In 2003, one of the most consequential urban operations in modern military history took place as US forces approached Baghdad from the south—the battle for control of the Iraqi capital, including the armored "thunder runs" that collapsed Saddam Hussein’s regime. Drawing from his firsthand experience as the commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division during the battle, retired General David Perkins joins John Spencer in this episode to recount how roughly a thousand American soldiers conducted two rapid and aggressive assaults into Baghdad, during the second of which they seized and held the center of a city of six million against entrenched Republican Guard forces. He describes how US soldiers overwhelmed stiff enemy resistance with speed, combined arms integration, disciplined mission command, and relentless momentum.

It's a holiday tradition for MWI and the Urban Warfare Project Podcast—the annual Christmas wish list episode. Once again this year, host John Spencer turns the podcast's focus to an important question: What items should be on a military force's urban warfare holiday wish list? To do so, he is joined as always by two urban warfare scholars to discuss the unique weapons and tools, programs and initiatives, capabilities and ideas they would wish into existence for any military force preparing for the challenges of operating in cities. Major Jayson Geroux is a Canadian Army officer and urban warfare historian assigned to the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre. And Mr. Stuart Lyle is the urban operations research lead for the UK-based Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Together, they describe what they believe militaries should be asking Santa for this year.

On November 26, 2008, ten Pakistan-based members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group infiltrated Mumbai and launched nearly simultaneous attacks on five sites across the city. They paralyzed a metropolis of nearly eighteen million people for more than sixty hours. By the end of the siege, the attackers had killed 174 people and wounded hundreds more. In this episode, John Spencer is joined by retired Colonel Liam Collins to discuss their extensive research into the attacks. Drawing on a firsthand battlefield assessment conducted in Mumbai, including visits to every attack location, they examine how a small terrorist force exploited the density, complexity, and flows of a megacity to overwhelm local security forces and force a national-level response.

Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, John Spencer has conducted research during seven trips to the country, and has had the opportunity to visit Gaza City. His firsthand experience gives him a deep and nuanced understanding of the vast tunnel network that runs underneath Gaza. In this episode, he shares his observations from this research. He also describes the ways Hamas has employed subterranean spaces to move personnel and materiel, produce and store weapons, hold hostages, and protect leadership. And he explains why he believes the tunnel network has mattered more than the fight above ground over two years of war.

In January 2018, Mossad operatives infiltrated a secret warehouse in Tehran, Iran, broke into dozens of massive safes, and in just under seven hours extracted more than one hundred thousand documents and over half a ton of material detailing Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program. The raid, code-named Operation Stealing the Reality, was the result of two years of planning. In this episode, John Spencer speaks with Yossi Cohen, the former director of Mossad who led the organization through this extraordinary urban operation. Their conversation reveals the extraordinary detail, preparation, and risk behind a raid that changed history.

In 2005, then Colonel H. R. McMaster commanded the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment during the Battle of Tal Afar. At the time, the city was a key stronghold for al-Qaeda in Iraq and a staging ground for fighters and suicide bombers crossing into northwestern Iraq from Syria. Operation Restoring Rights was launched to clear insurgents, restore order, and protect the civilian population from the sectarian violence ravaging the city. It is often referenced as a model example of the clear, hold, build approach to counterinsurgency. McMaster joins this episode to share his uniquely insightful perspective on the battle—how the fight was shaped by lessons from Fallujah, how his team integrated Iraqi security forces and tribal leaders, and how planning focused not just on clearing the city but holding it and restoring life afterward.

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Captain Ryan Danowitz of the El Segundo Police Department. Drawing on his eighteen years of policing experience and research conducted through California’s Law Enforcement Command College, Captain Danowitz explores how artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles could reshape urban policing. He discusses how these vehicles might enhance deterrence, increase patrol coverage, assist with detainee transport, and serve as force multipliers for overburdened departments. He also describes the very real ethical and operational challenges of integrating AI into law enforcement—from public trust and transparency to cost, training, and deployment in real-world urban environments.

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Major Floren Herrera of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and recipient of the prestigious Nininger Award for Valor at Arms, Major Herrera led troops during the 2017 Battle of Marawi—one of the most intense urban battles in recent Philippine military history. He shares the story of his journey from cadet to Scout Ranger, the experience of rejoining his unit in the middle of the battle, and how he applied leadership lessons under fire in the dense, high-stakes urban terrain of Marawi. His insights offer a rare and powerful look into combat leadership in one of the defining urban battles of the twenty-first century.

By its very nature, urban warfare involves the presence of civilians. And when cities become battlefields, it may be necessary to evacuate noncombatants from them—either due to humanitarian imperatives or because military objectives require it. But an array of legal obligations and other considerations arise when civilians are evacuated. And because discussions of evacuations are closely linked to those surrounding the conduct of siege warfare, this raises further questions of the legal issues related to sieges and the obligations of parties on both sides of siege warfare. To explore these questions, John Spencer is joined on this episode by Laurie Blank, a clinical professor of law at Emory University School of Law, director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic, and author of the book International Conflict and Security Law.

According to US military doctrine, legitimacy is one of the twelve principles of joint operations. But that concept—legitimacy—is a complex one. How is it defined? How should we understand the ways in which the laws of war, rules of engagement, national policies, and civilian harm mitigation measures overlap—and how they differ? How can rules of engagement and policies change in different missions, theaters, operating environments, and wars? This episode examines those questions and features an insightful discussion with an expert on the subject: Laurie Blank, a clinical professor of law at Emory University School of Law, director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic, and author of the book International Conflict and Security Law.