The Patriot.

Phillip Carter is a lawyer and national security writer who founded the blog INTEL DUMP. He is also a US Army officer who was patriotic enough (and crazy enough) to leave a perfectly good law practice and journalistic career to volunteer for duty in Iraq, where he is currently serving. Because of his assignment, he cannot write about the war directly, but he has some of the best background articles around.

It has been extraordinarily difficult for America to define its current war. Are we at war against terrorism, defined by many as a tactic or strategy incapable of ever being conquered? Are we at war with Islamic terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and Hezbollah? Are we at war with the states which sponsor Islamic terrorist organizations? Or are we at war with Islam itself?

This last question may seem preposterous to some. But it's not to many Muslims, who see U.S. actions abroad as a campaign against Islam itself. And within the U.S., there remain a number of scholars and politicians who cast the current war in apocalyptic terms: "World War III" and the classic "clash of civilizations" come to mind. It seems to me that many of these grandiose characterizations miss the mark analytically, but they have a great psychological impact. Before I came to Iraq, I decided to learn as much as I could about Islam so that I could assess these questions more analytically, and also so I would have a fuller understanding of the people I would work with here.

The above is his introduction to a series of excellent book reviews. I will quote the last one:

In the Belly of the Green Bird, by Nir Rosen, probably belonged in my grouping of Iraq books. Unfortunately, my copy arrived after I finished writing those reviews, so I'm putting it this one. As an Arabic-speaking reporter of Arab descent, Rosen brings the same capabilities with him to his coverage of Iraq as Anthony Shadid — the ability to blend in and cover the Iraq war from the side of the Iraqis. This Rosen does with a great deal of passion, staying in Iraq for years, far longer than any other reporter. He becomes close enough to certain insurgent groups to earn an invitation into their lair. He provides us with glimpses inside their deadly world, leaving me with both admiration and hatred for these fighters. Sun Tzu said many years ago that knowing your enemy was crucial for victory. Rosen's book tells more about the insurgency than nearly any intel dump I've gotten over here, and it should be required reading for all U.S. personnel in Iraq. Although it's true that some fighters (particularly those from outside Iraq) wage war out of pure nihilism, many inside Iraq fight us for clear, articulable, understandable reasons. We must develop an understanding of these men which goes beyond the depth offered by PowerPoint briefings in order to develop strategies and tactics for fighting them — or better yet, for disarming and enfranchising them.