Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World

On January 5, 2011, author Nir Rosen spoke at the New America Foundation about his new book, Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World, which covers his journey from the battlefields of Iraq, to the refugee camps of Lebanon, to the encampments of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. His comments largely focused on the Iraq war, especially regarding an in-depth analysis of the Iraqi civil war going back to 2003. He spoke in year-by-year detail about the civil war between Sunni and Shia militias, the Iraqi police and army and the American military caught in the middle.

Nir mentioned that the largely American narrative surrounding the turnaround in Iraq is largely oversimplified and ignores the complex internal dynamics of the Sunni and Shia militias. According to Nir, the 2007 announcement of the American surge actually had more of an impact than the actual physical surge of American forces. The announcement forced the Sunni, and then Shia militias to revaluate their positions and ultimately agree to cease fires. In this vacuum stepped the Iraqi police and army, which now is a strong enough state to overcome the rise of the militias again. Nir also spoke about how the conditions for a decrease in violence in Iraq are not in Afghanistan as the area is too rural to apply the Counterinsurgency doctrine as well as the real enemy is in Pakistan tribal areas, not Afghanistan.

Participants

Featured Speaker
Nir Rosen
Fellow, New York University Center on Law and Security
Author, Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World

Moderator
Peter Bergen
Director, National Securities Studies Program, New America Foundation
Author, The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda (forthcoming January 2011)