The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and its Allies is a book on United States national security strategy coauthored by Michael T. Flynn and Michael Ledeen. Published by Macmillan's imprint St. Martin's Press in 2016, it argues that the United States is engaged in a religious world war against what the authors call "Radical Islam"—defined as a violent "tribal cult" emanating from a "failed civilization"—but has so far been hampered in its response by political correctness. The authors claim that the United States and its allies face "an international alliance of evil countries and movements that is working to destroy us" and advocate a combination of increased military action and ideological warfare in response. They identify a range of enemies of which Iran is the foremost, and advocate a strategy of regime change aimed at overthrowing the Iranian government as a key step towards defeating "Radical Islam".
Michael Arthur Ledeen is an American historian, neoconservative foreign policy analyst, and author with a PhD in philosophy. He is a former consultant to the United States National Security Council, the United States Department of State, and the United States Department of Defense. He held the Freedom Scholar chair at the American Enterprise Institute where he was a scholar for twenty years and now holds the similarly named chair at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Macmillan Publishers Ltd is an international publishing company owned by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in Manhattan, New York City. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers. Bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints.
The book briefly entered the US bestseller chart but received a mixed critical response. Its assertions and proposed solutions were strongly criticized by reviewers on both sides of the political divide, though some conservative reviewers praised the book's qualities.
Lieutenant general, lieutenant-general and similar is a three-star military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general.
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)—before the United States of America was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.
The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is a component command of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and is charged to study special operations requirements and techniques to ensure interoperability and equipment standardization; to plan and conduct special operations exercises and training; to develop joint special operations tactics; and to execute special operations missions worldwide. It was established in 1980 on recommendation of Colonel Charlie Beckwith, in the aftermath of the failure of Operation Eagle Claw. It is located at Pope Field.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a nonpartisan policy institute based in Washington, D.C., focusing on national security and foreign policy. Its political leanings have been described variously as nonpartisan, hawkish and neoconservative. FDD holds events throughout the year, including its annual Washington Forum, briefings on Capitol Hill, expert roundtables for public officials, diplomats, and military officers, book releases, and panel discussions and debates within the policy community.
Regime change is the replacement of one government regime with another. Use of the term dates to at least 1925. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy.
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein, in breach of international law. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first three to four years of conflict. The U.S. became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition; the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion occurred as part of a declared war against international terrorism and its sponsors under the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Field of Fight emerged from an op-ed that Flynn co-wrote with Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.[2] St Martin's Press announced in December 2015 that it would be publishing the book the following July. In a press release, Flynn said: "I am writing this book for two reasons: first, to show that the war is being waged against us by enemies this administration has forbidden us to describe: radical Islamists. Second, to lay out a winning strategy that is not passively relying on technology and drone attacks to do the job. We could lose this war; in fact, right now we are losing. The Field of Fight will give my view on how to win."[6]
Cara Carleton "Carly" Fiorina is an American businesswoman and political figure, known primarily for her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP). She subsequently served as Chair of the philanthropic organization Good360.
After its publication on July 1, 2016, The Field of Fight briefly entered the Publishers Weekly bestseller list for the week ending July 17. It reached #9 in the chart but fell out of the top 10 the following week.[7]
Publishers Weekly (PW) is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling". With 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on book reviews.
Synopsis
Current situation
After a short autobiographical account of Flynn's career,[8]The Field of Fight paints a gloomy picture of the current state of the struggle against terrorism. Flynn says that he is "totally convinced that without a proper sense of urgency, we will be eventually defeated, dominated, and very likely destroyed". As a result, the United States is in danger of being "ruled by men who eagerly drink the blood of their dying enemies".[4] He warns that "radical Islamists" are intent on "creating an Islamic state right here at home" in the United States by imposing Sharia law, forcing Americans to "live the way the unfortunate residents of the ‘caliphate’ or the oppressed citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran live today, in a totalitarian state under the dictates of the most rigid version of Sharia."[9]
Sharia, Sharia law, or Islamic law is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslim traditionalists and reformists.
The Field of Fight opens with an autobiographical account of Flynn, one of its co-authors
The book argues that the US government is hampered by a lack of intelligence-gathering against its enemies and pays insufficient attention to their ideological motivations.[1] Flynn asserts that the US faces "a working coalition that extends from North Korea and China to Russia, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. We are under attack, not only from nation-states directly, but also from al Qaeda, Hezbollah, ISIS, and countless other terrorist groups."[10] He describes this as "an alliance between radical Islamists and regimes in Havana, Pyongyang, Moscow and Beijing. Both believe that history, and/or Allah, blesses their efforts, and so both want to ensure that this glorious story is carefully told."[11] Flynn argues that this alliance is based on a shared hatred for the United States and "a contempt for democracy and an agreement—by all the members of the enemy alliance — that dictatorship is a superior way to run a country, an empire, or a caliphate".[1] He acknowledges that the idea of an alliance between communist China, North Korea and ISIS/al Qaeda may seem strange, but does not go into detail other than asserting that it exists.[10]
Flynn identifies Iran as the "linchpin" of the alliance. He asserts that events such as the 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by Sunni extremists and the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa—also carried out by Sunni extremists, in this case Al-Qaeda—were actually instigated by Shia Iran.[1][12] Iran's on-and-off support for al Qaeda is cited as evidence of an alliance between the two; Flynn asserts that for political reasons, the Barack Obama administration has refused to release evidence of this link from Osama bin Laden's captured documents.[13]
Flynn calls for the United States to "remov[e] the sickening chokehold of tyranny, dictatorships, and Radical Islamist regimes", which he says has seriously endangered the United States in recent decades. However, he makes a distinction between friendly and unfriendly dictatorships, categorised by their opposition to "Radical Islam". Thus, dictators such as Egypt's president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former Tunisian president Zine Ben Ali and even Saddam Hussein should have been supported by the US government for their value in fighting "Radical Islam".[1] Working towards democracy in Middle East in the short to medium term is deemed unrealistic, and Flynn advises instead that the focus should be on restoring "order" to the region.[8] Russia would also be an "ideal partner for fighting Radical Islam" if it shared the same worldview on the issue.[1] However, Flynn is critical of Russia's approach, writing that "it behooves us to remember that the Russians haven't been very effective at fighting jihadis on their own territory, and are in cahoots with the Iranians"[13] and acknowledges that Vladimir Putin would probably not welcome cooperation with the US.[14]
Past US government policy towards Iran is strongly criticized by Flynn, who argues that American administrations have consistently failed to oppose the regime effectively. He writes that "no American president" has called for regime change or supported Iranian dissidents and condemns the administrations of Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama for, respectively, failing to support the last Shah of Iran and negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. Describing the 2003 Iraq War as "a huge mistake", he argues that the US should have focused on Tehran rather than Baghdad and suggests that "we can best attack the enemy alliance at its weakest point, the failure of the Iranian revolution." He advocates an attack that "should be political not military", concentrated on supporting the Iranian opposition, and cites the fall of the Soviet Union as an example of this approach working.[12]
Countries which are seen as weak on terrorism should be targeted for punitive action, in Flynn's view. He writes that "Countries like Pakistan need to be told that we will not tolerate" terrorist training camps, safe havens and funding. "They are going to have to choose, and if they continue to help the jihadis, we are going to treat them harshly, cutting them off from American assistance, and operating against enemy safe havens."[15] The US should work with allies—Flynn specifically names Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, India, Argentina, Britain, Australia, France, Germany and Italy—to weaken, overthrow or defeat jihadism and enemy regimes.[8]
Proposed political war
The authors' proposed two-track approach would also see a political war to discredit both "Radical Islam" and what they regard as anti-Western dictatorships.[13] Flynn argues that the United States is engaged in a religious war and sees this as an essential component of winning the fight, citing the outcome of the Protestant Reformation. He writes: "This kind of war is not at all new. It created our world ... The world badly needs an Islamic Reformation, and we should not be surprised if violence is involved. It’s normal."[14]
The book urges the United States to define the enemy more clearly, declaring that "[w]e’ve got to stop feeling the slightest bit guilty about calling them by name and identifying them as fanatical killers acting on behalf of a failed civilization".[14] Flynn says that he does not "believe all cultures are morally equivalent, and I think the West, and especially America, is far more civilized, far more ethical and moral, than the system our main enemies want to impose on us."[16] He describes jihadists as a "tribal cult" and "a messianic mass movement of evil people" who are waging "a global war ... waged against us by all true Radical Islamists in the name of Allah." He compares the situation to that which the West faced in World War II and the Cold War, when ideology was an integral part of the struggle against Nazism and Communism, and argues: "We can’t win this war by treating Radical Islamic terrorists as a handful of crazies ... The political and theological underpinnings of their immoral actions have to be demolished."[14]
The means by which this should be done, according to Flynn, include a range of ideological counter-measures. Tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter should undertake "their own positive messaging campaign about the betterment of humankind" (though Flynn does not define the specifics of this). Ideological messages should also accompany military operations; successful actions should be followed by messages "asking whether the Almighty had changed sides in the holy war. After all, if previous victories were the result of divine blessing, were defeats not proof that their cause had been rejected on high?"[14] While acknowledging that such actions may incur accusations of Islamophobia, Flynn asserts that the real problem is politically correct Islamophilia: "If, as PC apologists tell us, there is no objective basis for members of one culture to criticize another, then it is very hard to see—and forbidden to write about or say—the existence of an international alliance of evil countries and movements that is working to destroy us."[14]
Flynn summarises his plan of action as being to "engage the violent extremists wherever they are, drive them from their safe havens, and kill them or capture them". He argues that the US has to "organize all our national power, from military and economic to intelligence and tough-minded diplomacy" but warns that the struggle is likely to be costly and will last "several generations". The strategy should "clearly define your enemy; face reality—for politicians, this is never an easy thing to do; understand the social context and fabric of the operational environment; and recognize who’s in charge of the enemy forces."[14]
Changes to the US government's approach to intelligence and security should also be made, according to Flynn. He advocates an end to government agencies' overlapping efforts on cybersecurity, which he attributes to their desire to gain as much bureaucratic turf and federal money as possible. On intelligence, he draws on his experience of countering the Iraqi insurgency to make the case for working much more closely with local allies: "both the information and the strategy come from the people—the citizens of these countries—caught up in the war itself. We must work closely with those people. They have crucial information, and they will determine who wins."[17]
Reactions
The book received mixed, and generally politically polarized, reviews. Several reviewers found the book unsatisfactory for its contradictions. William McCants of the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy describes the book's argument as "muddled", commenting that "[i]t's strange to find a book about strategy so at odds with itself." He notes that while it offers "two very different views of how to exercise American power abroad", its contradictory perspectives leave the reader unable to decide between them.[1] Another Brookings Institution scholar, Thomas Wright, suggests that the book's contradictions reflect diverging viewpoints between the two authors.[18]Christopher J. Fettweis notes in The National Interest that the book strongly reflects Michael Ledeen's "oft-expressed worldview" and wonders how much Flynn had to do with it.[4] Writing in The Washington Post, Carlos Lozoda comments that the book reflects two sides of Flynn—"respected intelligence officer" and "rabid and influential partisan". It "oscillat[es] between straightforward analysis and vague, impassioned diatribes, untroubled by contradictions or evolutions."[14]
Flynn's proposals and assertions were also criticized by reviewers and commentators. Shamir Shahidshaless comments in Gulf News that Flynn "simplistically ignores a complex collection of political, economic and military failures" that caused the Soviet collapse and assumes falsely that it was simply Western support for internal dissent that was decisive.[12] Lozoda characterizes Flynn's proposed strategy as "a generic jumble of buzzwords".[14] In Wright's view, it is "a mystery what could motivate a foreign policy professional to espouse such views or what practical policy agenda could possibly emerge from them."[18]The Economist criticized Flynn for "grossly exaggerating the danger that jihadist terrorism actually represents to America".[19] The Chinese government, which has faced Islamist violence in its western region of Xinjiang, also pushed back on Flynn's assertions of an alliance between China and al Qaeda/ISIS. A foreign ministry spokesman urged people to "base their opinions on facts when taking a position."[11]
A number of conservative commentators praised The Field of Fight. Diana Furchtgott-Ross of the Manhattan Institute writes in the National Review that "if you wish to understand the terrorist attacks sweeping the world, there’s no better place to start than The Field of Fight" and called it a must-read for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and their respective military advisers.[20] In the New York Observer, Jason Criss Howk calls the book "concise and straight to the point" while conceding that the authors "use some terminology I, as a Middle East specialist, don’t agree with", specifically in conflating "radical Islam" and "radical Islamism". Nonetheless he describes the book's proposals as "spot on and [they] create a recipe for upgrading our capabilities".[21]Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post praises the book as "a breath of fresh air in the acrid intellectual environment that Washington has become during the Obama administration" and says that it contributes "essential insights to the discussion of the global jihad".[22]
Not all conservatives were supportive of the book. Daniel Larison of The American Conservative called its worldview "deranged", describing its identification of a "non-existent 'global alliance'" as foolish, dangerous, grossly exaggerated and distorted. He summed it up as "reheated Cheneyism with a dollop of Santorumesque hyperbole".[23]
Related Research Articles
Islamism is a concept whose meaning has been debated in both public and academic contexts. The term can refer to diverse forms of social and political activism advocating that public and political life should be guided by Islamic principles or more specifically to movements which call for full implementation of sharia. It is commonly used interchangeably with the terms political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism. In academic usage, the term Islamism does not specify what vision of "Islamic order" or sharia are being advocated, or how their advocates intend to bring them about. In Western mass media it tends to refer to groups whose aim is to establish a sharia-based Islamic state, often with implication of violent tactics and human rights violations, and has acquired connotations of political extremism. In the Muslim world, the term has positive connotations among its proponents.
Iran and the United States have had no formal diplomatic relations since 1980. Pakistan serves as Iran's protecting power in the United States, while Switzerland serves as America's protecting power in Iran. Contacts are carried out through the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the US Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei banned direct talks with the United States in 2018.
War against Islam is a conspiracy theory narrative in Islamist discourse to describe an alleged conspiracy to harm, weaken or annihilate the societal system of Islam, using military, economic, social and cultural means. The perpetrators of the conspiracy are alleged to be non-Muslims, particularly the Western world and "false Muslims", allegedly in collusion with political actors in the Western world. While the contemporary conspiracy theory narrative of the "War against Islam" mostly covers general issues of societal transformations in modernization and secularization as well as general issues of international power politics among modern states, the crusades are often narrated as its alleged starting point.
Michael F. Scheuer is a former intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, American blogger, author, foreign policy critic, and political analyst. He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies. One of his assignments during his 22-year career was serving as Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station from 1996 to 1999. He also served as Special Advisor to the Chief of Alec Station from September 2001 to November 2004.
James Norman Mattis is an American veteran and former government official who served as the 26th United States Secretary of Defense from January 2017 through December 2018. He resigned over policy differences with President Donald Trump. A retired United States Marine Corps general, Mattis served in the Persian Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Walid Phares is a Lebanese-born American scholar and right-wing political pundit. He worked for the Republican presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016. He has also served as a commentator on terrorism and the Middle East for Fox News since 2007, and for NBC from 2003 to 2006. A Maronite Christian, Phares has gained notoriety for his association with Lebanese Christian militias in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War, and for his anti-Islam views.
"Islamic fascism", also known since 1990 as "Islamofascism", is a term drawing an analogy between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements and a broad range of European fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism.
Husain Haqqani is a Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States.
Kathleen Troia "K. T." McFarland is a former U.S. government official, and political commentator. She served as Deputy National Security Advisor under Michael Flynn for the first four months of the Trump administration. She was asked to step down by Flynn's successor H. R. McMaster; news of her pending nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore was reported at the same time. President Trump nominated her in May 2017; she withdrew it in February 2018 due to concerns around her answers related to links between Trump associates and Russian officials, in particular about discussions between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Michael Joseph Morell is a former American intelligence analyst. He served as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency as well as its acting director twice, first in 2011 and then from 2012 to 2013. Since November 2013, he has been a senior counselor to Beacon Global Strategies LLC.
Maajid Usman Nawaz is a British activist and radio presenter. He is the founding chairman of Quilliam, a counter-extremism think tank that seeks to challenge the narratives of Islamist extremists, and the host of a radio show on LBC, every Saturday and Sunday.
Quilliam is a London-based think tank co-founded by Maajid Nawaz that focuses on counter-extremism, specifically against Islamism, which it argues represents a desire to impose a given interpretation of Islam on society. Founded as The Quilliam Foundation, it says it lobbies government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and on the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world whilst empowering "moderate Muslim" voices. The organisation opposes any Islamist ideology and champions freedom of expression. The critique of Islamist ideology by its founders, Maajid Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali and Ed Husain, is based, in part, on their personal experiences.
Michael Thomas Flynn is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General and was, briefly, National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump.
ACT! for America, founded in 2007, is a U.S.-based anti-Muslim, pro-Trump advocacy group dedicated to combating what it describes as "the threat of radical Islam" to the safety of Americans and to democracy.
Syria and Iran are strategic allies. Syria is usually called Iran's "closest ally", with ideological conflict between the Arab nationalism ideology of Syria's secular ruling Ba'ath Party and the Islamic Republic of Iran's pan-Islamist policy notwithstanding. Iran and Syria have had a strategic alliance ever since the Iran–Iraq War, when Syria sided with non-Arab Iran against its fellow Baath-ruled neighbor but enemy Iraq was isolated by some Arab countries. The two countries shared a common animosity towards then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and coordination against the United States and Israel. Syria cooperates with Iran in sending arms to Palestinian groups and Hezbollah in Lebanon, since Israel has attacked Syria. During the Syrian Civil War Iran conducted, alongside Russia, "an extensive, expensive, and integrated effort to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power." Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Russia also form an anti-terrorism alliance that has its headquarters in Baghdad. The United States and the United Kingdom have designated both nations of Iran and Syria as State Sponsors of Terrorism and listed under axis of evil, due to their alleged terrorist activities.
This article describes the foreign policy positions taken by Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Joseph Keith Kellogg Jr., known as Keith Kellogg, is a United States government official and a retired Lieutenant General in the United States Army. He currently serves as the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. He previously served as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States National Security Council in the Trump administration. Notably, he served as National Security Advisor on an acting basis following the resignation of Michael T. Flynn.
The stated aims of the foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration include a focus on security, by fighting terrorists abroad and strengthening border defenses and immigration controls; an expansion of the U.S. military; an "America First" approach to trade; and diplomacy whereby "old enemies become friends". The foreign policy positions expressed by Trump during his presidential campaign changed frequently, so that it was "difficult to glean a political agenda, or even a set of clear, core policy values ahead of his presidency."
On 18 June 2017, under Operation Laylat al-Qadr, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) fired six surface-to-surface mid-range ballistic missile from domestic bases targeting ISIL forces in the Syrian Deir ez-Zor Governorate in response to the terrorist attacks in Tehran earlier that month. Next day, the IRGC published aerial videos recorded by the Damascus-based IRGC drones flying over the city during the operation, confirming that the missiles had successfully hit the targets with precision. The attack constituted the first operational use of Iran's ballistic missiles since the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s.
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