Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War

by Sebastian Gorka

Sebastian Gorka, counterinsurgency expert and professor at the Department of Defense's National Defense University, provides the blueprint for defeating Radical Islam.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Military Fiction, War, Terrorism, Military History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 11, 2016

About the author

American military and intelligence analyst, a professor and a member of the national security advisory staff under the Trump administration.

Gorka has written for a variety of publications and is generally considered politically conservative.

Gorka specializes in irregular warfare, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism.

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did a great job at explaining the historical components that have lead us to today's jihadi movement. Dr. Gorka correlates combating jihad with Truman's containment foreign policy and the George Kennan analysis of the spread of communism ideology post-World War II. This sounds outdated and obsolete to compare the two but the author does a great job of getting point across.

He highlighted how our current politically-correct society, how ISIS is so different/powerful than previous jihadi movements, and how failed attempts from the Bush/Obama administrations to appropriately deal the Global War on Terror have lead us to where we are now.

A very well written and informative book! His final advice in the afterword: arm yourself with knowledge! Probably the best book on Middle Eastern/current affairs I've read in a long time.

I enjoyed this quick and insightful read. Highly recommended. Thanks!

[Rex Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent short history of Islamism or muslim war against the West. The prescription for winning that war is (perhaps surprisingly) drawn from the policy used to defeat the last totalitarian challenge to democracy, that of the Soviet Union. Certainly not surprisingly, it makes clear that religion IS involved in the Islamist attack and that defeating it begins with recognizing it and speaking about it in clear terms.

Outstanding.

[Negin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick, interesting, and enlightening read. It addresses the important issue of radical Islam. The book is especially timely and here I will quote: “The year 2015 was the deadliest for jihadist plots and attacks in America since September 11, 2001. We are losing this war both in the Middle East and on the streets of the United States. There will be more attacks like those in Boston and San Bernardino unless we change the way we think about the threat to the homeland. There is no such thing as ‘lone wolf’ terrorism. All jihadists are connected to the global jihadist movement by their shared ideology.”

Some other quotes (and there were many!):

“Freedom is fragile. Freedom is not the natural state of affairs, and there will always be those who believe they have the right to take your freedom from you to serve their ‘greater’ ideological cause.”

“Look at the history of the last hundred years. First it was Nazis who wished to create a global empire in which the individual was just a cog in the machine of a state that worshipped racial purity and the glorious Führer. Then there were the Marxists and the communists, who replaced the Aryan race with the working class, but who again saw freedom and individual liberty as a threat to the power of the ‘enlightened’ elite.”

“Since 2009, the doctrine of the American government has been that religion has nothing to do with the terrorist threat to the Republic and that Islam must not be seen to be connected to terrorism. This dogma, emanating from the White House, which imposes the euphemism ‘violent extremism’ in place of global jihad, commands such thorough obedience at every level of government that when a man in Arab dress attempts to assassinate a peace officer in Philadelphia and declares himself a follower of the Islamic State, the mayor insists that the attack has nothing to do with Islam. And so we stumble blindfolded across the battlefield that is the world after 9/11.”

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Defeating Jihad. Asymmetric warfare, which one side has overwhelming armed forces technological advantages and all possible outcomes point to quick and swift victory. Meanwhile the other side has less technology less armed forces and would appear to be in a hopeless situation. But in the crunch extreme tactics have been dealt by both sides and ability to defeating jihad and jihad to win have gotten nowhere.

This war its like a relentless tide one side has advantages that slowly ebbs away to nothing, but never being able to defeat each other. Beyond interesting book, the tactics, strategies of some fearsome and disturbing encounters and the suicidal ideological. The stubbornly adhered strategies that fail to achieve any end result soon pretty much continuous war.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

THIS IS GARBAGE. I have an Master's degree in International Security Studies and focused on counterinsurgency policy in the MENA region. I have a decent idea what I am talking about when it comes to counterinsurgency and Takfiri-inspired violence.

Sebastian Gorka has done a poor job rehashing a history of Islam and his strategies are so incredibly naive it makes me question his knowledge of counter-terrorism and transnational terrorist groups. He spends so much time drawing vague connections between the "global jihad" and communism, then very hastily draws up a "strategy" to defeat the jihad in the very last few pages. This strategy is almost just a rewording of the US strategy.

There are a plethora of more detailed and much more insightful works on the history of jihad. If people are really interested in the subject then they should start with understanding war, the history of war, and the history of islam, then the history of counterinsurgency.

[Terry Cornell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great concise look at the history of Islam, particularly relating to terrorism. Gorka lays out a plan for how to deal with these militant groups. Fast read for anyone concerned about how this all came to pass, and how we should be dealing with it.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the times, it is sad to say, but *everyone* should read this book.

I regularly watch the news, I listen to the politicians and pundits prattle non-sensibly, and I regularly read up on events in the Middle East and Afghanistan. I am no expert, not by a long shot, but it is say that I do have a casual interest that exceeds the average.

And yet I found the organization and presentation of Gorka's book absolutely outstanding and enlightening.

The book is mainly a historical perspective - and a needed one at that! - that handily does the best job I have encountered describing the rise and nature of the threat of the Islamic State. It does an outstanding job introducing the Westerner to the Islamist perspective in a way that is readable, understandable, scholarly, and yet well referenced. Not an easy task.

The first part of the book will initially seem like an odd divergence, but the author makes a credible and interesting connection that successfully (for me) supports his main supposition. (That Islamism represents a current version of another totalitarian threat and that there are some parallels to how the West addressed previous threats that could be applicable to this as well).

The overwhelming majority of the book is the historical perspective and understanding, and the recommendations - basic and understandable come at the very end.

The book is short, focussed, engaging, and highly readable. It even supports a suggested reading and reference list at the end - a list that itself I think is likely worth the price of the book.

A *must* read, in my opinion.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insights into the mindset or ideology of the bad guys from the guy who does the same for our Warriors from his professorship at the Marine Corps University. Uses the template of our defeat of two previous totalitarian adversaries (Nazism in WW II & Soviet Union in the Cold War) for the defeat of this third totalitarian adversary, radical Islam). Reader warning......not politically correct.

[Owlseyes]

ARGUMENT
Dr. Sebastian Gorka May Be a Far-Right Nativist, But for Sure He’s a Terrible Scholar
A closer look at the doctoral dissertation of President Trump’s expert on “radical Islamist terrorism.”
IN: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/17/d...

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent, well-written treatise on the war against global jihad. From the way Gorka speaks, one might assume his book would be overly scholarly and barely comprehensible, but he has provided an way-to-read thoughtful discussion.

Gorka's main idea is that, like totalitarian Communism, which has at its root world domination and no capacity for co-existence with the West, global jihad is bent on world domination and has no room in it for peaceful compromise or coexistence.

Gorka begins with a discussion of the evils of Soviet Communism through the lens of his father's life-- a Hungarian dissident who spent a quarter of his life in prison for standing up for individual freedom. Gorka next traces the history of some of the concepts of Islamic jihad and explains how such concepts developed over the centuries. He explains how such concepts exploded on the world stage in 1979 because of the confluence of several events. Finally, Gorka explains how the radical Islamic jihad is a different war than the classic Cold War because it is dealing with a movement not merely other nation states.

Gorka's solutions are not simple and do not end with a straight military defeat of the forces of evil. Rather, he insists most of the battle is one of ideas and fighting propaganda with the language of America, of freedom, Of individual rights, and recognizing the enemy for who he is -naming and isolating. Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions.
One person found this helpful

[Caeruleum · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, just thanks to the 2/3 of the book I learned that, first of all, the author is a proud Hungarian, that Hungary was terribly humiliated twice in the last 100 years, that Communism killed 100 million people, that the author is a proud American, that Wahhabism was created in the 18th century as a weapon against the British colonialism, that the author is a proud American (yes, again), that the USA (just the USA) defeated Nazi Germany and Communist Russia, that terrorism has nothing to do with poverty and poor education, that the author is a proud American (yep, one more time), that Obama was even more worse than Bush (no actual statistics, data or anything like that, just worse), that... I dropped it somewhere closer to its end.

It could be that the author, after all, is talking about how to defeat jihad in the last 100 pages but I just couldn't cope with it anymore. Sorry.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another terrorism book from the right-wing I'm reading for research. Features the standard themes such as jihadists as a unified movement and the new totalitarianism, terrorism as a test of willpower, the distinction between radical and moderate Islam, and the playing up of jihadist terrorism as an existential threat. The last point is quite ridiculous; as threatening as ISIS was, it only ever killed a few dozen Americans (mostly via inspiring other killers) and a few hundred Europeans. It was a disaster for Syrians and Iraqis, where tens of thousands died, but it was a small quasi-state with no real military, which makes Gorka's comparison of ISIS to the USSR absolutely bonkers. There's also not much of a plan in here about how to defeat terrorism.

Still, I found this book somewhat interesting for 2 reasons. First, Gorka (a Trump counterterrorism advisor and general conservative commentator on terrorism) is the child of the Cold War: his dad was a Hungarian dissident, and he clearly sees the terrorism problem through a Cold War lens. That's quite common on the right. Second, this book highlights a change on the right's thinking about terrorism over the GWOT's span. At the beginning, most on the right, especially in the Bush admin and neocon circles, believed democracy was the ultimate solution to terrorism because it would provide constructive, non-violent political channels for the anger roiling the Middle East. The Iraq and Afghanistan experiences greatly chastened this view to the point of discrediting the neocons and giving rise to people like Gorka, who states that the nation-building and democratization efforts in those countries were waste of time because they were too culturally different. This attitude, I think, underpinned Trump's insurgency and his approach to counterterrorism, which had nothing to do with democracy and was much more willing to cooperate with autocracies (Gorka calls Sisi of Egypt a key ally in here).

So while there are much better books on terrorism, this book does offer insights into the right's thinking about terrorism.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book for all Americans who wish to understand the fundamentals and tenants of Jihad. This very informative quick read will educate and instruct readers on the different versions of Islam and what each of us must do to protect our families and country from radical extremists. Well done.

[Bonnie Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone seeking an overview of what motivates Islamic Jihadist terrorism, this is an excellent and concise read. The author also gives some great insights into the history of Jihadism and what the West needs to do to stop it from spreading further. I highly recommend reading this book.

[Jim Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

WE ARE AT WAR, JUST LIKE WWII. This is not a long book but it IS a book that EVERYONE should read, PERIOD! Sebastain Gorka's family lived through the horrors of WWII and Germany occupation and he has since become a student of warfare tactics but more importantly the Caliphate and its desire for world domination - MEANING THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA AND OUR WAY OF LIFE.

Americans civilians joined forces during WWII to help fight the Evil Axis of Germany, Italy and Japan while our forces were engaged in actual battles. Today is no different. We cannot as individuals rely totally upon our military forces or the thousands of civilians working behind the scenes to defeat an enemy that wants us dead. The Islamic State wants us dead. It wants world domination just like Hitler and Stalin wanted.

This book is a very easy to read and understand primer on what the Caliphate is and who is behind it plus their violent intentions that include murdering or enslaving anyone who does not believe as they do. This to them is a very religious war based upon their beliefs which is very counter to our believes of individual freedom.

The book outlines a plan to counter their actions. Will it work? I have no idea but at least it is a plan and it "seems" very viable and does not include massive US forces invading mid-East countries.

I truly believe that this book should be provided to every member of our families and their families. If there was a category of REQUIRED READING, this book would head the list. WE ARE AT WAR and most Americans have not appreciated that horrible thought but WE ARE AT WAR. It WILL escalate unless something is done and done soon. Everyone needs to join forces and learn to pay attention and get over the fight against the Second Amendment and as Gorka suggests, get a concealed carry permit and spend the time and money on becoming proficient in using the weapon you choose. We can't expect our police forces to be present at every attack stateside and in the future, it may come down to a civilian with a carry permit stopping our stateside enemies.

WHAT A BOOK! Very hard to put down. The overall lesson from the book; WE ARE AT WAR! What are YOU going to do about it - ignore it or get involved?

[Kathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A book every American should read.”

I agree.

A few years ago, our son-in-law, a special operations soldier, told me in explicit terms about the grave danger of the Islamic State to Western Civilization. He gave details to support his belief, and they were frightening.

In the months that followed, I have read articles and listened to reports that supported our son-in-law’s report. Dr. Gorka’s book, however, is the best book for backround information that I have read so far. Gorka writes about the history of Islam, and then focuses on how Jihad has developed throughout the centuries, especially in the last twenty-plus years. He writes clearly and succinctly, and, although the history of Islam is labyrinthine, Dr. Gorka makes it as easy to follow as is possible. What he writes is also frightening because it, too, is real.

Dr. Gorka, however—as the title of his book shows—believes that America can win this war against Jihad, and he clearly tells how. Better yet, he also tells what each of us should do to help.

He is hopeful because America defeated totalitarianism in the past. The beginning of the book contains a moving tribute to Dr. Gorka’s Hungarian father, who personally and directly contributed to the defeat of communism in his country. Through his father’s and many others’ bravery, Gorka believes that we have learned from our successes and our mistakes. He calls upon freedom-loving Americans--and those who believe similarly--to help.

By recommending this book to you, I begin to do my part.

P.S. Gorka’s book is, I believe, above politics; he criticizes both of the past administrations for errors made.

Where praise from individual reviewers or from magazines was printed in this book, however, I winced at one or two of the names. They became familiar to me during the 2016 presidential election, and I have negative connotations about them. I did not, however, let the fact that they also supported Defeating Jihad keep me from recommending the book to you.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gorka is an interesting guy. I love listening to him when he is interviewed. He clearly knows his stuff well. In the book he provides his personal history which motivated him to study stopping jihadism, and he provides very interesting historical perspective on how the current mess evolved as well as providing sage advice for how to stop it. Two criticisms: one, when discussing the fact that Attaturk wanted to create a nation (Turkey) that was Westernized and *not* a caliphate, Gorka almost made him sound like one of the good guys. Attaturk was not a good guy; he led the Armenian Genocide. I can't for the life of me figure out why Gorka did not address this fact. Two: I think Gorka missed an opportunity to clarify more the differences between what the Sunnis and Shias believe. I suppose he just really wanted to narrow in on how to defeat jihadism (hence the title). I think he would be a terrific government consultant - he clearly knows a great deal.

[Paul Sutliff · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book tells very little if anything about Islamic terrorism. It says more about the Cold War! IT WAS NOT WORTH MY TIME!

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick and interesting read. The later 1/2 of the book is full of redacted documents. However the history of modern Jihad and how we as a country should address it, is very educational.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like a high school report. He never does get around to his plan -- unless it's the three pages before the afterword. The rest is padding, opinion, and political spin. Blech.

[M Pereira · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a hard book to review.

I have views about Gorka, I know there have been questions about his career and some of his associations not least with Trump but the emerging far right of Europe, are problematic to this liberal 'tard.

If I were to apply the principle of charity and put all that aside (which is maybe impossible)...

There are interesting insights about the book that are give an idea of the realpolitik of international relations and warfare. The starting point of this book was about Gorka's family history with Hungary and its relationship with fascism. This starting point very much frames the tone of the rest of the book. There's a certain mindset where if you understand the foundational aspects of, you will accept what follows from it.

Krav Maga was created in the 20th century as a response to the street violence and sense of threat in Europe that the Jewish community felt at the time. Krav Maga eventually developed into a fighting system which chimed in very strongly with the philosophy of the Israeli army. I feel a similar mentality comes into play here. There is a view of a constant threat with the Arab world, a view that at a fundamental level there is an instability which is a threat to 'the west'. Iran, once liberal, was radicalised; the same can be said of the Ibn Saud family, Afghanistan and the North African states post 2011 (Arab Spring).

The thing that is crucial about this book is whether you choose to accept this narrative. It is the case that Libya is now declared a 'failed state'; it is the case that there are contested areas in Syria. it is the case that cells of activity creating violence are related to so-called daesh.

The thing is though, for every narrative in an area, there are others. Gorka's thesis heavily relies on the meshing of many narrative of these Arab countries. The other thing to raise is that this book is seeminly an apology (apologia) for the international relations policy linked to Trump. This makes Trump look smarter than he actually is. People often speak of a Trumpism or what counts as a Trumpist economy or military strategy. There is a sense in which the view of Gorka's anti-Jihad narrative would be Trumpist. It is however a different thing to match the intentions of the Trump administration with Trump himself. It may be that generals, advisors and other influencers might have a certain kind of view that people might call Trumpist. Maybe it's appropriate to call it as such. I'm not sure honestly. There's more a chaos in the white house within it's own staff and a great sense of inconsistency with the president.

Anyway that's all an aside.

I find a book like this deeply depressing. I remember reading political and recent history books in my 20s about the financial crash or post 9/11, disaster capitalism and the post-industrial. This however is scary stuff. I think a book like this is one to be read in context with loads of other books on the subject. I do think there is something effective that captures the zeitgeist of a 'Trumpian' foreign policy and the book cannot be ignore for this purpose. It's certainly challenging. I think it's a text that I'll continue to think about after I've read it. It also makes me realise I need to read more monographs pertaining to the current post-2016 era of history and politics.

It makes me miss the 'new atheists' as an innocent time.

[Michael Jolls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 2016, Dr. Gorka’s book is relatively short but jam packed with information; in all likelihood, I may speed-read this one again at some point in the future. “Defeating Jihad” parallels modern radical Islamic terrorism with Russian's communist Marxism ideology that drove the Cold War between 1945 to 1989. This seems like a hot take, but Dr. Gorka ties together in the end with the proposals on how to push back against modern religious warfare. The most striking element of the book is the fact that I, or anyone else reading it in mid-summer 2024 can’t help but think of the Pro-Palestine University Protests, or the “tentafada” of spring 2024. There’s a lot of detailed history in this book, but Dr. Groka constantly refrains back to the United States in the 2010s, giving it a very contemporary sense. If you read "The Looming Tower," this is like the Cliff Notes version of the first half of that book, but with the hindsight of the terror attacks of the 2010s.

[Elizabeth Warton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an eye opener! Everyone must read this book to understand why terror happens today to the extent and cruelty we are facing. Another highly recommended book on the Cyber aspects of today's threat (not covered by Gorka) is Cyber Terror: How It Happens And What We Can Do. These two books will give you the necesary background and undersatnding of modern terror and cyber terror threats.

[Ahmet Makra · Rating 1 out of 5]

The pinnacle of time-wasting and nonsense is a book. The so-called terrorism expert author, who introduces himself as a terrorism expert, attempts to justify the large-scale civilian massacres they carried out during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan by labeling them as "jihad." Then, he also offers advice for their continuation. After a certain number of pages, the contradictions and absurdities increased so much that I deleted the book without completing it. I felt like I was watching classic Vietnam war movies full of American propaganda.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

know yourself, freedom of individual, them or us, new president new mistakes, many Obama drones became recruiting platform, submission not peace, the islamic state, media assault young professionals, 29% Americans kill Americans, one must destroy other us or them, we must have determination per Constitution Bill of Rights Declaration of Independence, deploy the truth as an example calling out the evil empire of soviets, help other governments win by their self, win war at home by shared ideology, education and training both schools and police, NYC model based on people to counter terror, most victims are muslims, observe oddity and be aware, world turned upside down.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally well written. Clear, concise, forceful. Makes a strong case for how to defeat two existential threats to America and Western civilization – Jihad and domestic Marxism (which has risen since this writing using the original Soviet model Gorka describes). Gorka explains in easy to understand language the history and construct of Islam and jihad as well as the fallacies of domestic opinion and government policies on IS.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well presented and informative.

This book was very informative and concise considering the complex subject matter. I would recommend this to anyone who cares about our great country and our continued liberty. The more we know the better prepared we are to defend ourselves and our freedom.

[Bryn D · Rating 3 out of 5]

A primer for the average (but perhaps less read or informed reader) about the threat posed by Islamic global jihadists. Pretty basic and simple read. Not at all deep and comprehensive as other works out there, so if you have not read too many books about this topic starting with this book might be an ideal place to start.

[Quanita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Primer on Terrorist Groups

It you've seen Gorka on TV, you know he's passionate on this topic. This book tells the difference between the different terrorist organizations. This understanding will help in understanding, and therefore defeating, this enemy of the United States.

[Adam Lawrence · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of opinions presented as facts without good sources. Seems to have a very biased view right off the bat. Brief reviews of history are good but constantly ruined by "America is the best" "America won these wars all by themselves" and other, almost propaganda-like, statements. Not a good fact source but useful to get a sense of how a very conservative person thinks about the issues.