Fighting the War on Terror: A Counterinsurgency Strategy

How to Win the War on Terror

“It’s time for blunt talk and equally blunt advice. There are serious problems within the U.S. military, especially regarding the U.S. strategy for the Global War on Terror. These problems need to be addressed, and addressed now.”

                                                                                                            —James S. Corum, PhD

Dr. Corum, who teaches in the Department of Joint and Multinational Operations at the Command and General Staff College, is one of the U.S. Army’s top experts on counterinsurgency warfare. That expertise fills the pages of Fighting the War on Terror. Starting with an overview of historical insurgencies and terrorist tactics, and focusing on the current state of the world, Corum draws out the lessons that need to be learned from the victories and defeats of both sides. From spending more on training and less on weapons, to revamping the intelligence community, to the use of media campaigns to counter extremist propaganda, Corum lays out a plan for winning this unavoidable and essential struggle.

Front flap copy:

Terrorists and insurgents, not foreign governments, now pose the greatest threat to America—and how to fight and defeat such “non-state” enemies is the single most urgent and vexing question confronting our military today. This timely book has some answers. Drawing on decades of experience with counterinsurgency—as a scholar, a strategist, and a military officer—James S. Corum brings unique insight to the problems we face. His book offers a deeply informed, closely reasoned and—most valuably—eminently sensible account of how circumstances and our actions (or inaction) have contributed to our present dilemma. With the lessons of recent history in clear view, Corum lays out a workable strategy for meeting the often-overlapping threat raised by terrorist groups and insurgents.

Critical to understanding the nature of modern-day warfare, Fighting the War on Terror has broad implications for the future course of military, intelligence, and foreign policymaking. No one with an interest in the nation’s security can afford to overlook it.

Back flap copy:

James S. Corum, PhD, is an associate professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in the Department of Joint and Multinational Operations at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was recently a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s All Souls College. While serving as a professor at the Air University, Corum developed and taught the course Terrorism and Small Wars. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Strategic Studies and Airpower Journal and the author of four books. A Lieutenant Colonel, Corum recently retired from the U.S. Army Reserve after six years of active duty and twenty-two years of reserve service, including duty in Iraq in 2004.

James S. Corum, PhD, is an associate professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in the Department of Joint and Multinational Operations at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was recently a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s All Souls College. While serving as a professor at the Air University, Corum developed and taught the course Terrorism and Small Wars. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Strategic Studies and Airpower Journal and the author of four books. A Lieutenant Colonel, Corum recently retired from the U.S. Army Reserve after six years of active duty and twenty-two years of reserve service, including duty in Iraq in 2004.

Sir Michael Eliot Howard, OM, CH, CBE, MC, is a noted author and researcher, and formerly Chichele Professor of the History of War and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford University. He won a Military Cross at Salerno and after the war he helped found the Department of War Studies and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London. He is currently president emeritus of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which he also helped to establish, and a fellow of the British Academy. Sir Michael was knighted in 1986 and was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2002 and the Order of Merit in 2005.