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Coco82
10-13-2007, 06:22 AM
Can I get some help on a research paper on the counterinsurgency in Iraq? It's basically on the efforts of the Anbar Salvation Front as well as militias such as the Wolf Brigade & the Special Police Commandos. If anyone could point me in the direction of sites I could visit to get adequate info I'd appreciate it.

Tom Odom
10-14-2007, 12:15 AM
Can I get some help on a research paper on the counterinsurgency in Iraq? It's basically on the efforts of the Anbar Salvation Front as well as militias such as the Wolf Brigade & the Special Police Commandos. If anyone could point me in the direction of sites I could visit to get adequate info I'd appreciate it.

Let me offer you this first:

Research projects are designed to teach you a subject and teach you how to research. When asking for leads, directions, etc it is accpetable if you first offer what you have uncovered so far. Then folks will be more inclined to help. It keeps us from repeating ourselves and helps preserve the intent of the research project.

Good luck

Tom

Coco82
10-14-2007, 03:15 AM
Well, let's see. Here's what I've found:

*A report by Kim Sengupta on the excesses of paramilitaries in Iraq
* An interview RFE did w/two generals in charge of paramilitaries Adnan Thabit & Mahdi al-Gharawi
* A BBC profile of the Wolf Brigade
* An ABC News story on the Wolf Brigade
* A Time story on Anbar Province
* An article by Max Fuller on the paramilitaries
* Various stories on Anbar by the Washington Post, Reuters, and the Herald Tribune.

I'm not sure if that helps. I'm not having troubles finding info on Anbar, although finding good sources on the paramilitary forces since their story is a bit older.

selil
10-14-2007, 04:32 AM
For background and credible discussion Google "Parameters" and start again. Read everything in small wars journal. Read the substantial credits/bibliographies you find. Learn what wonders can be found with scholar.google.com.

SteveMetz
10-14-2007, 12:32 PM
Well, let's see. Here's what I've found:

*A report by Kim Sengupta on the excesses of paramilitaries in Iraq
* An interview RFE did w/two generals in charge of paramilitaries Adnan Thabit & Mahdi al-Gharawi
* A BBC profile of the Wolf Brigade
* An ABC News story on the Wolf Brigade
* A Time story on Anbar Province
* An article by Max Fuller on the paramilitaries
* Various stories on Anbar by the Washington Post, Reuters, and the Herald Tribune.

I'm not sure if that helps. I'm not having troubles finding info on Anbar, although finding good sources on the paramilitary forces since their story is a bit older.

The problem you're going to face is that much of what you need, especially on paramilitaries, is classified.

I'm assuming you did a basic ProQuest or Lexis-Nexis search. That's where I'd start. Tony Cordesman's work (http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_experts/task,view/type,34/id,3/) is always useful. AEI's various reports (http://www.aei.org/publications/contentID.20070906163304235/default.asp) are less balanced than Tony's in that they have a definite ideological ax to grind, but worth consulting. I'd also suggest taking a look at various congressional hearings in the two armed services committees.

Rex Brynen
10-14-2007, 02:16 PM
I agree with Steve here: there is a great deal of information, and you need to focus both your research and analysis.

Are you writing about counterinsurgency in general? If so you'll generally need "big picture" analysis of the sort that he suggested (including evolving US strategy, political dynamics, particular treatment of the surge, the situation in Anbar, and the situation with regard to Shiite militias) and much less on specific units, etc.

Are you writing about a particular aspect of the situation? If so, set the stage, and then drill down to your key problematique.

The major problem with many research papers is that they frame the issue poorly, don't focus on a key research question or questions, therefore lack any real analysis or argument. They therefore end up looking rather like a source-driven wiki entry, or perhaps a tour guide:

"Welcome to insurgency in Iraq.. on the left, you can see Sunni and Shiite political grievances, up ahead we'll view a cautiously cooperating tribal leader, there on the right are AQI--wait, no, those are 1920 Revolution Brigades--and if you look carefully at that lump of concrete you might catch sight of an EFP..."

Steve Blair
10-14-2007, 03:23 PM
Also...don't expect to find everything online. Contrary to popular myth, the internet is not the repository of all historical and current affairs-related. Be prepared (if you have the time and the depth of the paper justifies deep research) to be using interlibrary loan or other resources to get copies of printed materials. Also be prepared to check the accuracy of just about everything you find online. The old "just because it's printed doesn't mean it's true" goes double once things go digital.

marct
10-14-2007, 03:58 PM
Hi coco,


The major problem with many research papers is that they frame the issue poorly, don't focus on a key research question or questions, therefore lack any real analysis or argument. They therefore end up looking rather like a source-driven wiki entry, or perhaps a tour guide

I definitely agree with both Rex and Steve. My own "pet peeve" with most research papers is that they do not define the terms that are used either via situating themselves within a well understood analytic framework or by defining them in the text. There are connotations, often unexamined, in most terms that skew a persons analysis. For example, the term "military" connotes the armed branch of a state, while "para-military" has a connotation of a different form of legitimacy (usually sub-state level). This can cause all sorts of analytic assumptions to be used that may, depending on what you are studying, be invalid.

Tom Odom
10-15-2007, 02:08 PM
Well, let's see. Here's what I've found:

*A report by Kim Sengupta on the excesses of paramilitaries in Iraq
* An interview RFE did w/two generals in charge of paramilitaries Adnan Thabit & Mahdi al-Gharawi
* A BBC profile of the Wolf Brigade
* An ABC News story on the Wolf Brigade
* A Time story on Anbar Province
* An article by Max Fuller on the paramilitaries
* Various stories on Anbar by the Washington Post, Reuters, and the Herald Tribune.

I'm not sure if that helps. I'm not having troubles finding info on Anbar, although finding good sources on the paramilitary forces since their story is a bit older.

Good effort:

Go to Amazon.com via SWJ so Dave and Bill get some help and search for The Terrorists of Iraq by Malcom Nance-on here as Abu Buckwheat. buy the book and read it. He is a goldmine.

Best

Tom