Michael Knights is the Jill and Jay Bernstein Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and cofounder of the Militia Spotlight platform, which offers in-depth analysis of developments related to Iran-backed militias.
Jeffrey White was an adjunct defense fellow at The Washington Institute, specializing in the military and security affairs of the Levant and Iran.
Articles & Testimony
Following the official end to the Iraq war, reconstruction efforts have been hampered by increasingly sophisticated resistance from Iraqis hostile to the continued presence of coalition forces. The complexity and scope of Iraqi resistance was illustrated by a range of attacks in the 24 hours following the bombing of a Najaf mosque on 29 August, in which Shia cleric Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim was killed. Within hours of the attack, two US soldiers were killed in separate roadside bomb incidents on convoys, a UK soldier was killed by a mob in the Amarah area, and an improvised explosive device attack was launched on a UK base in Basra. The Washington Institute analysed press reports and incident reporting data from Central Command and Combined Joint Task Force Seven (CJTF7) concerning 256 serious incidents that took place over 22 weeks from the second half of April to the second week of September. The information provided a basis for analysing resistance activity in order to identify trends, tactics, and characteristics....
