Bad Days In Basra
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| Author | : Hilary Synnott |
| Publisher | : Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 312 |
| Release | : 2008-02-21 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0857710699 |
The phonecall came from out of the blue, just when Sir Hilary Synnott was looking forward to retirement after helping steer India and Pakistan back from the verge of nuclear war. "It's about Iraq. We need a King of the South..."Bad Days in Basra" is the story of Synnott's time as Britain's most senior representative in Southern Iraq, trying to keep the region together as the rest of the country descended in to murderous violence. By turns wryly comic, revealing and heart-breaking, it offers a never seen before glimpse in to the high politics of the occupation. Shuttling between the gilded palaces of the Green Zone and the leaky outhouses which constituted Coalition HQ in Basra, Synnott had to negotiate his boss, Paul Bremer's brash indifference to what was going outside Baghdad, the indecisiveness of his London masters, and the brutal political realities of a country under occupation.Bearing witness for the first time to the chaotic fashion in which the coalition was run at the highest levels, Synnott's unique insider account is the most important primary source we yet have on how the South was lost. It offers new insights in to the style and motivations of key characters such as Bremer himself, US commander General David Petraeus and the then UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw. It provides an entertaining and witty portrait of the absurdities of life inside the occupying coalition, a devastating critique of CPA policies and controversial revelations about the real relationship between the two occupying powers, Britain and America.
| Author | : Warren Chin |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 251 |
| Release | : 2016-04-15 |
| Genre | : Technology & Engineering |
| ISBN | : 1317172361 |
Why did Britain come to play such a prominent role in the war on terror and why did the military instrument come to be the dominant theme in the British prosecution of what was an ideological and political struggle? This book is an analysis of Britain’s war against Al Qaeda and the phenomenon of international terrorism which marked a paradigm shift in the nature and conduct of war in the twenty-first century. At the heart of the book is an attempt to understand why Britain, which possessed a wealth of experience in the conduct of counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and small wars, developed a strategic and operational design to defeat the Islamist threat which proved to be deeply flawed. In addressing this question the book explores the complex intellectual, doctrinal and geopolitical challenge posed by Al Qaeda and international terrorism and how and why the British response took the form that it did. In conducting this analysis the book raises important questions about the assumptions and perceptions of those in government who led the UK into this conflict, the nature of the civil military relationship in Britain and how well it functioned, and finally the competence of its security forces in being able to deal with this threat both domestically and overseas.
| Author | : Russell W. Glenn |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 331 |
| Release | : 2015-05-22 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1317592778 |
This book critically examines the Western approach to counter-insurgency in the post-colonial era and offers a series of recommendations to address current shortfalls. The author argues that current approaches to countering insurgency rely too heavily on conflicts from the post-World War II years of waning colonialism. Campaigns conducted over half a century ago – Malaya, Aden, and Kenya among them – remain primary sources on which the United States, British, Australian, and other militaries build their guidance for dealing with insurgent threats, this though both the character of those threats and the conflict environment are significantly different than was the case in those earlier years. This book addresses the resulting inconsistencies by offering insights, analysis, and recommendations drawn from campaigns more applicable to counter-insurgency today. Eight post-colonial conflicts; to include Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Colombia and Iraq; provide the basis for analysis. All are examples in which counterinsurgents attained or continue to demonstrate considerable progress when taking on enterprises better known for disaster and disappointment. Recommendations resulting from these analyses challenge entrenched beliefs to serve as the impetus for essential change. Rethinking Western Approaches to Counterinsurgency will be of much interest to students of counter-insurgencies, military and strategic studies, security studies and IR in general.
| Author | : Stacey Gutkowski |
| Publisher | : Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 362 |
| Release | : 2013-11-27 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0857729527 |
How have long-standing and unconscious secular assumptions about religion shaped the post-9/11 climate and its wars? Stacey Gutkowski explores this little-examined, yet crucial, element of British perceptions of and policy towards Jihadism over the last decade, to draw critical conclusions about the relationship between war and the secular. She points to a surprisingly coherent body of secular beliefs that have fuelled policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and counter-terrorism, and that have had mixed results - responsible for both positive strategies and tragic errors. The theory Gutkowski develops on the impact of this secular approach to warfare holds a broader global significance, and cannot be viewed as just a British phenomenon. This book addresses ongoing and critical debates, such as the 'overreach' of Western liberal interventionism in the Middle East, and speaks to policy-makers, security analysts and students of IR, Foreign Policy and Security Studies.
| Author | : Wyn Rees |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 177 |
| Release | : 2024-02-19 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0198884648 |
The Anglo-American Military Relationship explores military cooperation since the end of the Cold War. Much of the literature on the Anglo-American 'Special Relationship' has focused on the personal linkages between American Presidents and British Prime Ministers. This book argues that much of what is special between the two countries has resided in their military cooperation. This has provided the ballast that has underpinned other aspects of the political and economic relationship and given it durability. The book focuses on how the British armed services have worked alongside a superpower, in both peacetime and conflict. This military cooperation has been a challenging task, not least because it has occurred within a dynamic strategic context in which the nature of conflict has been evolving. British armed forces have engaged with their American allies in high intensity warfare, as well as in developing military doctrines to address insurgency, peace enforcement, and nation-building tasks. Working so closely with the US military has generated risks as well as benefits for Britain's armed forces. It has led them to engage in tasks that have weighed heavily upon their resources and has resulted in numerous tensions between the two sides.
| Author | : Aaron Edwards |
| Publisher | : Edinburgh University Press |
| Total Pages | : 264 |
| Release | : 2016-12-08 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0748683992 |
A lively introduction to the practical application of strategy in war and peaceRead and download the introduction for free now (pdf)Strategy is a central concept in international security, and one that travels across the academic disciplines of politics, international relations and history. By why is it so important? Aaron Edwards unpacks key strategic episodes from world history and politics to help readers to understand the role of strategy and the scholarly and policy debates surrounding it.Discover how strategic theory can be used to navigate the complex and uncertain international security environment that we live in today.Assesses the practical utility of strategy in the modern world and emphasises its analytical value in the practical business of national and international securityExamines the politics of strategy in times of both war and peaceThemes covered include:International relations *; technology *; ethics *; irregular war (including counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism and hybrid warfare) *; the resurgence of great power rivalries in the early 21st century *; the rise of non-state actorsCase studies include:Guerrilla warfare and strategy in regions from South East Asia to the Middle East *; US nuclear strategy in the Cold War *; Russian intervention in Ukraine *; British strategy at the end of empire *; the UN's role in resolving conflict after the Cold War *; US-led coalition strategy in Afghanistan *; the challenge posed by Al Qaeda and Islamic State/Daesh"e;
| Author | : Andrew Rawnsley |
| Publisher | : Penguin UK |
| Total Pages | : 908 |
| Release | : 2010-09-30 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0141969709 |
Andrew Rawnsley's bestselling book lifts the lid on the second half of New Labour's spell in office, with riveting inside accounts of all the key events from 9/11 and the Iraq War to the financial crisis and the parliamentary expenses scandal; and entertaining portraits of the main players as Rawnsley takes us through the triumphs and tribulations of New Labour as well as the astonishing feuds and reconciliations between Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson. This paperback edition contains two revealing new chapters on the extraordinary events surrounding the 2010 General Election and its aftermath.
| Author | : Dr Simon Robbins |
| Publisher | : The History Press |
| Total Pages | : 644 |
| Release | : 2016-10-06 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0752479016 |
'Who is the enemy?' This is the question most asked in modern warfare; gone are the set-piece conventional battles of the past. Once seen as secondary to more traditional conflicts, irregular warfare (as modified and refashioned since the 1990s) now presents a major challenge to the state and the bureaucratic institutions which have dominated the twentieth century, and to the politicians and civil servants who formulate policy. Twenty-first-century conflict is dominated by counterinsurgency operations, where the enemy is almost indistinguishable from innocent civilians. Battles are gunfights in jungles, deserts and streets; winning 'hearts and minds' is as important as holding territory. From struggles in South Africa, the Philippines and Ireland to operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya, this book covers the strategy and doctrine of counterinsurgency, and the factors which ensure whether such operations are successful or not. Recent ignorance of central principles and the emergence of social media, which has shifted the odds in favour of the insurgent, have too often resulted in failure, leaving governments and their security forces embedded in a hostile population, immersed in costly and dangerous nation-building.
| Author | : David H. Ucko |
| Publisher | : Columbia University Press |
| Total Pages | : 250 |
| Release | : 2013-10-15 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0231164262 |
The British military confronted significant challenges during the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Adhering to the principles and doctrines of previous campaigns, they failed to prevent Basra and Helmand from descending into lawlessness, criminality, and violence. By juxtaposing the deterioration of these cities against Britain’s celebrated legacy of counterinsurgency, this investigation identifies both the contributions and limitations of traditional tactics in such settings, exposing the gap between the ambitions and resources, intent and commitment, that proved so disastrous to the operation. In its detailed account of the Basra and Helmand campaigns, this volume conducts an unprecedented assessment of British military institutional adaptation in response to operations gone awry. It calls attention to the effectiveness of insurgent tactics and the danger of ungoverned spaces shielding hostile groups and underscores the need for the British military to acquire new skills for meeting irregular threats in future wars.
| Author | : Aaron Edwards |
| Publisher | : Manchester University Press |
| Total Pages | : 336 |
| Release | : 2018-02-28 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1526129957 |
Britain is often revered for its extensive experience of waging ‘small wars’. Its long imperial history is littered with high profile counter-insurgency campaigns, thus marking it out as the world’s most seasoned practitioner of this type of warfare. This is the first book to detail the tactical and operational dynamics of Britain’s small wars, arguing that the military’s use of force was more heavily constrained by wider strategic and political considerations than previously admitted. Outlining the civil-military strategy followed by the British in Palestine, Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Aden, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, Defending the realm? argues that Britain’s small wars since 1945 were fought against the backdrop of an irrevocable decline in British power. Written from a theoretically-informed perspective, grounded in rich archival sources, oral testimonies and a revisionist reading of the literature on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, this is the definitive account of the politics of Britain’s small wars.
