Michael Gordon

Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow October 1, 2008 - July 31, 2009

gordon_300.jpg

Contact

Phone: (202) 429-3867

E-mail: mgordon@usip.org

Languages: Russian

Project Focus:
American Military, Diplomatic and Political Efforts to Stabilize Iraq, 2006-2009


Countries: Iraq
 
ARCHIVED SPECIALIST PROFILE

 

Michael Gordon, the chief military correspondent for The New York Times, proposes to write a history of the U.S. effort to stabilize Iraq from 2006-2009. He will cover the military’s counterinsurgency campaign, efforts to contain and tamp down sectarian violence, diplomatic initiatives with neighboring states, engagement with host government and local groups, and nation-building and reconstruction programs.

Gordon has worked for The New York Times since 1985. During his Times career, he has served as the national security correspondent, the bureau chief in Moscow (1996-2000) and a London reporter (2000-2001). He reported on military conflicts, defense policy, the proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons and other national security issues. Gordon has covered the Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, the Kosovo conflict, the Russian intervention in Chechnya, the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the American invasion of Panama, among other conflicts. In 1989, Gordon was awarded the George Polk Award for International Reporting for his joint work with Times Correspondent Stephen Engelberg on the proliferation of chemical weapons.

In addition to his work for the Times , Gordon has written for Survival and ,Foreign Policy magazines. In 2002, he organized and reported an award winning documentary on the conflict in Chechnya, "Deadlock: Russia's Forgotten War," which was broadcast internationally by CNN Presents. Before joining the Times, Gordon worked for five years as a correspondent for National Journal, where he covered defense and security issues. From 1976 to 1979, he covered the U.N. for a monthly publication of the United Nations Association.

Gordon received a B.A. from Colgate University, an M.A. in philosophy from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Publications:

  • Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (Pantheon, 2006).
  • The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (Little Brown, 1995).
  • "The Last Battle: The Fight among Iraq's Shiites," The New York Times Magazine (August 3, 2008).
  • "The Former Insurgent Counterinsurgency," The New York Times Magazine (September 2, 2007).

Resources & Tools

Iraqi police officers during training (Credit: DoD Photo/U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. Kevin L. Moses Sr.)
August 2009 | Peace Briefing by Robert Perito and Madeline Kristoff

As part of a push to bolster security in Iraq, the U.S. government declared 2006 the “Year of the Police” and focused on building the institutional capacity of the Ministry of the Interior, which supervises and trains Iraq’s police force.  However, even by 2007, numerous reports described Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior as crippled by corruption and sectarianism, and furthermore represented a major obstacle to developing an effective police force in the country.

Events

August 6, 2009

Since the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) last year, which committed the U.S. to an unconditional withdrawal of U.S. on a three-year timeline, the withdrawal issue has receded from the American public debate about Iraq. President Obama has set his own timeline that fits comfortably within the SOFA. How much and how fast the U.S. leaves Iraq will nonetheless have a critical effect on U.S. strategic interests in the region. Some Iraqi leaders have publicly stated their openness to a post-2011 presence.