What Are You Currently Reading? 2009

[Bill Jakola]

In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan
by Seth G. Jones

http://www.amazon.com/Graveyard-Empi.../dp/0393068986

I just finished the history of the recent 2001-2009 events in Afghanistan. I fonund nothin new here. Seth Jones captures this history in a cogent text totally consistent with what most everyone already knows.

His most useful concept is an explanation of the enemy as a hybrid and complex organism composed of many disperate parts from Taliban and al Qaeda to corrupt qovernment officials and drug traffickers, common crimials to tribal leaders to foreign national interests. Mr. Jones' characterization of the enemy as composed of many parts is helpful in understanding the problems we face in this region; however, he provides no solutions or even potentials for future success.

In this regard, Mr. Jones only provides an overview of recent events without greater context or long term history. I found it helpful as a single source reference, but encourage those interested in Afghanistan to complement it with other works like the "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East" by Robert Fisk. Althought, Mr. Fisk is mostly appoligetic for all Western nations' action in the Middle East, he does provide a different perspective.

[pjmunson]

I'd hope Fisk provided more historical context as he took over 1000 pages to do it.

[Mack]

Security: A New Framework for Analysis[/I]
Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear, 2nd Ed.
Ken Booth (Ed.), Critical Security Studies and World Politics (2005)
R. D. Lipshutz (Ed), On Security (1995)
K. Krause & M. C. Williams (Eds.), Critical Security Studies: Concepts and Cases

Hope thats useful

Thanks Tukhachevskii.
I've posted those sources in my "Things to Read Sooner Than Later" list. Much appreciated!

[OpsIntel]

Guys,

Finishing Warfare 2.0 on the heels of The Utility of Force (Smith). Preceeded by Hunting Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Leadership Targets (Turbiville) and for some historical flavor A Scratch of the Pen.

Anyone looking at today's and tomorrow's engagements would be well served by reading the first two. They provide interesting context for discussions of the nuts-and-bolts of warfare.

[Jedburgh]

Guys,

Finishing Warfare 2.0 on the heels of The Utility of Force (Smith). Preceeded by Hunting Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Leadership Targets (Turbiville) and for some historical flavor A Scratch of the Pen.

Anyone looking at today's and tomorrow's engagements would be well served by reading the first two. They provide interesting context for discussions of the nuts-and-bolts of warfare.

Turbeville's Hunting Leadership Targets in Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorist Operations: Selected Perspectives and Experience can be downloaded in full at the JSOU pubs website from the 2007 selections.

There is also a thread on HVTs/Political Assassination in the Global Issues and Threats section of the Council.

[patmc]

Taking a break from non-fiction to maintain sanity and refresh my brain. It has put me in a very good mood. I have a stack of non-fiction waiting though.

Finished:
"Legion" by William Peter Blatty, sequel to The Exorcist. Murder/cop mystery continuing the story of the first, years later. Not that scary, but interesting ideas and questions.
"The Haunting of Hill House" inspiration for several movies of same/similar name. A little dated, but scary without ever actually showing anything. Evil ending too.
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Military/political themes, but still sci-fi fun.

Next up, Asimov's "Foundation."

[Polarbear1605]

I just finished two interesting books, Warrior King by LTC Sassaman and Drowning in the Desert by Capt Gembara. The signifiance of the two books is that they reflect the author's view of their experience during a combat tour in Iraq that first year of occupation after our invasion. Both authors are members of the same Brigade, Sassaman is the commander of the 1-8 Infrantry Battalion and Gembara is the SJA at the brigade headquarters. Sassaman would receive a career ending letter of reprimand for a incident involving one of his platoon sergeants and Gembara, as the SJA, worked on the prosecutors case against the same sergeant. In my mind, Sassaman's book reflects what happens when the general officers could not come up with a strategy for those initial years of the occupation. Left to find his own solutions to the problem, LTC Sassaman uses his initiative to establish one of the most aggressive and successful programs within his brigade and division. The Gembara book supports this success and confirms that Sassaman is a "Warrior King". What I find interesting about the two books is that Sassaman is the combat commander fighting a rising insurgence using the rules of war. Gembara sees the same incidents through the eyes of a lawyer using the rules of law as the filter. These two views clash when in a operation conducted by one of Sassaman's company's a number of insurgents are captured and two enemy are killed. Gembara applying the rules of law sees it as a cover up for a war crime. Laws of War or Rules of Laws; which should you follow in a counter insurgency?

[jmm99]

Great White One,

Laws of War or Rules of Laws; which should you follow in a counter insurgency?

It depends !

[Jedburgh]

I just finished two interesting books, Warrior King by LTC Sassaman and Drowning in the Desert by Capt Gembara. The signifiance of the two books is that they reflect the author's view of their experience during a combat tour in Iraq that first year of occupation after our invasion. Both authors are members of the same Brigade, Sassaman is the commander of the 1-8 Infrantry Battalion and Gembara is the SJA at the brigade headquarters. Sassaman would receive a career ending letter of reprimand for a incident involving one of his platoon sergeants and Gembara, as the SJA, worked on the prosecutors case against the same sergeant. In my mind, Sassaman's book reflects what happens when the general officers could not come up with a strategy for those initial years of the occupation. Left to find his own solutions to the problem, LTC Sassaman uses his initiative to establish one of the most aggressive and successful programs within his brigade and division. The Gembara book supports this success and confirms that Sassaman is a "Warrior King". What I find interesting about the two books is that Sassaman is the combat commander fighting a rising insurgence using the rules of war. Gembara sees the same incidents through the eyes of a lawyer using the rules of law as the filter. These two views clash when in a operation conducted by one of Sassaman's company's a number of insurgents are captured and two enemy are killed. Gembara applying the rules of law sees it as a cover up for a war crime. Laws of War or Rules of Laws; which should you follow in a counter insurgency?

There is a fairly lengthy discussion thread on the board focused on Sassaman and his book.

[Polarbear1605]

Jmm99 says - It depends !
Ah Ha! and that is my point. I am glad we are starting to finally think alike.

Jedburgh - Thanks for the heads up on the Sassaman discussion thread. I have read about half of it and will continue tonight. Sorry I missed that one! I may comment later just to see if I can break those previous heart-rate records that it set

[HumanCOGRachel]

I am reading Commanding Heights, an interesting collection of strategic thoughts on complex operations just published in July of 2009 by the Center for Complex Operations (NDU).

I especially like the notes from Gen Barno on the importance of establishing face-to-face trusted advisory relationships, and the importance of working closely with Foreign Service officers as a partner in the counterinsurgency effort since I've heard the same again and again from the DOS perspective.

I'm not through it yet... but there are some goodies:
Bremmer, Chiarelli, Nash, and others authored sections...

Cheers,
Rachel

[Van]

Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution by Robert H. Patton.

-Definately not the highschool mythology of the Revolution; much discussion of the economic factors behind the insurgency.
-Maritime insurgency is a neglected historical field, and this is a great in depth study.
-Great attention to the strategic, operational, and tactical issues of insurgency, especially when privateers are involved.

I could see basing an overview of COIN for sailors on this one, as it addresses COIN holistically, but with a clear nautical flavor. I'm not quite done yet, but it is worth taking a little extra time and is very enjoyable.

Van

[Zack]

Just finished "Man, the State, and War" by Waltz and am now reading Mearsheimer's "The Tragedy of Great Power Politics" and Robert Pape's "Bombing to Win." Hooray for IR theory eh?

[Zack]

Taking a break from non-fiction to maintain sanity and refresh my brain. It has put me in a very good mood. I have a stack of non-fiction waiting though.

Finished:
"Legion" by William Peter Blatty, sequel to The Exorcist. Murder/cop mystery continuing the story of the first, years later. Not that scary, but interesting ideas and questions.
"The Haunting of Hill House" inspiration for several movies of same/similar name. A little dated, but scary without ever actually showing anything. Evil ending too.
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Military/political themes, but still sci-fi fun.

Next up, Asimov's "Foundation."

Foundation is awesome. I just read it about two weeks ago.

[J Wolfsberger]

I'm currently working my way through System Analysis, Design and Development by Charles S. Wasson. Anyone who's looking at a duty assignment in TRADOC or AMC ( or their counterparts in other services) might want to look into it.

[Granite_State]

Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution by Robert H. Patton.

-Definately not the highschool mythology of the Revolution; much discussion of the economic factors behind the insurgency.
-Maritime insurgency is a neglected historical field, and this is a great in depth study.
-Great attention to the strategic, operational, and tactical issues of insurgency, especially when privateers are involved.

I could see basing an overview of COIN for sailors on this one, as it addresses COIN holistically, but with a clear nautical flavor. I'm not quite done yet, but it is worth taking a little extra time and is very enjoyable.

Van

Glad to hear it. I've got the hard cover on my floor, really looking forward to reading it, especially because my home town (Portsmouth, NH) pops up more than once in the index.

[jkm_101_fso]

Just finished The Unforgiving Minute. I appreciated Mullaney's honesty and Candor; not only regarding combat, but also his personal life.

I've started Lone Survivor...having trouble trudging through the first 50 pages. I think Luttrel makes some statements that some could consider partisan, which I don't like. But it's his book...

[zenpundit]

The Culture of War by Martin van Creveld

Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count by Richard Nisbett

The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar

Reading the last one on Kindle, which I recommend highly for convenience for any books you do not need a copy of on your shelf.

[Zack]

The Culture of War by Martin van Creveld

Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count by Richard Nisbett

The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar

Reading the last one on Kindle, which I recommend highly for convenience for any books you do not need a copy of on your shelf.

Oh cool Zenpundit posts here. Love your blog. How is the Intelligence book so far? I read the hyper-long review essay you posted, and I am looking forward to reading it.

I am also now reading Great Powers, America and the World After Bush as well as Warden's the Air Campaign.

[zenpundit]

Hi Zack,

The Nisbett book is very good. While he's an academic this book was much edited for the layman interested in human intelligence, psychology, learning and educational systems. He's doing a lot of meta-analysis of psychometric studies on how heritable intelligence actually is vs. responsive to educational intervention or environment ( diet, parenting, illness etc.) Very up to date - strongly recommend it.