgency in Iraq offers a clear-eyed analysis of the increasingly complex violence that threatens the very future of Iraq.

About the Author

Ahmed S. Hashim is Professor of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Naval War College. His previous books include Iran: Dilemmas of Dual Containment and Iraq: Sanctions and Beyond, both written with Anthony H. Cordesman.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 322 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (March 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801444527
• ISBN-13: 978-0801444524
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #468,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate summary of what we know about the Iraq insurgency, June 27, 2006

By	Mr. Hedgie (Greenwich, CT, USA) - See all my reviews

The author is a soldier/scholar who is now back in the US teaching college, after a tour of duty in Iraq's Tell Afar as an Army reservist specifically trained in counterinsurgency. The Iraq situation seemed an amorphous mess to me before I read this book; after reading it I understood better the groups involved and their motivation. The author is quite candid in his views, praising some officers and decision-makers he came across, while subjecting others to whithering criticism. There are some other good books about the initial invasion phase of the war, but this is the best book so far about the insurgency phase that still continues. An excellent book for those who want to understand the current challenges facing the US in Iraq.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overview of the Iraq Insurgency, December 18, 2007

By	David W. Southworth (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Ahmed Hashim has produced an excellent overview of the insurgency in Iraq. Hashim views the insurgency as a largely Sunni phenomenon and devotes a majority of the book to detailing the Sunni insurgents' means, motives and opportunities.

With shorter overviews of the Shia and Kurdish insurgency, plus a review of Coalition counterinsurgency policy to late 2005, Hashim has produced a good review of what went wrong for the American's in Iraq prior to 2007.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Seminal Work on the Origins of the Insurgency, February 19, 2009

By	Conor D. Reynolds (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This work has proved invaluable in resourcing a thesis paper, by being one of the best-sourced works in the category of Iraq literature. However, I would class this work as an essential tool for anyone searching for an understanding of the conflict in Iraq primarily because of Hashim's narrative ability. What is by any measure an academically hefty title is not bound by inaccessibility; wether it be through a constant provision of first-hand accounts of motives and actions by Iraqis themselves or an insistence to maintain a hounding sense of focus in the narrative, Hashim provides a unrelenting and encompassing look into the origins of the greatest problem in current American foreign policy.