The Battle For Hearts And Minds Uncovering The Wars Of Ideas And Images Behind The Global War On Terror

During the Global War on Terror, multiple wars of ideas and images played out as belligerents and various competing political interests sought to influence multiple public spheres toward their desired political goals. At the same time, the international media played a vital role in framing the issues, debates, and events in the arena of ideas that accompanied the conflict. These wars of ideas and images had profound effects on domestic and international public opinion, which not only influenced events and operations during the conflict, but also threatened the outcome. This study traces these wars of ideas and images from the prewar debates following September 11, 2001 through military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. It not only examines how belligerents and various competing political interests sought to shape public opinion toward their political objectives during the Global War on Terror, but also examines both media performance on the battlefield and the media's role in shaping public opinion, policy, and events during the war. As a foundation for understanding media's role in modern wars of ideas, this study also provides a crucial examination of media's influence on U.S public opinion and policy during important events in U.S. history, to include a fresh examination of media performance and influence during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. This study is essential for anyone wanting to understand the wars of ideas and images that accompany military conflict and international crisis, the challenges of reporting combat, and the media's power to influence public opinion and policy. Thoroughly researched and meticulously cited, this important multi-discipline study significantly contributes to the history and understanding to today's conflicts.

From Afghanistan and Iraq to Europe and the United States we are engaged in one of the most heated wars of all time. In this incisive new book, the man that has been called--the only one to understand the mind of the jihadist--shows that the most important battle is actually taking place in the hearts and minds of the world's population. This is the war of ideas, where ideology is the most powerful weapon of all. Phares explores the beliefs of two opposing camps, one standing for democracy and human rights, and the other rejecting the idea of an international community and calling for jihad against the West. He reveals the strategies of both sides, explaining that new technologies and the growing media savvy of the jihadists have raised the stakes in the conflict. And most urgently, he warns that the West is in danger of losing the war, for whereas debate and theorizing rarely translate into action here, ideas and deeds are inextricably linked for the forces of jihad.

Students for International Peace and Justice wishes to annouce the publication of Unveiling the Real Terrorist Mind. This interdisciplinary anthology provides a fresh analytic perspective on the 9/11 cataclysm. Unveiling the Real Terrorist Mind aspires to ignite heated debate on the War on Terrorism: A must-read for all those interested in lasting peace and justice. In this monumental collection of pro-peace essays, poems, and articles, the most dangerous minds of our time explore issues of terrorism, genocide, race, and war. Even though other works have been published, this book stands out because it shows the flaws in our national security and the failure of foreign diplomacy from the view of 66 academics and peace activists from six continents. Contributing authors include Nobel Laureate Betty Williams, NYU law professor Derrick Bell, MIT professor Noam Chomsky, CSU Long Beach professor Maulana Karenga, Temple University professor Molefi Kete Asante, Georgetown professor John Esposito, author Howard Zinn, author Ishmael Reed, author Michael Parenti, human rights activist Sara Flounders, former U.S. Congressman Paul Findley, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, 2006 U.S. Congressional candidate Bob Bowman, and many more exciting authors. All book royalties are donated to the People's Right Fund, Inc., a New York City-based not-for-profit foundation, which provides funding for educational programs on peace, civil rights, civil liberties, economic inequality, anti-repression and social justice issues. Website: www.peoplesrightsfund.org EXCERPT FROM UNVEILING THE REAL TERRORIST MIND Working for Peace in a Time of War By Derrick Bell I grieve for the thousands of people who lost their lives on September 11. They died without warning or any sense that they were in danger or that they had done anything wrong. The depth of the tragedy can be gauged by the pain one feels reading their full-page obituaries that have run for weeks in the New York Times. Those whose pictures and short, biographical sketches are published there were persons in the midst of busy lives, with plans now never to be completed and aspirations, now never to be fulfilled. They leave loved ones and friends for whom there is no consolation, no ability to forget. In our anger and grief, it is evidently easy for many to forget that what we experienced in the horror of a few short hours is what peoples in many parts of the world have had to learn to live and die with. Modern war and rebellions are increasingly waged against noncombatants, unarmed and vulnerable. Those who died at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania were innocent. Our country in our retaliation against Afghanistan, has not been innocent of raining down bombs and rockets that while aimed at "the enemy" inevitably killed as many innocent civilians as died on September 11. And if the toll is less, it is because of fortuity, not our humanity. Our decade-long boycott of Iraq and far longer boycott of Cuba, have been the direct cause of death for thousands of women and children while strengthening rather than forcing an end to the leadership in those countries. In our efforts to retaliate against those who planned the September 11 attacks and to displace leaders in countries we do not like, the Nation's leaders ignored the admonition of the Episcopalian minister at the National Cathedral´s post September 11 prayer service who urged that as we act, we "should not become the evil that we deplore." Wonderful words, but for those who design and carry out our foreign policy, they come years, even decades too late. Only in recent weeks has the mainstream and mostly conservative media begun reluctantly to provide us with some idea of how much our policies have caused understandable hate in much of the Third World. And since that

Seven years after the September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks, many experts believe al-Qa'ida has regained strength and that its copycats or affiliates are more lethal than before. The National Intelligence Estimate of 2007 asserted that al-Qa'ida is more dangerous now than before 9/11.1 Al-Qa'ida's emulators continue to threaten Western, Middle Eastern, and European nations, as in the plot foiled in September 2007 in Germany. Bruce Riedel states: Thanks largely to Washington's eagerness to go into Iraq rather than hunting down al Qaeda's leaders, the organization now has a solid base of operations in the badlands of Pakistan and an effective franchise in western Iraq. Its reach has spread throughout the Muslim world and in Europe . . . Osama bin Laden has mounted a successful propaganda campaign. . . . His ideas now attract more followers than ever. It is true that various salafi-jihadist organizations are still emerging throughout the Islamic world. Why have heavily resourced responses to the Islamist terrorism that we are calling global jihad not proven extremely effective? Moving to the tools of "soft power," what about the efficacy of Western efforts to bolster Muslims in the Global War on Terror (GWOT)? Why has the United States won so few "hearts and minds" in the broader Islamic world? Why do American strategic messages on this issue play so badly in the region? Why, despite 2 broad Muslim disapproval of extremism as shown in surveys and official utterances by key Muslim leaders,3 has support for bin Ladin actually increased in Jordan and in Pakistan?4 This monograph will not revisit the origins of Islamist violence. It is instead concerned with a type of conceptual failure that wrongly constructs the GWOT and which discourages Muslims from supporting it. They are unable to identify with the proposed transformative countermeasures because they discern some of their core beliefs and institutions as targets in this endeavor. Several deeply problematic trends confound the American conceptualizations of the GWOT and the strategic messages crafted to fight that War. These evolve from (1) post-colonial political approaches to Muslims and Muslim majority nations that vary greatly and therefore produce conflicting and confusing impressions and effects; and (2) residual generalized ignorance of and prejudice toward Islam and sub regional cultures. Add to this American anger, fear, and anxiety about the deadly events of 9/11, and certain elements that, despite the urgings of cooler heads, hold Muslims and their religion accountable for them is deeds of their coreligionists, or who find it useful to do so for political reasons.This monograph questions the messages conveyed to Muslims about their religion and extremism in the war of ideas. Why do American strategic messages on this issue play so badly in the region? Why, despite broad Muslim disapproval of extremism as shown in surveys and official utterances by key Muslim leaders, has support for bin Ladin actually increased in Jordan and in Pakistan since some polling suggests bin Ladin's approval in Jordan suffered a great deal after the hotel bombings? A reason that the United States is winning so few "hearts and minds" in the broader Islamic world is confusion and imprecision in American strategic messages. The grand strategy of defining, isolating, and destroying Islamism or radical Islamism may not be possible if America does not proceed more carefully, and listen to what its allies think, know, and feel about their faith. This monograph will not revisit the origins of Islamist violence. It is instead concerned with conceptual failure that wrongly constructs the War on Terror and discourages Muslims from supporting it. They are unable to identify with the proposed transformative countermeasures because they discern some of their core beliefs and institutions as targets in this endeavor.

This is the most comprehensive account of the entire 2004 campaign to secure Fallujah, and includes vivid descriptions of both Operation Vigilant Resolve and Operation al-Fajr, the detailed planning, shaping, and preparations between the battles, the valiant civil military affairs efforts, and the wars of ideas and images that accompanied both battles. This book has 200 pages filled with full-color pictures and numerous eyewitness accounts from participants, and has over 600 citations. Forward by Lieutenant General Richard F. Natonski USMC (Ret), the Commanding General of 1st Marine Division during Operation al-Fajr. A generous portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book goes to the Semper Fi Fund, the Wounded Warrior Project, and other charities that serve our men and women in uniform.

Richard Clarke has been one of America's foremost experts on counterterrorism measures for more than two decades. He has served under four presidents from both parties, beginning in Ronald Reagan's State Department becoming America's first Counter-terrorism Czar under Bill Clinton and remaining for the first two years of George W. Bush's administration. He has seen every piece of intelligence on Al-Qaeda from the beginning; he was in the Situation Room on September 11th and he knows exactly what has taken place under the United State's new Department of Homeland Security. Through gripping, thriller-like scenes, he tells the full story for the first time and explains what the Bush Administration are doing.

"Stunning. Sean McFate is a new Sun Tzu." -Admiral James Stavridis (retired), former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO An Economist Book of the Year 2019 Some of the principles of warfare are ancient, others are new, but all described in The New Rules of War will permanently shape war now and in the future. By following them Sean McFate argues, we can prevail. But if we do not, terrorists, rogue states, and others who do not fight conventionally will succeed—and rule the world. The New Rules of War is an urgent, fascinating exploration of war—past, present and future—and what we must do if we want to win today from an 82nd Airborne veteran, former private military contractor, and professor of war studies at the National Defense University. War is timeless. Some things change—weapons, tactics, technology, leadership, objectives—but our desire to go into battle does not. We are living in the age of Durable Disorder—a period of unrest created by numerous factors: China’s rise, Russia’s resurgence, America’s retreat, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change, dwindling natural resources, and bloody civil wars. Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts and has studied and taught the history and practice of war. He’s seen firsthand the horrors of battle and understands the depth and complexity of the current global military situation. This devastating turmoil has given rise to difficult questions. What is the future of war? How can we survive? If Americans are drawn into major armed conflict, can we win? McFate calls upon the legends of military study Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and others, as well as his own experience, and carefully constructs the new rules for the future of military engagement, the ways we can fight and win in an age of entropy: one where corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power and ‘nation states’ have less. With examples from the Roman conquest, World War II, Vietnam, Afghanistan and others, he tackles the differences between conventional and future war, the danger in believing that technology will save us, the genuine leverage of psychological and ‘shadow’ warfare, and much more. McFate’s new rules distill the essence of war today, describing what it is in the real world, not what we believe or wish it to be.

The author presents a clear-sighted and sobering analysis of where we are today in the struggle against terrorism. Jenkins, an internationally renowned authority on terrorism, distills the jihadists' operational code and outlines a pragmatic but principled approach to defeating the terrorist enterprise. We need to build upon our traditions of determination and self-reliance, he argues, and above all, preserve our commitment to American values.

In the face of Islam's own internal struggles, it is not easy to see who we should support and how. This report provides detailed descriptions of subgroups, their stands on various issues, and what those stands may mean for the West. Since the outcomes can matter greatly to international community, that community might wish to influence them by providing support to appropriate actors. The author recommends a mixed approach of providing specific types of support to those who can influence the outcomes in desirable ways.

Written by a reserve officer who spent a tour in the Philippines producing a classified history for US Special Operations Command, this first-ever publicly available history of OEF-P provides both a detailed accounting of the operation's successes and a model for trainers and advisers providing assistance to host-nation security forces around the globe. Stentiford emphasizes that what made OEF-P a success was an adherence to time-honored principles of counterinsurgency: insisting that host-nation forces take the lead and conducting operations with a minimal footprint that bought the essential time for the mission to succeed. Success in the Shadows is both a fitting tribute to the operators who performed this vital mission and a primer for those who will be called upon to do so in the future.