Abstract This article is based on an address to the Australian Defence Force Academy by Robert Pape, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. In his address, Dr Pape presents the results of his comprehensive demographic research into the phenomenon of suicide terrorism. Many of his research findings challenge key assumptions and prevailing conventional wisdom on the origins of suicide bombers and their strategic goals. In particular, Pape concludes that Islamic fundamentalism does not …

Abstract This article, based on a speech given to the United Services Institute of the ACT, explores the evolution of special forces and challenges many of the public misconceptions about what makes special forces and special operations ‘special’. The author then examines the operational record of special forces and details his philosophy behind the employment of these unique warriors. Introduction The world of special operations exerts a growing fascination over many within and outside the realm of …

Running the War in Iraq: An Australian general, 300,000 troops, the bloodiest conflict of our time   Written by: Jim Molan, HarperCollins Publishers, Sydney, 2008, ISBN: 9780732287818, 358 pp. Reviewed by: Albert Palazzo Major General Jim Molan has written a compelling, riveting, and fast paced memoir of his year in Iraq as a senior officer with the Headquarters Multi-National Force – Iraq. Molan’s primary position was Chief of Operations to the US Commander, General George G Casey, although he also played …

Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare   Written by: Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian (eds), Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2008, ISBN: 9781849081641, 304 pp. Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Mark O’Neill Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian have much more in common than editorship of this topical anthology. They completed their doctoral studies at Oxford under the supervision of Professor Robert O’Neill (known to many readers of this journal, not only as a former Australian Army officer but also as a …

Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War   Written by: Peter Barham, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2004, ISBN: 9780300125115, 451 pp. Reviewed by: John McCarthy Peter Barham is a psychologist and a historian of mental health. Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War is a very successful attempt to rediscover the largely forgotten men who were certified as lunatics as a result of their 1914–18 war experiences. Wilfred Owen, killed in action on 4 November 1918 and awarded a posthumous Military Cross, noted such …

Robert E Lee: Icon for a Nation   Written by: Brian Holden Reid, pbk, Prometheus Books, 2007,  ISBN: 9781591025856, 271 pp. Reviewed by: Scott Hopkins Any study of General Robert E Lee confronts the interplay of myth and historiography. Lee, a Southern hero of the US Civil War, was almost deified in the ‘Lost Cause’ revisionist process in the second half of the nineteenth century. Interest in the Civil War has not faded, demonstrated by the crowded summer tourist trail around Virginia and Pennsylvania. Nor …

The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality   Written by: Wolfam Wette,  Translated by: Deborah Schneider, Preface by: Peter Fritzsche, Forward byManfred Messerschmitt,  Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2006,  ISBN: 9780674025776, 391 pp. Reviewed by: Russell A Hart Originally published in German in 2002, the appearance of an English translation of this important book is overdue. Wolfram Wette exposes the deeply racist and anti-Semitic character of the modern German military that conditioned it to embrace …

Firearms: The Life Story of a Technology   Written by: Roger Pauly, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2008,  ISBN: 9780801888366, 180 pp. Reviewed by: Antony Trentini Firearms are obviously central to the Army—and are critical to the business of the Infantry and Special Forces. Roger Pauly’s book is an excellent introduction for those interested in better understanding the firearms used by the warriors of yesterday and today. This book examines the history of firearms, and their development …

Listed below is a selection from the review copies that have arrived at the Australian Army Journal . Reviews for many of these books can be found online in the relevant edition of the Australian Army Journal at: http://www.defence.gov.au/army/lwsc/Publications/journal/journal.htm 34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah and the War in Lebanon , Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9780230604001, 287 pp.   A Good War , Patrick Bishop, Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 978034095171, 392 pp. (Distributed in …

TO THE EDITORS We were surprised and disappointed that Brigadier David Buring, in his review of Greg Lockhart’s The Minefield – An Australian Tragedy in Vietnam , misunderstands the book’s central point. The book addresses the question that has angered and intrigued Vietnam veterans since the war: ‘How could Brigadier Graham, an intelligent, capable and experienced army officer, make what is probably the greatest Australian military blunder since World War Two?’ Brigadier Graham was the Commander, 1st …