Rogers - Irregular War

This book has its origins in a discussion with Iradj Bagherzade about the risk of ISIS being able to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and present an existential threat. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the emergence of ISIS from the presumed ashes of al-Qaeda, through to the attacks in Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016, was there the potential for ISIS or other movements to take the next steps in destructive capabilities?

While this book does indeed cover that risk, the initial discussion developed a much broader focus on the wider implications of ISIS for international security in a world increasingly overshadowed by the twin problems of a widening wealthpoverty divide and environmental constraints. The manner in which these come together with the rise of extreme political movements has scarcely been explored, yet this book argues that this is by far the most significant aspect of the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS and the failure of the Wests military responses to 9/11.

My work on this theme has been greatly helped by my involvement with two groups: openDemocracy and the Oxford Research Group (ORG). The former started soon after 9/11 in the shape of weekly analyses of the War on Terror, and I am indebted to Anthony Barnett for getting me involved, as well as to successive editors, especially Rosemary Bechler. Above all, David Hayes has added hugely to my work over the entire period, editing and improving the raw copy and adding many further links, often at very short notice, and consistently making it far more readable.

Scilla Elworthy introduced me to the ORGs work just before 9/11 and it has been a privilege to work with staff at the organisation ever since. John Sloboda, Gabrielle Rifkind, Chris Abbott, Ben Zala, Chris Langdon, Zo Pelter, Richard Reeve and many gifted young interns and peace workers have been great to engage with. The ORG hosts the Network for Social Changes major project on remote-control warfare, and working with the staff, Caroline Donnellan and Esther Kersley, and the projects core group has been an added bonus.

Involvement with staff and students from scores of countries at Bradford Universitys Department of Peace Studies has been a great education and it has also been hugely helpful to have opportunities to teach at several defence colleges and other universities and to engage with many peace, development and environment groups.

I am particularly grateful to Iradj for suggesting the book in the first place and for further discussions since then, to him and Azmina Siddique at I.B.Tauris for many useful comments, suggestions and proposals as the text developed, and to Alex Middleton, Alex Billington, David Inglesfield and David Campbell for the production process.

The mistakes are all mine.

KIRKBURTON AND KYLESKU
APRIL 2016

AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science

AIMs area-impact munitions

AOG armed opposition group

AQI al-Qaeda in Iraq

BJP Bharatiya Janata Party (India)

BTWC Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

CBR chemical, biological and radiological (weapons/warfare)

CFC chlorofluorocarbon

CTU Counter Terrorism Unit (UK)

CWC Chemical Weapons Convention

EUNAVFOR Med European Union Naval Force Mediterranean

IDF Israel Defense Forces

IED improvised explosive device

IISS International Institute for Strategic Studies

ILO International Labour Organization

IMF International Monetary Fund

ISAF International Security Assistance Force

ISI Inter-Services Intelligence (Pakistani intelligence service)

JSOC Joint Special Operations Command (US)

LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil separatist group in Sri Lanka)

OPCW Office for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons