Knife Fights Read online

increased troop strength in, 197–200, 204–5, 217, 232

  map of, xii–xiii

  Pakistan and, 185–87, 193, 197, 199, 201, 206–7, 210, 217, 219, 227–28

  rural nature of insurgency in, 186

  Soviet Union and, 185, 200, 208, 216, 225, 228

  withdrawal of troops from, 199–200, 204, 217, 232

  Afghan National Army, 198–99, 205

  Afghan Police and Local Police, 198–99, 203, 205

  AfPak hands, 191–92, 205

  Africa, 221

  agricultural-age warfare, 136

  Air Force Academy, 244

  AirSea Battle, 225

  Al Anbar Awakening, 172, 176

  Al Anbar Province, 66–106, 108, 113, 131, 143, 161, 166, 168, 172–73, 177, 200, 203, 209, 230, 252

  Alaska National Guard (Nanooks), 22–25, 28, 46, 66

  Al Askari Mosque, 138–39

  Al Batin, 11, 12

  Alexander the Great, 30

  Algeria, 120, 132

  All In: The Education of General David Petraeus (Broadwell), 161, 209

  al-Maliki, Nouri, 169

  Alpha Company (Ghostriders), 7, 15–16, 21–22

  Al Qaeda, 3, 52, 185, 186, 200, 207, 208, 210, 212, 217–18, 227–28, 233, 235

  Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), 89–91, 93–94, 104, 113, 138–39, 167, 168, 173

  Annapolis, 243–45, 247, 251

  Apache Troop, 27–28

  Arab Spring, 223–26, 231

  Armed Forces Journal, 142, 146

  Armitage, Rich, 110

  Armor, 24, 27

  Armor Officer Advanced Course, 24

  Army, 245, 246

  increase in size of, 171

  Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, The, see U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, The

  Army War College, 143

  Arnold, Benedict, 43

  Assad, Bashar All, 223, 234–35

  Assassin’s Gate, The (Packer), 129

  Assembly, 103

  Atkinson, Rick, 60–61

  Atlantic Monthly, 129, 137

  August, Matt, 94–95

  Augustine, Saint, 237

  Ayers, Nick, 69

  Ba’ath Party, 63, 112, 146

  “Back in Baghdad: This Time, Things Are Looking Up” (Nagl), 177

  Baghdad, 62, 64, 67, 77, 112, 113, 117, 121, 134, 139, 144, 161, 166–69, 175, 176–77, 198, 220

  T-walls in, 176, 186

  Banana Wars, 213

  Bangladesh, 226

  Barno, Dave, 190–91

  Basin Harbor conference, 116–18, 124, 129, 131, 140

  Basra, 169

  Belcher, Gary, 177

  Ben Ali, Zine El Abidine, 232

  Better Angels of Our Nature, The (Pinker), 224

  Biddle, Steve, 170, 192, 194, 216–17

  Biden, Joe, 194–95, 202

  bin Laden, Osama, 185, 186, 206–7, 228

  killing of, 207, 217, 222–23, 235

  Bismarck, Otto von, 212

  Black Hawk Down, 91

  Black Knights, 15, 16

  Blackwater contractors, 95–96, 99, 100

  Bohannan, Charles, 120

  Booker, Cedric, 26

  Bosnia, 27–28, 29–30, 44, 52, 61, 62, 224

  Bouazizi, Mohamed, 232

  Bremer, Paul, 63, 64, 77–78, 97, 112, 146

  Brimley, Shawn, 175

  British Malaya, 31–34, 37, 85, 176–77, 196

  Broadwell, Paula, 161, 208–9

  Bryant, Todd, 86–88, 90, 93, 105, 240

  Büdingen, 26–27

  Buffy, 10

  Burton, Brian, 182–83

  Bush, George H. W., 11–13, 19

  Bush, George W., 62, 86, 88, 109–11, 113, 118, 140–41, 148–49, 160–61, 172, 177, 190, 195–96, 214, 217, 231

  Iraq troop surge and, 161–63

  Rumsfeld fired by, 148–49, 214

  Caldera, Louis, 108

  Campbell, Kurt, 159–60, 180, 181

  Camp Buckner, 48–49

  Camp Funston, 154, 174

  Camp Habbaniyah, 72–74, 76, 83, 90, 91, 100, 101

  Casey, George, 112–13, 117, 139–41, 156, 161, 162, 166, 187–88, 190

  Center for a New American Security (CNAS), 159–60, 174–75, 177–83, 182, 189, 191, 243, 244, 247

  Nagl selected as president of, 180, 192

  Center for Naval Analysis, 158

  Center for Strategic and International Studies, 159

  Charlie Wilson’s War (Criles), 185

  Charlie Wilson’s War (film), 208

  Cheney, Dick, 118, 148–49

  Chesterfield, Lord, 214–15

  Chiarelli, Peter, 133–35, 148, 155, 158, 172, 247

  China, 215, 224, 225, 235–36

  Churchill, Winston, 214

  CIA, 185

  Civil War, 16, 136

  Clark, Dave, 247

  Claudio, Pablo, 5–8

  climate change, 223, 226, 231

  Clinton, Bill, 45, 144, 160, 209

  Clinton, Hillary, 177, 231, 234

  Clutterbuck, Richard, 32–33

  Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), 63, 64, 112

  Cockerham, Gray, 12

  Cody, Richard, 108, 112–13, 126, 151

  Cohen, Eliot, 116, 120, 124, 126, 137

  COIN Academy–Afghanistan, 188, 189, 189, 192

  Cold War, 19, 24, 46, 59, 110, 135–36, 213, 219, 225, 237–38

  Cole, USS, 52

  Coll, Steve, 175–76

  Collins, John, 111

  Combined Action Platoon, 35

  Command and General Staff College (CGSC), 51–52

  Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP), 82, 85

  Communism, 215–16, 223

  Communist Revolutionary Warfare: From the Vietminh to the Viet Cong (Tanham), 120

  computing power, 222

  Cooper, Walt, 45

  Counter-Guerilla Operations: The Philippine Experience (Valeriano and Bohannan), 120

  counterinsurgency, 2, 29–34, 45, 47, 50, 65, 69, 77–78, 81–82, 85, 88, 89, 92, 116–17, 123–28, 142–44, 153, 161

  barrier creation and, 176

  Basin Harbor conference on, 116–18, 124, 129, 131, 140

  books on, 120

  counterintuitive nature of, 127

  field manual on, see U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, The

  and learning from past mistakes, 211–41

  Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam, see Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife

  Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice (Galula), 120, 132–33, 164–65, 245

  Cox, Joe, 251

  Cox, Kathy, 251

  Crane, Conrad, 59–61, 126–27, 130, 137, 164, 230

  Criles, George, 185

  Cuban Missile Crisis, 224

  Cucolo, Tony, 165–66

  Cunningham, Sergeant First Class, 15–16

  Custer Hill, 154

  Cutchall, Christopher, 75, 88

  Daffron, Steve, 41, 43, 247

  Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The, 165–66

  Dammam, 6, 12

  Davidson, Janine, 115, 129, 144, 209

  Davis, Jud, 8–9, 9

  Defense Department, 110, 145, 153, 213–14

  Directive 30000.05 of, 144–45

  Minerva program of, 243, 244

  Strategic Guidance of, 221

  Defense Science Board, 144

  DeGroat, Art, 156n

  Democratic Peace Theorem, 195

  democratization, 195–96, 206

  Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD), 144

  Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam (McMaster), 92, 141

  Dien Bien Phu, 34, 224

  Downie, Richard, 37, 131

  Dunwoody, Ann, 172

  Egypt, 196, 223, 227, 232, 233, 239

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 34, 42, 224

  England, Gordon, 1
44–45

  Euphrates River, 72, 74, 76, 80, 93, 94

  explosive ordnance detachment (EOD), 75–76

  Exum, Andrew, 192

  “Failure in Generalship, A” (Yingling and Nagl), 146–48

  Fallon, William “Fox,” 157

  Fallows, James, 129, 137

  Fallujah, 68, 72, 95–96, 98–101, 113–14

  Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (Ricks), 149

  Fields, Craig, 144

  Feith, Doug, 64

  Fick, Nate, 174–75, 180–81, 190, 192

  Filkins, Dexter, 201

  First Cavalry Division, 6–19, 30, 99–100

  First Infantry Division, 17, 28, 55

  Flournoy, Michèle, 159–60, 180, 181, 190, 244

  Floyd, Price, 182

  Fort Hood, 5–6, 19, 24, 71

  Fort Irwin, 21–22

  Fort Knox, 5, 24

  Fort Riley, 53, 55–56, 58–60, 65, 67, 86–87, 104–5, 107, 108, 119, 151–55, 159, 171, 173, 186–88, 198

  Franks, Tommy, 112

  Friedman, Jeffrey, 170

  Frist, Bill, 162

  Fuller, J. F. C., 30–31

  Future Combat System, 30

  Future Shock (Toffler), 136

  Galula, David, 117, 120–21, 132, 134, 155, 164–65, 205, 245

  Galvin, Jack, 42, 45–46

  Garner, Jay, 63, 112

  Gates, Robert, 70, 149, 155–56, 156, 158, 160–61, 171, 172, 182, 191, 200, 214, 217, 221, 237, 238, 243

  Gentile, Gian, 220

  George C. Marshall Award, 52–53

  Geren, Peter, 142–43, 171–72

  Germany, 63, 237

  Ghostriders (Alpha Company), 7, 15–16, 21–22

  Ghostrider Six, 10

  Ghost Wars (Coll), 175

  Gingrich, Newt, 92–93, 113, 118, 119

  globalization, 223, 237

  global warming, 223, 226, 231

  Golby, Jim, 45

  Grafenwöhr, 27

  Graham, Jeff, 103, 216

  Graham, Kevin, 103

  Graham, Mark, 103

  Green Revolution, 223

  guerrilla warfare, 30–31, 33, 238

  Gulag Archipelago, The (Solzenitsyn), 223

  Haas, Richard, 227

  Habbaniyah, 72–74, 76, 83, 90, 91, 100, 101

  Ham, Carter, 166

  Hammes, T. X., 116, 124

  Harrison, Sergeant, 7–8

  Hastings, Michael, 202

  Haverford School, 248–53, 251

  Helmer, Dan, 188, 189, 189

  Helmick, Frank, 58, 108–9, 121–22, 125–26, 151, 191

  “Here Bullet” (Turner), xi

  History of Counterinsurgency Warfare (Marston and Malkasian), 245

  Ho Chi Minh, 215

  Hoffman, Frank, 131

  Hoffman, James, 94–95

  Homa, Matt, 86, 87

  Horvath, Jan, 123, 127, 137

  Howard, Michael, 37–38, 213

  Hufstedler, Doyle, 103–4, 104

  Hussein, Major, 98, 101–2

  IEDs, 75–76, 82, 86, 88, 95, 100, 102–4, 143

  In a Time of War (Murphy), 88

  Indermuehle, Dave, 70–72

  industrial-age warfare, 136

  information revolution, 136–37, 222–24, 226

  Ingram, Jeff, 60, 64, 75, 77, 174

  “Institutionalizing Adaptation: It’s Time for a Permanent Army Advisor Corps” (Nagl), 158–60

  International Security, 170

  International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), 198

  Internet, 223, 237

  In the Company of Soldiers (Atkinson), 60–61

  Iran, 223, 227

  Iraq, 2–3, 5–19, 58–106, 139–49, 185–91, 195, 196, 198, 201, 204, 211–21, 226–27, 230–31, 233, 235, 236, 238–41

  Al Anbar Province, 66–106, 108, 113, 131, 143, 161, 166, 168, 172–73, 177, 200, 203, 209, 230, 252

  Al Qaeda in, 89–91, 93–94, 104, 113, 138–39, 167, 168, 173

  costs of second war in, 211–12

  Khalidiyah, 67–68, 72, 73, 78–80, 82, 84, 92, 949, 95, 97, 101–3, 105, 121, 173, 176–77, 203, 252

  Operation Desert Shield, 6, 9, 11, 25

  Operation Desert Storm, 19, 21, 24, 25, 30, 40, 44, 46, 51–52, 55, 57, 63, 65, 68, 71, 72, 75, 85, 92, 99, 177, 211–12, 224, 225, 230

  reduction in violence in, 169–70, 177, 178–79

  surge troops sent to, 161–63, 166–67, 169, 192, 204, 217

  “sweep and clear” strategy in, 143

  in 2007–2008, 151–83

  Washington fight and, 107–28

  Iraqi Air Force, 73

  Iraqi Army, 63–65, 77, 96–97, 97, 98, 101–2, 112, 121, 139, 146, 169, 176, 198, 214

  Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC), 96–99, 101, 105

  Iraqi Police (IP), 78–81, 84, 89–90, 99–100, 103, 139, 176

  Ishmael, Brigadier General, 99–101

  Islamic extremism, 135, 193

  Israel, 231, 233

  Jaffe, Greg, 92, 129

  Japan, 63

  Johnson, Harold K., 35–36

  Johnson, Lyndon B., 215, 224

  Johnson, Pete “Blue One,” 10, 20, 20

  Kabul, 198, 207, 210, 218, 219, 228–29

  COIN Academy in, 188, 189, 189, 192

  Kagan, Fred, 192

  Kahl, Colin, 144, 175

  Kandahar, 197

  Kaplan, Fred, 142

  Karzai, Hamid, 195, 196, 229

  Kaufman, Daniel, 39–41, 40, 42–43, 246, 247

  Kaufman, Kathryn, 40

  Keane, Jack, 46–47, 162, 183, 204

  Kebble, Jim, 8, 12

  Kennedy, Chris, 74

  Kennedy, John F., 34–35, 215, 224

  Khalidiyah, 67–68, 72, 73, 78–80, 82, 84, 92, 949, 95, 97, 101–3, 105, 121, 173, 176–77, 203, 252

  Kilcullen, David, 114–16, 115, 117, 120, 123, 124, 129, 139, 163, 208–9

  Kilcullen, Harry, 115

  Korea, 105, 196, 233

  Korean War, 224

  Kuehl, Dale, 168, 169

  Kuwait, 5–6, 13, 16, 71–72, 230

  Lacquement, Rich, 124, 127, 144

  Lawrence, T. E., 31, 34, 47, 172, 215, 235, 239

  Learning from Conflict: The U.S. Military in Vietnam, El Salvador, and the Drug War (Downie), 37

  Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam (Nagl), 31, 52, 56, 78, 89, 92–93, 113–15, 118–20, 140, 142, 163, 191, 245

  Lebanon, 224

  Lehrer, Jim, 46–47

  Leners, Marty, 57, 69, 72

  Libya, 196, 212, 221, 223, 227, 232–34, 236

  Lieberman, Joe, 180

  Ling, Roger, 103, 216

  Long Gray Line, The (Atkinson), 60

  Lord, Kristin, 181–82

  Lute, Doug, 159

  M1 Abrams tank, 13

  M1A1 tank, 13–14, 17, 23, 57–58

  Maass, Peter, 88–89, 91–92, 108, 116

  MacArthur, Douglas, 42, 224

  MacFarland, Sean, 172–73

  Maddow, Rachel, 199

  Malaya, 31–35, 37, 85, 145, 176–77, 196

  Malayan Emergency, 140, 213

  Malaysia, 32

  Malkasian, Carter, 158, 245

  Manning, Bradley, 222

  Mao Zedong, 101, 245

  Marine Corps Small Wars Manual, 164, 213

  Marjah, 200–201

  Marlantes, Karl, 16

  Marston, Daniel, 245

  Martins, Mark, 204

  Mattis, Jim, 95–96, 99, 128, 130–31, 166

  Mauldin, Bill, 146

  McAllister, John “Mac,” 9, 9

  McCain, John, 160, 177, 180

  McCary, John, 83, 84, 92

  McChrystal, Stanley, 172, 191–94, 197, 200–202

  McKiernan, David, 189–91

  McMaster, H. R., 92, 129, 141–43, 163, 170–72, 203, 206

  Mearsheimer, John, 230–31

  Meese, Mike, 122


  Meigs, Montgomery, 28

  Metz, Steve, 114–15

  Michaelis, Patrick, 133–35, 155

  Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW), 27

  Military Review, 117, 123, 127, 133–34, 137, 140, 158–59

  Miller, Ben, 67, 75–76, 78–79, 90, 91

  Miller, Jim, 49, 59, 159, 160, 174, 180, 181

  Minerva program, 243, 244

  Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency (Trinquier), 120

  Moore’s Law, 222

  Mubarak, Hosni, 223, 233

  Mullaney, Craig, 45, 190

  Mullen, Michael, 187, 191, 200

  Multi-National Security Assistance Command–Iraq (MNSTC-1), 121

  multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS), 18, 19

  Murphy, Bill, Jr., 88

  Muslim Brotherhood, 235

  Nadaner, Jeb, 144

  Nagl, Emily, 50

  Nagl, Jack Frederick, 71, 107, 115, 157, 244, 248–52, 251

  birth of, 56

  Nagl, John A.:

  selected as CNAS president, 180, 192

  father of, 50–51, 153, 243, 244, 246

  as Haverford School headmaster, 248–53, 251

  marriage of, 25–26, 26, 71

  mother of, 51, 53, 153, 157, 251

  move to Alexandria, 174

  move to Philadelphia, 251

  retirement from Army, 20, 173–74, 180

  talks given by, 115–16, 124, 126, 143, 157–58, 163

  as teacher at Naval Academy, 244–45, 247, 251

  Nagl, Mark, 251

  Napoleon I, Emperor, 81, 136, 167

  Nasrawi, Frank, 83–84

  National Public Radio (NPR), 157, 163

  National Training Center (NTC), 21–25, 28, 41, 46, 65–66, 159

  NATO, 205, 218, 228

  Naval Academy, 243–44, 247, 251

  Navy, 245, 246

  New American Foundation, 175

  Newbold, Greg, 61, 146, 147

  “New Rules for New Enemies” (Nagl and Yingling), 142

  Newsweek, 122

  New Yorker, 129, 175, 176

  New York Times, 75, 88–89, 91–92, 108, 116, 142, 165, 201, 202

  North Korea, 105, 224, 233

  nuclear weapons, 223, 224–25

  Nunn, Sam, 177

  Obama, Barack, 144, 160, 177–80, 189–90, 195–97, 204, 205, 209–10, 217–18, 221, 231–35

  O’Connor, Sean, 109

  Odierno, Ray, 103, 117–18, 143, 167

  Odierno, Tony, 103

  Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), 63

  O’Hanlon, Mike, 192, 193

  oil markets, 216, 217, 218, 230

  One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer (Fick), 181

  O’Neill, Robert, 38–39, 39, 158

  On Guerrilla Warfare (Mao), 245

  On Strategy (Summers), 136, 219

  Operation Desert Shield, 6, 9, 11, 25

  Operation Desert Storm, 19, 21, 24, 25, 30, 40, 44, 46, 51–52, 55, 57, 63, 65, 68, 71, 72, 75, 85, 92, 99, 177, 211–12, 224, 225, 230

  Operation Enduring Freedom, 224

  Operation Iraqi Freedom, 224