19
March 2015
Past Event
How Should the U.S. Roll Back and Defeat the Islamic State?

How Should the U.S. Roll Back and Defeat the Islamic State?

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
March 19, 2015
Default Event Image
19
March 2015
Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Speakers:
Lee Smith

Former Senior Fellow

michael_doran
Michael Doran

Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East

Kimberly Kagan

Founder and President, Institute for the Study of War

Joel Rayburn

Senior Research Fellow, National Defense University & Author, Iraq After America: Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance

The sectarian clash that erupted four years ago in Syria has metastasized into a conflict that has engulfed much of the Middle East and spread beyond regional borders. Aided in part by the missteps of the Obama administration, the Islamic State (ISIS) has grown significantly with franchises and fighters surfacing from Libya to Western Europe.

Only eight years ago, the Bush administration’s surge helped turn Iraq’s Sunni Arab tribes against foreign fighters, leading to the decimation of al Qaeda in Iraq, the precursor to ISIS. But the Obama administration has had no such success in putting down its own ISIS-led Sunni insurgency and stabilizing the heart of the Middle East. Where the Bush administration understood the need for Sunni cooperation, the Obama administration has, for all intents and purposes, partnered with Iran and its regional partners, rather than potential Sunni allies.

Will the Obama administration’s policies win over local Sunni tribes and officials as the surge did, and, as President Obama has argued, thereby degrade and destroy the Islamic State? Or will the White House’s apparent detente with Iran serve as an anti-surge that continues to fuel ISIS against a new prospective American-Iranian regional order?

On March 19, Hudson Institute hosted a panel of experts who witnessed the 2007 surge up close and will assess both the nature of the current Sunni insurgency and the options going forward. Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Lee Smith moderated a panel featuring Michael Doran, Kimberly Kagan, Michael Pregent, and Joel Rayburn.

Related Events
18
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Africa in the Dark: The Cost of Misguided International Energy Policies
Featured Speaker:
Professor Brenda Shaffer
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
Getty Images
18
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Africa in the Dark: The Cost of Misguided International Energy Policies

Hudson’s Zineb Riboua will host Professor Brenda Shaffer, faculty member of the Naval Postgraduate School and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, to discuss Dr. Shaffer’s latest research paper and international energy policy shifts that can help address the challenge. 

Getty Images
Featured Speaker:
Professor Brenda Shaffer
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
19
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Venezuela: Can US Pressure Break Maduro’s Grip?
Featured Speakers:
Eric Farnsworth
Carrie Filipetti
David Smolansky
Moderator:
Daniel Batlle
Getty Images
19
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Venezuela: Can US Pressure Break Maduro’s Grip?

Join Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle and a panel of experts as they dissect these questions.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Eric Farnsworth
Carrie Filipetti
David Smolansky
Moderator:
Daniel Batlle
24
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Peace Through Strength: A New Strategic Review for a New Nuclear Age
Featured Speakers:
Keith Payne
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
DVIDS
24
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Peace Through Strength: A New Strategic Review for a New Nuclear Age

Join Dr. Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, senior fellow at Hudson Institute, and Dr. Keith Payne, president and cofounder of NIPP, for discussion about the report’s analysis and recommendations.

DVIDS
Featured Speakers:
Keith Payne
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
24
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Chokeholds and Choices: Securing Supply Chains in the US-China Rivalry
Featured Speakers:
Rush Doshi
Cameron Johnson
Gerard DiPippo
Nadia Schadlow
Moderator:
Patrick M. Cronin
Getty Images
24
September 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Chokeholds and Choices: Securing Supply Chains in the US-China Rivalry

Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow will join leading experts on supply chains and US-China competition for a panel discussion of these questions, moderated by Asia-Pacific Security Chair Patrick Cronin.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Rush Doshi
Cameron Johnson
Gerard DiPippo
Nadia Schadlow
Moderator:
Patrick M. Cronin