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Articles & Testimony

Saudi Arabia Faces Long-Term Insecurity

A string of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia sent oil prices to a 21-year high in early June and prompted speculation about the future stability of the Al-Saud regime. Yet, the near-term terrorist threat presents a relatively minor risk compared to the longer-term possibility of state failure....

Michael Knights

Incident in the Shatt al-Arab Waterway:

Iran's Border Sensitivities

After several days of diplomatic tension between London and Tehran, eight British military personnel who had been captured by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were released and flown out of Iran on June 24. The men, who served with the coalition forces in Iraq, had been in three boats

Simon Henderson

Istanbul NATO Summit:

Bridging Brussels and Baghdad?

Will the Transatlantic Split Be Mended? NATO's Istanbul summit, to be held on June 28-29, will be historic, marking the first such meeting in which the organization's seven new Eastern European members will participate. In fact, with these additions, NATO now borders Russia. Despite the organization's enlargement, however, a transatlantic

Philip Gordon
Soner Cagaptay

Muqtada al-Sadr's Continuing Challenge to the Coalition (Part II):

An Adaptive Enemy

During late May and early June 2004, Muqtada al-Sadr's revolt was challenged by continuing coalition military action and mounting Shi'i political and religious pressure. His militia was increasingly on the defensive, clinging tightly to defensive positions near key holy sites and disappearing from the streets whenever coalition military operations became

Jeffrey White

Muqtada al-Sadr's Continuing Challenge to the Coalition (Part I):

The U.S. Military Response

Muqtada al-Sadr represents a serious long-term political and military challenge to the coalition and the new Iraqi government. Open warfare between Sadr and the coalition first emerged on April 4, 2004, with "uprisings" by his militia, the so-called Mahdi Army, in Baghdad and across southern Iraq. Although Sadr has not

Jeffrey White

Articles & Testimony

For Some Soldiers The War Never Ends

Many Americans, feeling that we did not have enough troops in Iraq, were pleased when the Defense Department announced last month that 20,000 more soldiers were being sent to put down the insurgency and help rebuild the country. Unfortunately, few realized that many of these soldiers would serve long after

Andrew Exum

Articles & Testimony

Sitting on Bayonets

Wars are ill-judged by their military outcomes or by the political repercussions that may follow in their wake. They often unleash social and political forces the ultimate impact of which can only be discerned years on. And they frequently produce unintended consequences that can pose complex and vexing challenges of

Security, Peace, and Israel's Strategy of Disengagement

The natural answer to this question is "a Palestinian state." Indeed, during the Oslo process, Israel operated under this very premise. Over the past three and a half years, however, considerable doubts have arisen about whether this is what the Palestinians really want. Of course, the leaders of Hamas explicitly

Articles & Testimony

Security and Politics

The current fighting in Iraq was almost inevitable. The new political process we are putting in place is based on elections, and those who know that they are going to lose them have every reason to disrupt that process. The Sunni radicals and the Shiite rebel leader Moqtada al-Sadr realize

Patrick Clawson

Articles & Testimony

Operations in Iraq Highlight the Need for Better Communication

Operation "Iraqi Freedom" encompassed the full range of modern military missions, beginning with a transition from the "not peace, not war" prosecution of no-fly zones to high-intensity warfare, followed by a security and stabilisation phase that has involved counterinsurgency and counterterrorist operations. Both during and since the war, the Coalition

Michael Knights

The Transfer of Sovereignty in Iraq:

Prospects for a Security Agreement

In congressional hearings on Iraq last week, legislators repeatedly asked testifying administration officials whether the United States would negotiate a formal security agreement with the post-June 30 Iraqi interim government. The officials explained that following the planned transfer of sovereignty to Iraq, U.S. and coalition forces would operate in accordance

Michael Eisenstadt
Michael Knights

Insurgent Operations against the Highways in Iraq

The intensification of Sunni-based resistance operations and the onset of Muqtada al-Sadr's Shi'i rebellion in early April confronted the coalition with a number of serious military and political challenges, few of which have been resolved. Coalition forces are facing new and increased operational demands, and among these demands is a

Jeffrey White

Crisis in Iraq:

Assessments and Implications (Part II)

On April 16, 2004, Michael Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, addressed the Institute's Special Policy Forum, along with Jeffrey White and Michael Knights. The following is a summary of Mr. Eisenstadt's remarks. Read a summary of Jeffrey White and Michael Knights's remarks. Recent U.S. confrontations with insurgents

Michael Eisenstadt

Crisis in Iraq:

Assessments and Implications (Part I)

On April 16, 2004, Jeffrey White and Michael Knights addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum, along with Michael Eisenstadt. Mr. White, an associate of the Institute, previously headed the Defense Intelligence Agency's Regional Military Assessments Group and Office for Middle East-Africa Regional Military Assessments. Dr. Knights, the Institute's Mendelow

Jeffrey White
Michael Knights

Iraqi Violence:

Shi'i-Sunni Collision or Collusion?

On April 5, Iraqi gunmen attacking U.S. forces in Baghdad's predominantly Sunni al-Azamiya neighborhood were joined by members of radical Shi'i cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, Jaysh al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army). Soon thereafter, posters of al-Sadr, along with graffiti praising the cleric's "valiant uprising" appeared in the Sunni-dominated city of Ramadi. On

Jonathan Schanzer

The Multinational Divisions in Iraq:

Lessons Learned

Madrid's determination to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq, combined with the collapse of some multinational forces during recent fighting, poses serious questions about the contribution that such forces can make to security during the period leading up to the June 30 transfer of power. Background The performance of the two

Michael Knights

The Revolt of Muqtada al-Sadr:

Characteristics and Implications

The challenge posed by Muqtada al-Sadr in the past several weeks remains unresolved, and its consequences are likely to be felt for some time to come. Al-Sadr's actions since March 28 present a complex challenge, one with both military and political implications. Eliminating al-Sadr and his organization as a political

Jeffrey White

Articles & Testimony

U.S. Should Choose Time, Place to Confront Radical Cleric

Since the beginning of Muqtada al-Sadr's uprising this month, the U.S. military has been uncompromising in its determination to bring the Iraqi Shiite cleric to justice. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy head of U.S. military operations in Iraq, is on record as threatening, "We will hunt him down and destroy

Michael Knights

The Battle for Falluja and Sunni Resistance

The battle for Falluja, in which U.S. forces have been fighting to break Sunni resistance elements in that city, has been one of the most sustained fights of the Iraq war and subsequent occupation. Significantly, Sunni insurgents are not only fighting in Falluja, but also across the Sunni heartland. Militarily

Jeffrey White

Lessons of the Iraq War and Its Aftermath

The 101st Airborne's Experience in Iraq The 101st Airborne Division returned to the United States in February after spending most of the previous year stationed throughout Iraq's four northernmost provinces. Although the division was engaged in daily combat with insurgent forces in its mission to provide security, it was also

David Petraeus

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Military and Security Studies Program

The Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program has established itself as an unrivaled source of reliable, incisive, and forward-looking analysis concerning several of the most critical national-security challenges facing the United States today: The U.S. military role in the Middle East, Iran's nuclear program and its proxy armies, the ongoing conflict is in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, the regional proliferation of missiles and weapons of mass destruction, the security dimensions of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and many other security issues on the frontline of the U.S. policymaking agenda.

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Featured experts

Michael Eisenstadt

Michael Eisenstadt

Michael Eisenstadt is the Kahn Senior Fellow and director of The Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program.

Michael Knights

Michael Knights

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.

Grant Rumley

Grant Rumley is the Meisel-Goldberger Senior Fellow and Director of the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Elizabeth Dent - source: The Washington Institute

Elizabeth Dent is a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where she focuses on U.S. foreign and defense policy toward the Gulf states, Iraq, and Syria.

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