Product Description

A comprehensive look at the War on Terror and the best way to a safer future

Scholar Daniel Byman offers a new approach to fighting the war on terrorism. He convincingly argues that two of the main solutions to terrorism offered by politicians-military intervention and the democratization of the Arab world-shouldn't even be our top priorities. Instead, he presents a fresh way to face intelligence and law enforcement challenges ahead: conduct counterinsurgency operations, undermine al-Qaeda's ideology, selectively push for reforms, and build key lasting alliances.

Daniel Byman (Washington, DC) directs the Security Studies Program and the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University. He is a Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and also served on the 9/11 Commission. He regularly writes about terrorism and the Middle East for the Washington Post, Slate, and other publications.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #203044 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
"An impressively comprehensive analysis of one of the most formidable security challenges of our time. Its authoritative policy recommendations are as timely as they are compelling."--Bruce Hoffman, Senior Fellow, Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy

"Daniel Byman writes with the access and intimacy of an insider and the critical, dispassionate eye of an outsider. At a time when the sky does, indeed, appear to be falling, he offers us hopeful, realistic solutions for defeating terrorism. The Five Front War should be required reading for scholars, soldiers, and citizens searching for the way ahead."--Dana Priest, national security correspondent, The Washington Post

"Daniel Byman lays out a series of cogent, well argued strategies to prevail in the struggle against violent jihadists in The Five Front War that will be of considerable interest to policy makers, journalists, and the interested public alike. An important and well written addition to the field."--Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know

From the Inside Flap

One of the most chilling things to emerge in the aftermath of the July 2005 London transit system bombings was the low profile of the bombers in their local communities. Several of the bombers had traveled to al-Qa'ida's new haven in Pakistan, where they were indoctrinated and trained, but the British security services had their eyes on other targets. One bomber was the son of a couple who ran a fish-and-chips shop; a typical Brit, so described, who was born and raised in Britain, loved cricket—and seemed to be, according to several neighbors, a nice guy. Yet in a chilling video aired on the anniversary of the bombing he declared, "We love death the way you love life." He also promised that the war would never stop until the United States and the United Kingdom left Iraq and Afghanistan and ended support for allies such as India and Israel.

Get ready for more, says author, scholar, and staff member of the 9/11 Commission Daniel Byman in The Five Front War. From defining the face of jihadist terrorism to navigating the thicket of internecine struggles within the Muslim world to the difficulties of winning a war of ideas, Byman makes it clear that Americans must get more sophisticated about the enemy, start thinking long-term, and, most of all, develop a coordinated strategy that does not, unlike current efforts, necessarily put military intervention and a relentless push for democratization at the forefront.

The author paints a big picture that many of us haven't seen, examining everything the war on terrorism encompasses. He charts counterterrorism efforts to date, all the major jihadist terrorist attacks worldwide since 9/11, and the many challenges to come. He offers a new approach based on five distinct fronts: rethinking the role of the military, finding new ways to win the war of ideas, making sure our intelligence gathering works effectively with local partners, focusing homeland defense on realistic threats rather than worst-case scenarios, and rethinking—but not abandoning—the goal of spreading democracy.

He asks provocative questions: How much fear is acceptable? How do you measure victory? How have some older terrorist groups managed to disband and convince their young followers to lay down arms? Should the United States support democracy everywhere?

There are no quick and easy answers, but, Byman cautions, we cannot continue to stumble through this new world with narrow vision and without a coherent policy. Crucial to winning on the five fronts is choosing the right allies, and those alliances may be very different than those forged during the Cold War. Making such changes in foreign policy will require a common vision among the American people and United States leaders of both political parties through multiple administrations.

The Five Front War demonstrates with crystal clarity that we can—and we must—do better than we have in the past in order to protect our future.

From the Back Cover

Praise for
The Five Front War

"Daniel Byman writes with the access and intimacy of an insider and the critical, dispassionate eye of an outsider. At a time when the sky does, indeed, appear to be falling, he offers us hopeful, realistic solutions for defeating terrorism. The Five Front War should be required reading for scholars, soldiers, and citizens searching for the way ahead."
—Dana Priest, Pulitzer Prize–winning national security correspondent, the Washington Post

"An impressively comprehensive analysis of one of the most formidable security challenges of our time. Its authoritative policy recommendations are as timely as they are compelling."
—Bruce Hoffman, Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; and Senior Fellow, Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy

"Daniel Byman lays out a series of cogent, well-argued strategies to prevail in the struggle against violent jihadists in The Five Front War that will be of considerable interest to policymakers, journalists, and the interested public alike. An important and well-written addition to the field."
—Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know

Customer Reviews

Thoughtful strategies for containing Al-Qaida
This is a pragmatic examination of political, military, and governmental solutions that can vastly increase our safety. Favorite excerpt: "Reacting may be necessary to prevent overreacting."

Is Global Jihad really the isssue
This book offers nothing new to the plans to fight terrorism and specifically radical Islam. It makes little of our ongoing and historic failure in our ability to gather and use intelligence.
While talking about trying to influence the minds of the Muslim world an entire chapter is dedicated to killing them. This book is part and parcel of the military mindset of the past century where every military action is considered the "last war" and thought to bring peace. The USA wold have been better off with no intelligence service since the creation of the CIA. Global Jihad is not the problem of the modern world it is a symptom of the World's problem. It cannot be changed by a minor alteration of the current policies of the current administration as this book suggests.

Endorse Retired Reader's Review, Adding Images and Links
I've learned that Retired Reader's background and judgement are very close to my own, and as a general rule, if he reviews a book before me, I look for something to add rather than replicate what he has already set forth.

In my own work back in the 1990's for the Strategic Studies Institute I developed the concept of having five functional strategies within a national grand strategy; "Threats, Strategy, and Force Structure" by Robert David Steele Strategic Alternatives Report (Strategic Studies Institute, Nov 2000) also as Chapter 9 in Steven Metz (ed.), Revising the Two MTW Force Shaping Paradigm (Strategy Studies Institute, April 2001), the five strategies were: global (multinational) intelligence; interoperability (communications, computing, and data standards); force structure (four forces after next (bitg war, small war, peace war, home defense); preventive (mulitnational) diplomacy and assistance; and finally, home front.

It's good to see a book that takes this five front approach (I might mention, there are six fronts on the ground: the USA, Latin America, South Asia, Africa, Central Asia including sects in China and Russia, and Europe, which has so totally lost it on giving citizenship to aliens that they are suffering from terminal cancer.

Now here is the key point: using the image provided above, please recognize that in the larger strategic context of the ten high-level threats to humanity (poverty, infectious disease, environmental degradation, inter-state conflict, civil war, genocide, other atrocities, proliferation, terrorism, and transnational crime, the "terrorist" threat is a TACTIC and a TINY TINY, infinitesmally small part of the totality of the threat to the USA and any other Nation. To exaggerate this threat and to blow the entire bank and make the USA involvent over it, is to be impeachable for breach of trust, dereliction of duty, and criminal malfeasance in office.

Buy this book. It is one of the best works to date on the nuances of terrorism and how to approach terrorism. It is, however, valuable only for that small segment of the threat that it addresses. For a larger view, see the following ten books (or read my reviews for the snapshot--my article above is easily found on the Internet):

Modern Strategy
Security Studies for the 21st Century
Understanding International Conflicts (6th Edition) (Longman Classics in Political Science)
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World
The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism

Please use the images loaded above for this book to reflect further on the larger strategic context within which this excellent book should be studied.