The Five Front War: The Better Way to Fight Global Jihad Hardcover - 2007

From the jacket 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.

Media reviews

Citations

• New York Review of Books, 06/12/2008, Page 17
• Reference and Research Bk News, 02/01/2008, Page 153