Naval postgraduate school monterey, california thesis approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

C. 
METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES 
The thesis will use two case studies to investigate which policy might work best 
for Security, Stability, Transition and Reconstruction operations in Iraq. A comparison is 
adopted to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of defeat and engagement as alternative 
military strategies employ by an occupying power vis-à-vis indigenous militia forces in 
the Middle East. The first case study is the United States occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 
2007. Chapter two analyzes the U.S. engagement strategies vis-à-vis the Kurdish 
Peshmerga in Northern Iraq since 2003, the defeat (2003-2006) and engagement (2006-
2007) strategies vis-à-vis the Sunni militias in western and central Iraq, and lastly, and 
the defeat strategies vis-à-vis the Shia militias in Baghdad and Southern Iraq. The second 
case study is the British occupation of Palestine from 1920 to 1948. Chapter three 
analyzes British strategies of passive acceptance (1930-1936), engagement (1936-1945) 
and defeat (1945-1948) vis-à-vis Jewish militias in Palestine. Unlike Iraq, Palestine was 
not invaded by a foreign military to remove its leader. Palestine was recognized as a 
British Trusteeship by the League of Nations after World War I, and British policy 
supported the World Zionist Organization’s goal of a Jewish state in Palestine. Thus, the 
occupation forces initially faced a more permissive environment in Palestine. However, 
in the years after 1936, the situation in Palestine came to resemble the current situation in 
Iraq in a number of important ways. The Arab Palestinian insurgency against the 
36
“Iraq as a Militia War,” in The Washington Institute for Near East Policy [database online]. 
Washington D.C. January 12, 2007 [cited 2007]. Available from 
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2551 (accessed March 5, 2007). 
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Galula, Counterinsurgency Warfare; Theory and Practice, 6-10. 

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politically dominant Jewish community and the British occupation force presented many 
of the same challenges the U.S. has faced in Iraq. For the Jewish community of 
Palestine, as for the Shia community of Iraq, local security became an overriding 
concern, and local security came quickly to depend upon local Jewish militia forces as it 
became clear that the occupying military force was unable to provide security in the face 
of a growing Arab insurgency. While the failure to provide a political solution that 
served the interests of the Palestinians as well as the Jews created a situation of 
permanent conflict in the greater Middle East region, the British occupation nevertheless 
left a strong state in its wake. As Chapter III will show, this outcome had much to do 
with its military strategies vis-à-vis the militias. The extent to which the lessons of the 
Palestine cases can be applied to the current situation in Iraq will be considered in 
Chapter IV. The Palestine case study will rely primarily upon the abundant secondary 
sources, while the Iraq case study will rely largely on primary sources. 

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