Coin

July 10, 2024 | Will Selber, Bill Roggio

David Petraeus Is Wrong: Counterinsurgency Won’t Work in Gaza

When you only have a hammer. . .

September 20, 2017 | Yaya J. Fanusie |

Regulators Struggling to Handle Illicit Finance Risks of Fintech Innovation

Earlier this month, China’s financial aut...

November 14, 2012 | Lee Smith Tablet |

Losing Petraeus, Losing Iran

The general was one of few who understood that Iran was at war with the US, and no bargain could be struck

February 15, 2012 | Lee Smith Tablet |

Interference

Should the United States act to protect Syrian civilians from their murderous regime? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...

January 30, 2012 | Bill Roggio, Thomas Joscelyn

Strategic Retreat

The war on terror is far from over. Why are we coming home?

November 4, 2011 | Small Wars Journal

COIN is Dead. Long Live COIN?

By Bill Ardolino On a warm August afternoon, two dozen US and Afghan soldiers trudged through sticky corn fields to the village of Majiles in the contentious district of Sabari...

August 9, 2011 |

The SEAL Tragedy

In the WSJ, Max Boot has an insightful, and at times moving, account of the failed mission this weeken...

June 14, 2011 | National Review Online

Graduate School of Hard Knocks

How to create experts in counterinsurgency.

June 13, 2011 | Clifford D. May

COIN is not Small Change

It’s the Pentagon’s job to prepare for wars of the future. But somewhere between Vietnam and Iraq, military planners confused “future” with “futuristic.” They...

June 13, 2011 | National Review Online

Mercenaries vs. Counterinsurgency

Blackwater could be a worse problem than you think.

January 3, 2011 | Joint Forces Quarterly

An Actor-centric Theory of War

The United States, the most powerful nation in the world, is reassessing its approach to war. With America entering the 10th year of what was originally called the global war on terror, the Natio...

October 4, 2007 |

COIN Is Not Small Change


General David Petraeus helped write COIN.
General David Petraeus helped write COIN.
It’s the Pentagon’s job to prepare for wars of the future. But somewhere between Vietnam and Iraq, military planners confused “future” with “futuristic.” They convinced themselves that combat in the 21st Century would resemble computer games. Satellites would provide intelligence. “Smart bombs” would do much of the killing. The enemy, overcome by “shock and awe,” would lose his will to fight.