Sebanyak 2 item atau buku ditemukan

On the Far Bank

The Effects of Gap Crossing on Operational Reach - Studies of Three Large-scale, Opposed River Crossings in World War II and Arab-Israeli War: Operations Market Garden, Plunder, Badr

Throughout history, opposed river crossing operations have proven to be some of the bloodiest and most complex endeavors for any military force. However, due to a sixty-year lull in having to cross a river in the face of the enemy, the United States Army has shown a trend of diminishing its resource capacity necessary to conduct these crossings, and is losing doctrinal focus for the task. Most significantly, doctrine does not provide an appreciation for the large impacts a river crossing has on the remainder of an operation. This analysis looks at three large-scale, opposed river crossing operations in the mechanized warfare era. All three cases involve a successful opposed river crossing, but vary in the level of operational reach or time before culmination. The variance in each case stems from the preparation for and execution of the river crossing. The analysis identifies three elements that had the greatest impact on the operational reach of units after the river crossing: the rapid employment of overwhelming strength, a deliberate plan to provide assault crossing resources regardless of existing bridges, and a detailed plan that included the transition from bridgehead to breakout operations. The recorded history of ground combat has shown that river crossing operations have always been a focal point for planners. The great military thinker Carl von Clausewitz himself devoted a chapter of his masterpiece On War to this subject. In it, he referred to the "respect in which an attack on a defended river is held by most generals." While evidence in past military theory and history repeatedly demonstrated the importance of this tactical task, the recent history of the United States Army reveals a decrease in the frequency of attacks over well-defended rivers. The United States Army has not conducted an opposed, deliberate wet gap crossing since World War II. Future combat operations, however, could require gap crossings and the Army must remain proficient in planning for and conducting them. Rivers that would require non-hasty crossing methods exist in every geographic region, meaning that any future Army operation against a conventional force could require a deliberate gap crossing. History demonstrates the importance of the tactical task of gap crossing to overall mission accomplishment. Some of the most successful gap crossings in history involved entire armies of multiple corps focused on nothing but establishing a bridgehead, as with the spring 1945 Rhine crossing's in World War II and Operation Badr in the Arab-Israeli War. History also demonstrates that operations can fail in spite of a successful gap crossing. The Allied failure in Operation Market-Garden during World War II showed that successfully crossing a river such as the Waal does not necessarily lead to operational success. If in planning and execution, commanders and their staffs do not integrate the gap crossing with other tactical actions effectively, the operation may culminate earlier than expected. Despite historical evidence that demonstrates the challenges associated with gap crossings, after a seventy-year lull in US experience with opposed crossings the United States Army gradually diminished its efforts to prepare for gap crossing operations. Army leaders reduced the number of units and associated equipment that specialize in gap crossing. Most recently, they approved updated doctrine that relegates gap crossing-once the topic of a dedicated field manual-to a single chapter of the 2011 Combined Arms Mobility manual. Training centers have noted that current units struggle to plan and execute gap crossing operations.

All three cases involve a successful opposed river crossing, but vary in the level of operational reach or time before culmination. The variance in each case stems from the preparation for and execution of the river crossing.

Deradicalizing and Disengaging the Children of the Islamic State - ISIS Radicalization Belgian Case Study, Physical and Psychological Consequences of Child Association With Terrorists Groups

Thousands of ISIS fighters and supporters, over 4,000 children being among them, were displaced after the Islamic State's proclaimed caliphate collapsed in 2019. While some countries have been either ambivalent or completely against repatriating ISIS children, other countries have planned to accept them back. This leads to several questions: are current deradicalization and disengagement programs applicable to the children of ISIS? Would these programs help to reintegrate children back into society? Are different approaches needed? To better answer these questions, the research in this thesis extracts key themes present in current deradicalization and disengagement programs and compares those themes with the factors motivating children to join terrorist organizations. Through qualitative analysis, this thesis finds that current programs are largely prison-based and place heavy emphasis on addressing radical ideologies and providing social aid. Unfortunately, these programs are not suited for child reintegration and are unprepared to handle the unique cognitive and social aspects of adolescents. Therefore, this thesis recommends that current deradicalization and disengagement programs replace strategies that address ideology and provide untailored social aid with programs that address positive peer contacts, foster constructive social networking, and provide psychological counseling and guidance, so that the children of ISIS can be successfully reintegrated back into society.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.I. Introduction * A. Importance * B. Clarifying Terminology * C. Findings * D. Thesis Overview * II. Factors That Propel Children Into Radicalization * A. Structural, Social, and Individual Factors * 1. Structural * 2. Social * 3. Individual * B. Radicalizing Children Into ISIS: A Belgian Case Study * C. The Consequences of Child Association With Terrorists Groups * 1. Physical * 2. Psychological * D. Conclusion * III. An Analysis on Deradicalization and Disengagement Programs and Their Effectiveness * A. Key Elements of Deradicalization and Disengagement Programs * 1. Ideology * 2. Social Aid * B. Measuring the Effectiveness of Deradicalization and Disengagement Programs and Strategies * C. Conclusion * IV. Deradicalization and Disengagement Programs Applied to Children * A. Can Current Programs Help Children? * 1. Aspects of Deradicalization and Disengagement Programs Applicable to Children. * 2. Aspects of Deradicalization and Disengagement Programs Inapplicable to Children * 3. How to Improve Deradicalization and Disengagement Programs for Children * B. Additional Areas Of Concern * C. Conclusion The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State (IS) or by the Arabic acronym Daesh, grabbed the attention of the world through its rapid expansion and gruesome, violent extremism. This group was able to seize and control territory inside Syria and Iraq the size of Britain that contained a population of eight million people. Thousands of Muslims from around the world flocked to ISIS when it claimed to have established the caliphate under its leader and self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. During the height of its three-year rule starting in 2014, large swaths of followers including thousands of foreign citizens as well as children and adolescents traveled to Iraq and Syria in order to join ISIS and its attempt to rebuild the caliphate. Now that ISIS has experienced a loss of territory at the hands of an aerial campaign headed by the United States, foreign fighters are attempting to return to their host countries.

Therefore, this thesis recommends that current deradicalization and disengagement programs replace strategies that address ideology and provide untailored social aid with programs that address positive peer contacts, foster constructive ...