Michael Yon

Reporting and analysis on the Global War on Terror, augmented with embeds in the combat zones to gain a first hand view of the conflicts. The reporting is done at the Counterterrorism Blog, where I am co-editor with Andrew Cochran. As the co-chairman of the Counterterrorism Foundation, I am seeking to promote and support alternative reporting and analysis on the GWOT. I cover the areas of active conflict where the U.S. and her allies are actively fighting al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorists organizations. Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are my areas of focus, and these are the scenes of active fighting against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. I also cover major al-Qaeda attacks and operations.

The commitment our troops have made to fight for our freedom. Since 9-11, I have been struggling for a way to contribute. As a former soldier, I have been sorely tempted to reenlist several times. My family was personally affected by 9-11. I realized that while we are not in danger of losing this war on the ground, we are certainly losing in the realm of the media. I began blogging in March of 2004 to explain the war to friends and family, and soon discovered a hole in reporting on military operations. The media often focuses on politics, U.S. casualties and perceived failures while failing to explain the purpose of combat operations and place them in the proper context. When Colonel Stephen Davis, the Commanding Officer of Regimental Combat Team -2, which was fighting in Iraq’s Anbar province, invited me to embed, I realized my reporting on operations was valued in military circles. And when I saw the progress first hand in Anbar, and the situation on the ground matched my reporting from afar, I knew the media missed a big story. I spoke to Andy Cochran at the Counterterrorism Blog about my desire to conduct some future embeds, and he liked the idea, and from these talks we formed the Counterterrorism Foundation. I’ve had a lot of good fortune along the way and owe my thanks to so many people I could not possibly begin to name them.

While I am in the States, I read a large volume of news, blogs and military press releases on a daily basis. I look for details that are often overlooked by the media, and try to explain what is happening on the ground based on a variety of sources. A large majority of my information comes from open sources, and I will use my network of unnamed source sparingly as I prefer to use open sourced material. I am a firm believer in adding maps, photographs and (if I can gather the resources) Flash presentations to provide a visual component to the reporting. I change my approach when embedded, and tell the story as I see it on the ground. I may augment this with some outside sources or place the events I witnessed into a greater context, but generally my embed reports are generated from my day’s experiences.

With the formation of the Counterterrorism Foundation, the merger with the Counterterroism Blog, planning the embed to Afghanistan and trying to keep up with the daily coverage of the war, my book reading time has been virtually non-existent. I plan on reading Home of the Brave by Caspar Weinberger, War Footing by Frank Gaffney, and the Saudis by Sandra Mackey during my flights to and from Afghanistan. My reading list has backed up over the past year.

Inside al-Qaeda, Blackhawk Down, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Small Wars Manual, On Strategy, The Shield of Achilles. Each of these books will show the nature of the threat we face today. Inside al-Qaeda details the global nature of al-Qaeda, how the group is organized and how al-Qaeda exploits local Islamist terrorist groups. Blackhawk Down details the Battle of Mogadishu, the pitfalls of peacekeeping operations in an urban environment and how easily the American government was intimidated by relatively few casualties. Most importantly the book details the heroism of our servicemen. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich will show how a truly evil ideology can rise from the slums of Germany to the height of power, and how appeasement only leads to further carnage. Small Wars Manual is the Marine Corps’ bible on how to fight an insurgency, which is the present and future of this war. On Strategy details the successes and failures of the Vietnam War. The Shield of Achilles looks at the genesis of different forms of governance and grand strategy from a historical point of view, and looks at the evolution of democratic forms of government.

I have been told that I am able to communicate in a way that both the layman and the expert can understand and appreciate. For example, my detailing of the “Anbar Campaign,” where the military conducted a series of operations to establish permanent bases along the cities and towns of the Euphrates river valley earned me the respect of the Marines and ultimately led to my embed there. But you didn’t need to have served in the military to understand what I was talking about. I took the time to create maps and Flash presentations to allow the readers to visualize what was happening.

My hope is that through the Counterterrorism Foundation, we can promote reporting and analysis on the GWOT that provides an alternative to the established media. The greatest weapon the American public possesses is education about the war and the nature of our enemy. We cannot lose this war on the battlefield, but are in danger of losing public support. I don’t believe the problems with the media reporting on the war is related to the lack of positive stories as much as incomplete reporting, the lack of understanding of the nature of complex military and counterinsurgency operations, and a desire to politicize the war effort. The reporting is quite often completely out of context, which leaves the readers confused, and therefore uneducated about the state of affairs in the war.