Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War

America’s fight against radical Islam could soon be over, and a top secret plan from the Cold War is the key to our victory. Dr. Sebastian Gorka, counterinsurgency expert and Distinguished Chair of Military Theory at Marine Corps University, explains how America can win the war on terror quickly and decisively by delegitimizing the enemy in the eyes of its followers—a strategy that won the Cold War and would end the era of Jihad forever.

Since September 11, 2001, America has been at war. And that’s about all anyone can say with certainty about a conflict that has cost 7,000 American lives and almost $2 trillion. As long as the most basic strategic questions—Who is the enemy? Why are we fighting?—remain unanswered, victory is impossible. Yet this war is eminently winnable if we remove our ideological blinders and apply basic strategic principles. That means accurately naming the enemy, understanding his plan, and drawing up a strategy to defeat him. So says Dr. Sebastian Gorka, one of the most experienced and sought-after authorities on counterterrorism. Our enemy is not “terror” or “violent extremism.” Our enemy is the global jihadi movement, a modern totalitarian ideology rooted in the doctrines and martial history of Islam. America has defeated totalitarian enemies before. Providing a desperately needed dose of clarity, Dr. Gorka shows how we can do it again. He reveals how a toxic political agenda has corrupted our national security practices, precluding the kind of clear-eyed threat analysis and strategic response that led to victory in the Cold War. Bracing, troubling, but ultimately encouraging, Defeating Jihad fills that gap. Taking his cue from the formerly top-secret analyses that shaped the U.S. response to the communist threat, Dr. Gorka has produced a compelling profile of the jihadi movement—its mind and motivation—and a plan to defeat it.