William S. Lind

Last week, I attended and spoke at a conference on armor in urban operations, put on by the U.S. Army Armor School at Ft. Knox, Ky. In listening to the other presentations, the question I was asking myself was, "What are these guys learning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan?" The question is an important … Continue reading “Doomed to Winning Lost Victories”

As I noted in a recent column, the Marines have blanked the news from the Sunni triangle since taking over much of that area. A front-page story in the Aug. 29 New York Times lifted the veil, and what it revealed was not pretty. The war in the Sunni triangle is shifting its base from … Continue reading “Iraqi Resistance Shifts From Saddam to Allah”

When President Al Gore was inaugurated in January 2001, few Americans imagined that before his first term ended, our country would be at war with Sweden. Indeed, Mr. Gore’s campaign suggested he would reduce American commitments abroad, avoid foreign adventures and forgo “nation building,” which American voters long ago realized costs heaps of money and … Continue reading “How Gore Lied Us Into War”

In Iraq and elsewhere, all eyes are currently on Najaf. As I had guessed, the battle ended with a whimper, not with a bang, as the Mahdi Army militiamen exfiltrated, and Moqtada al-Sadr turned over the keys to the mosque to Ayatollah al-Sistani. But the real winner is likely once again to be the new … Continue reading “The Desert Fox”

In any war, one of the most useful opportunities is a chance to see the conflict through the other side’s eyes. A Marine captain recently sent me a fascinating look at the misnamed "war on terror" through the eyes of al-Qaeda, in the form of an interview by an al-Qaeda journal, Sawt Al-Jihad, of Fawwaz … Continue reading “The War Through al-Qaeda’s Eyes”

In an earlier column, "Two Marine Corps," I alluded to the increasing corruption I see at Quantico and in Headquarters Marine Corps. A number of Marines have asked me what I meant by that. Are Marines taking envelopes of money under the table? Are defense contractors flying them to Vegas for free weekends of poker, … Continue reading “Corruption in the Corps?”

When bureaucracies fail, one of their favorite ways to deflect demands for reform is to offer reorganization instead. That appears to be what has happened in the report of the 9/11 commission and Washington’s response to that report. Worse, the reorganization envisioned is to further centralize intelligence by establishing a national intelligence director and creating … Continue reading “The 9/11 Commission Report: Reorganization, Not Reform”

Observers continue to ask, "Will Iraq descend into civil war?" The answer is that civil war is already underway in Iraq. Most people do not see it, because it is not following the Sunni/Shi’ite/Kurd fault lines on which we have been lead to focus. As is usually the case in war, we are the victims … Continue reading “Civil War In Iraq?”

The international goo-goos (Tammany Hall’s old name for the “good government” types) need their humanitarian crise du jour, and the Sudan currently fills the bill. The usual celebrities are wringing their hands and we are all supposed to care, deeply. The realist replies, “Yeah, that’s life in the global village,” but realism is out of … Continue reading “Fourth Generation War In the Sudan”

Shortly before I left Washington for the summer (in the good old days whose passing I regret, few stayed in Washington in summertime), my informal intelligence network gave me an interesting report: Iran was beginning to mass troops on the Iran-Iraq border. Did this portend overt Iranian intervention in Iraq? I said I didn’t think … Continue reading “The October Surprise?”