War of the Web: Fighting the Online Jihad

by Jeremy Reynalds

From the publisher:
Few Americans realize to what extent the Internet aids and abets terrorism. In this fascinating and timely book, online terrorist hunter Dr. Jeremy Reynalds introduces us to a profoundly disturbing digital world, where killers troll for money and weapons and recruit new supporters at an alarming rate. Reynalds’ true-life infiltration of these shadowy online networks makes for compelling reading.

* Reynalds documents several on-line terrorist ring "busts," run in conjunction closely with the FBI and law enforcement.

* Uncovers a world where anything is for sale, from weapons to drugs to access, with proceeds going to kill Americans and our allies.

* Provides exceptionally keen insight about how major terrorist organizations manipulate Western technologies to destroy us.

Beyond the Law: The Bush Administration's Unlawful Responses in the "War" on Terror

by Jordan J. Paust

From the publisher:
This book provides a detailed exposition of violations of international law authorized and abetted by secret memos, authorizations, and orders of the Bush administration. In particular, it describes why several executive claims were in error, what illegal authorizations were given, what illegal interrogation tactics were approved, and what illegal transfers and secret detentions occurred. It provides the most thorough documentation of cases demonstrating that the president is bound by the laws of war; that decisions to detain persons, decide their status, and mistreat them are subject to judicial review during the war; and that the commander-in-chief power is subject to restraints by Congress.

Iraq's Armed Forces: An Analytical History

by Ibra al-Marashi

From the publisher:
Iraq’s Armed Forces: An Analytical History presents a comprehensive study of the evolution of the Iraqi military from the British mandate era to post-Saddam Iraq.

Despite its prominent role in three major conflicts, no single, comprehensive work on the Iraqi forces has been published before. This new book is key to understanding Iraq today and also makes a major contribution to the field of civil-military relations. Based on captured Iraqi military documents from the 1991 Gulf War, this research was allegedly plagiarized by the British government prior to the 2003 Iraq war. It shows how the Iraqi armed forces, at one time the world’s fourth largest military, engaged in the longest conventional war in the twentieth century and challenged a superpower on two separate occasions.

Ibrahim al-Marashi shows how the insecurity that plagued Iraq after the 2003 Iraq war can be attributed to the failure to create a new military that does not serve as a threat to a future government, yet is strong enough to deter rival factions in Iraq. As the US is mired in the reconstruction of post-Saddam Iraq, reconstituting its armed forces will be a prerequisite for an American withdrawal from Iraq. While the Bush administration praises the progress of the new Iraqi army, immense challenges lay ahead, as these forces are being built from scratch in the middle of an intense insurgency.

This book will be of immense interest to all students of the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003, Middle East studies, and of military and strategic studies in general.

Uniting Against Terror: Cooperative Nonmilitary Responses to the Global Terrorist Threat

by David Cortright and George A. Lopez (editors)

From the publisher:
As terrorist attacks continue around the world, from London and Madrid to Afghanistan and Iraq, questions multiply about the effectiveness of current antiterrorist strategies. America's reliance on military approaches and the Bush administration's avowal of a constant state of war have overshadowed nonmilitary, multilateral efforts, and there has been an analogous neglect of these alternative strategies in the literature on terrorism. Uniting Against Terror fills this gap, examining and evaluating post-9/11 cooperative nonmilitary responses to the global terrorist threat, with a particular focus on efforts of the United Nations, the Financial Action Task Force, the European Union, and a wide array of multilateral institutions.

Uniting Against Terror argues that defeating the global terrorist threat requires engaging international financial, diplomatic, intelligence, and defense communities and law enforcement organizations in an atmosphere of cooperation. It examines cooperative diplomatic and economic policies to address the changing face of terrorism and the global Al Qaida threat, differentiates between protective measures and long-term preventive policies, and makes recommendations for effective cooperative nonmilitary strategies. Included are chapters that analyze the UN and its role, the unique blend of sanctions and diplomacy that convinced Libya to end its support of terrorism, efforts to halt the financing of terrorist networks, and an account of the European Union's unified "Plan of Action" against terrorism.

Contributors:
Stephanie Ahern, Oldrich Bures, David Cortright, Kathryn L. Gardner, Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf, Jason Ipe, George A. Lopez, Thomas E. McNamara, Alistair Millar, Eric Rosand

"Cortright and Lopez have done a huge service to all those interested in pursuing the pros and cons of an activist foreign policy, short of the recourse to war. Chapters by well-known experts describe real-life experiences dealing with 'rogue states' like Libya, and there is also a very useful review of the surprisingly effective counter-terrorism activities of the United Nations, little known and less understood in the United States. The thoughtful, and characteristically low-key but potent, foreword by former Congressman Lee Hamilton is worth a read in itself. Altogether, a major contribution." - A. Peter Burleigh, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1997-1999)

Thinking beyond War: Civil-Military Relations and Why America Fails to Win the Peace

by Isaiah Wilson

From the publisher:
Why was there a deliberate plan to fight the war in Iraq but none to win the peace?

This question, which has caused such confusion and consternation among the American public and been the subject of much political wrangling over the past two years, is the focus of Lt. Col. Isaiah Wilson’s investigation.

Director of the American politics, policy, and strategy program at West Point, Wilson points to a flaw in the government’s definition of when, how, and for what reasons the United States intervenes abroad. It is a paradox in the American way of peace and war, he explains, that harkens back to America’s war loss in Vietnam. The dilemma we face today in Iraq, the author says, is the result of a flaw in how we have viewed the war from its inception, and Wilson reminds us that Iraq is just the latest, albeit the most poignant and tragic, case in point.

His exploration of this paradox calls for new organizational and operational approaches to America’s intervention policy. In challenging current western societal military lexicon and doctrine, Wilson offers new hope and practical solutions to overcome the paradox once and for all.

Lt. Col. Isaiah (Ike) Wilson III, USA, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he directs the American Politics, Policy, and Strategy program in the Department of Social Sciences. He is a former Army aviator and military strategist with peace enforcement and combat experiences in the Balkans in the 1990s and later in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, where he served initially as a researcher and military historian on former Chief of Staff of the Army, General Eric Shinseki’s Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group (OIFSG) and later as chief of plans for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) under the command of General Dave Petraeus during that unit’s 2003-04 tour of duty in Northern Iraq.

Trade-offs Among Alternative Government Interventions in the Market for Terrorism

By Lloyd Dixon, Robert J. Lempert, Tom LaTourrette, Robert T. Reville, Paul Steinberg

From the publisher:
This documented briefing presents interim findings from a RAND Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy project that aims to inform the debate over extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA), as modified in 2005.

The study uses analytic tools for identifying and assessing key trade-offs among strategies under conditions with considerable uncertainty to assess three alternative government interventions in the market for terrorism insurance: TRIA; no government terrorism insurance program; and extending TRIA without other changes in the program to required insurers to offer coverage for chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) attacks.

The results suggest that TRIA performs better on the outcome measures examined for conventional attacks than letting the program expire but does not effectively address the risks CBRN attacks present to either businesses or taxpayers. The research also shows that requiring insurers to offer CBRN coverage without other program changes has little upside for CBRN attacks and can have significant unintended consequences in dealing with conventional attacks.

Ambush Alley: The Most Extraordinary Battle of the Iraq War

by Tim Pritchard

From the publisher:
March 23, 2003: U.S. Marines from the Task Force Tarawa are caught up in one of the most unexpected battles of the Iraq War.

What started off as a routine maneuver to secure two key bridges in the town of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq degenerated into a nightmarish twenty-four-hour urban clash in which eighteen young Marines lost their lives and more than thirty-five others were wounded. It was the single heaviest loss suffered by the U.S. military during the initial combat phase of the war.

On that fateful day, Marines came across the burned-out remains of a U.S. Army convoy that had been ambushed by Saddam Hussein’s forces outside Nasiriyah. In an attempt to rescue the missing soldiers and seize the bridges before the Iraqis could destroy them, the Marines decided to advance their attack on the city by twenty-four hours. What happened next is a gripping and gruesome tale of military blunders, tragedy, and heroism.

Huge M1 tanks leading the attack were rendered ineffective when they became mired in an open sewer. Then a company of Marines took a wrong turn and ended up on a deadly stretch of road where their armored personal carriers were hit by devastating rocket-propelled grenade fire. USAF planes called in for fire support play their own part in the unfolding cataclysm when they accidentally strafed the vehicles. The attempt to rescue the dead and dying stranded in “ambush alley” only drew more Marines into the slaughter.

This was not a battle of modern technology, but a brutal close-quarter urban knife fight that tested the Marines’ resolve and training to the limit. At the heart of the drama were the fifty or so young Marines, most of whom had never been to war, who were embroiled in a battle of epic proportions from which neither their commanders nor the technological might of the U.S. military could save them.

With a novelist’s gift for pace and tension, Tim Pritchard brilliantly captures the chaos, panic, and courage of the fight for Nasiriyah, bringing back in full force the day that a perfunctory task turned into a battle for survival.

Ambush Alley is a gut-wrenching account of unadulterated terror that's hard to read yet impossible to put down. London-based journalist and filmmaker Tim Pritchard, who was embedded with US troops during the initial stages of the American-led invasion of Iraq, paints a compelling picture of one of the costliest battles of the Iraq war that will at turns anger, horrify, and sadden, regardless of one's political views." -- The Boston Globe

Tim Pritchard is a London-based journalist and filmmaker who has made several award-winning documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, PBS, and the Discovery Channel. This is his first book.

Islam and Political Violence: Muslim Diaspora and Radicalism in the West

by Shahram Akbarzadeh and Fethi Mansouri

From the publisher:
How do we engage with the pressing challenges of xenophobia, radicalism and security in the age of the "war on terror"? The widely felt sense of insecurity in the West is shared by Muslims both within and outside Western societies. Growing Islamic militancy and resulting increased security measures by Western powers have contributed to a pervasive sense among Muslims of being under attack (both physically and culturally). Islam and Political Violence brings together the current debate on the uneasy and potentially mutually destructive relationship between the Muslim world and the West and argues we are on a dangerous trajectory, strengthening dichotomous notions of the divide between the West and the Muslim world.

Shahram Akbarzadeh is a Senior Lecturer in Global Politics at Monash University. He is Director of the Centre for Muslim Minorities and Islam Policy Studies (CMMIPS). He is the author of Uzbekistan and the United States: Islamism, Authoritarianism and Washington's Security Agenda. Fethi Mansouri is Associate Professor in Middle Eastern Studies at Deakin University. He is the Project Group chair of the Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation and the founding Convenor of the Refugee Studies Group. He is co-author of Lives in Limbo and the editor of Australia and the Middle East (I.B.Tauris 2006).

Chaos and Violence: What Globalization, Failed States, and Terrorism Mean for U.S. Foreign Policy

by Stanley Hoffmann

From the publisher:
Renowned for his compassionate and balanced thinking on international affairs, Stanley Hoffmann reflects here on the proper place of the United States in a world it has defined almost exclusively by 9/11, the war on terrorism, and the invasion of Iraq. A true global citizen, Hoffmann offers an analysis that is uniquely informed by his place as a public intellectual with one foot in Europe, the other in America. In this brilliant collection of essays, many previously unpublished, he considers the ethics of intervention, the morality of human rights, how to repair our relationship with Europe, and the pitfalls of American unilateralism.

Stanley Hoffmann is the Buttenwieser University Professor at Harvard University. He is also the Western Europe book review editor for Foreign Affairs. His previous books include World Disorders (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998), Gulliver Unbound (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), and America Goes Backwards (NYRB, 2004). He resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Stanley Hoffmann is the most perceptive, acute, and fearless of American experts on foreign affairs, with a viewpoint that bridges the Atlantic. His latest book is full of insights on a world of power and terror, conflict, and the elusive search for peace." — Baroness Shirley Williams of Crosby, House of Lords,

The Talibanization of Southeast Asia: Losing the War on Terror to Islamist Extremists

by Bilveer Singh

From the publisher:
Long before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, awakened the United States and the Western world to the heightened level of the terrorist threat, Southeast Asia had been dealing with this threat. The bombing in Bali that killed 202 people, many of them Australian tourists, was by no means the region's first experience with Islamic extremism, which can be traced back to the 1940s, and the Darul Islam struggle.

The most recent group to emerge is Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah (AJAI), the most potent Islamic terrorist organization to date in the region and the group behind the Bali bombing. Prior to 9/11, the terrorist challenge was essentially national in character, with groups attempting either to secede from the central government to form a new state or to force the central government to adopt policies that would support the raison d'etre of these extremist groups. Essentially, this involved the establishment of a political system that was more Islamic in character, either nationally or within a specific territory of a national state.

This book analyzes the increasing Talibanization of Southeast Asia, a relatively new phenomenon that involves the adoption of Islamist doctrines, ideologies, and values that are largely militant in character, and that for some groups includes the adoption of violence to achieve their goals. Understanding this process of Talibanization in Southeast Asia, which was once an oasis of moderate Islam in the modern world, is the key to unraveling the mystery of the increased radicalization in the region.

The AJAI represents the birth of the first regional terrorist organization in Southeast Asia. It is a transnational terrorist organization along the lines of al-Qaeda. It aims to establish a regional Islamic state covering most of southern Southeast Asia that would ultimately form a new Islamic epicenter in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, what has made the AJAI a potent force has been its ability to synergize with various existing religious extremist groups in the region and beyond, including al-Qaeda and other like-minded groups based in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This has succeeded in posing one of the most serious security challenges to the region since the end of the Cold War. Jihadists are operating in small and localized cells even though the broad goals remain the same, namely, to spread sharia, establish an Islamic state, and bring down secular regimes. As most governments do not have the credibility or the expertise to diminish the threat posed by Islamist extremism, Wahhabism, and Salafism, Southeast Asia is in danger of being Talibanized in the near future.

BILVEER SINGH is Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. A former Fulbright Scholar, he is the author of nine books, including Succession Politics in Indonesia: The 1998 Presidential Elections and the Fall of Suharto (2000), and Politics and Government in Singapore: An Introduction (2007).

Terrorism in America

by Brenda J. Lutz

From the publisher:
Terrorism and terrorists have become a much talked about topic. Terrorism is often seen as a Middle Eastern problem and terrorists are often perceived as only having a Muslim background. It may surprise many to learn that Americans are and have been terrorists since the birth of the nation. This book investigates and discusses many instances in which Americans were themselves the terrorists and the victims.

"An in-depth, thoughtful, well-written and highly accessible case-study of the history of terrorism in the United States. The authors successfully debunk popular conceptions of terrorism suddenly being a threat to the United States. The book proceeds in a logical fashion, one that is useful to students, instructors, scholars, and the wider public." -- Jeffrey Ian Ross, author of Political Terrorism: An Interdisciplinary Approach

" This is an important contribution to the study of terrorism. It explains how terrorism is an historical phenomenon, even in the United States, and illustrates how the old versus new terrorism debate can help us understand modern terrorism in a holistic and historically accurate manner. The authors also conclude with an important and timely warning that the United States will need to deal with the threats that terrorism creates while still maintaining an appropriate respect for the civil liberties of individuals." -- Andrew Tan, Associate Professor of Social Science and International Studies, University of New South Wales, Australia

Democracy in Muslim Societies: The Asian Experience

by Zoya Hasan

From the publisher:
This book explores the character of the political transformation and democratic transition in the Asian Muslim world. It asks whether democracy is appropriate and desirable as a political system for non-Western societies, and assesses the extent of actual democratization in each of the countries studied, namely, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey.

The book questions the widely held view that the socio-political ethos of Islam as a religion, and/or of Muslim countries as societal units, prevents Muslims from adopting democracy as a form of government. The contributors argue that this perception comes from post-9/11 studies of Arab states and that non-Arab Muslim populations in Asia and Africa do not fit the same mould. At the same time, it is clear that a single model of democracy cannot work across these six countries because each country has a different history and treaded on a different path in the quest for democracy.

Ultimately, this book concludes that there is no fundamental incompatibility between Islam and democracy in the Asian Muslim world.

Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror

by Nonie Darwish

From the publisher:
When Nonie Darwish was a girl of eight, her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel. A high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza, he was considered a “shahid,” a martyr for jihad.

Yet at an early age, Darwish developed a skeptical eye about her own Muslim culture and upbringing. Why the love of violence and hatred of Jews and Christians? Why the tolerance of glaring social injustices? Why blame America and Israel for everything?

Today Darwish thrives as an American citizen, a Christian, a conservative Republican, and an advocate for Israel. To many, she is now an infidel. In this book she is risking her comfort and her safety to reveal the many politically incorrect truths about Muslim culture that she knows firsthand.

“Nonie Darwish is a woman of great courage with an amazing story to tell.”
—David Horowitz

“A book of great humanity, intelligence, and courage.”
—David Pryce-Jones, senior editor, National Review

“Indispensable insight into the world of Islamic radicalism and jihad.”
—Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania

“Anyone who wants to understand the real meaning of the clash of civilizations between radical Islam and the West should read this book.”
—Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado

We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder With the Marines Who Took Fallujah

by Patrick K. O'Donnell

From the publisher:
Five months after being deployed to Iraq, Lima Company's 1st Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, found itself in Fallujah, embroiled in some of the most intense house-to-house, hand-to-hand urban combat since World War II. In the city's bloody streets, they came face-to-face with the enemy-radical insurgents high on adrenaline, fighting to a martyr's death, and suicide bombers approaching from every corner.

Award-winning author and historian Patrick O'Donnell stood shoulder to shoulder with this modern band of brothers as they marched and fought through the streets of Fallujah, and he stayed with them as the casualties mounted.

Destined to be a classic of urban close combat - Marine Corps Gazette

Focus on Terrorism, Volumes 7, 8, 9

by Edward V. Linden (Editor)

From the publisher:
Terrorism, sadly, seems here to stay and to stay with a vengeance. It turns out that the United States was not prepared for it and now must play catch-up. In doing so, even agreement on how to define terrorism is in doubt and what to do about it seems beyond comprehension at the moment.

These volumes present a broad cross section of analyses of weaknesses and actions in the ongoing battle.

Iraq: The Space Between

by John Lee Anderson (Author), Christoph Bangert (Photographer)

From the publisher:
During the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 Christoph Bangert was still attending photography school. Only later, in the spring of 2005, when the Iraqi insurgency and sectarian violence reached its first peak, Westerners were kidnapped and beheaded, and most foreign journalists had left the country, did this intrepid photographer start to work in Iraq on assignment for The New York Times.

The overtly hostile environment in Iraq for foreigners, without regard of the individual’s intention or affiliation, restricts the freedom of journalists, particularly photographers, who (unlike writers) must be physically present in order to get the story.

Despite these conditions Bangert remained in Iraq as one of the few Western photographers committed to cover the war throughout 2006 and early 2007. He has worked largely independently from the military, using Iraqi guards, drivers, and translators, but was also occasionally embedded with American, British, and Iraqi forces. Iraq: The Space Between records the distance he traveled as a civilian between worlds committed to destruction in the name of freedom.

From CWBN:
The exact day of release for this October title is unknown.

Terrorism and the Constitution: The Post-9/11 Cases

by H. Pohlman

From the publisher:
The conjunction of Islamic fundamentalism, WMD, and terrorism has set the stage for a new form of warfare and ushered in a period of national reflection and debate about the proper balance between national security and the rights of the individual. This book contributes to the ongoing national debate by providing easy access to relevant documents from major post-9/11 cases that highlight central constitutional issues raised by the war on terrorism.

Fear and Politics

by Carmen Lawrence

From the publisher:
Arguing that fear has been a crucial factor in shaping Australian public policy, this study charts its consequences on the Australian community. Examining the effects of being constantly warned about the risk of terrorism, this account discusses how xenophobia has shaped policies toward refugees, indigenous Australians, and Islamic fundamentalists. Focusing on the exaggerated anxieties people now have over the risks of assault, murder, child abuse, and robbery, this book also looks at the sustained campaigns on law and order and suggests a wholehearted embrace of freedom, equality, and cooperation.

"Lawrence is an astute politician and one of the most articulate members of the Australian parliament ... It's a timely message in a gutsy and thoughtful book." —Sydney Morning Herald

The World Community and the Other Terrorism

by DunZr Bertil

From the publisher:
Many states suffer from internal violence and terrorism that is national rather than international, and cannot benefit from the solidarity inherent in the campaign against international terrorism. The present study sets out to develop a paradigm for the systematic assessment of international responses to situations of internal violence-cum-terrorism and demonstrate its relevance in actual conflict situations.

A World Ignited: How Apostles of Ethic, Religious, and Racial Hatred Torch the Globe

by Martin Tolchin

From the publisher:
A World Ignited is about the surge of anger that has swept the world in the last decade, its myriad causes, its toll in lives and human misery. This anger is amplified by modern, especially television and the Internet, and made more lethal by modern weaponry, and unprecedented tactics that strive for mass death and anguish. The authors conclude in an upbeat manner with a look at the politics of hope and what can be done to halt, and even reverse, this cacophony of hate.