Americans must understand the military operations in Iraq in order to evaluate them properly. The counterinsurgency operations in Iraq are complex, but they are not incomprehensible. The Iraq Project at the Institute for the Study of War educates civilian leaders about the ongoing military operations in Iraq, so that they can comprehend those operations in the same way as officers with formal education in the study of war.

The Iraq Project at the Institute for the Study of War produces a variety of publications and research materials to help all Americans understand the ongoing conflict: the lengthy and fully documented Iraq Report, which narrates the most important developments in the campaign; backgrounders, which are shorter essays on narrower aspects of the war; static and interactive maps developed by ISW to help readers navigate the war; webcast interviews with U.S. commanders in Iraq; historical background on earlier phases of this ongoing conflict; and geographic and thematic overviews that aid learning about the war.

The Iraq Report is the flagship publication of the Iraq Project at the Institute for the Study of War. The American military makes an enormous amount of information available to the public, but in forms and formats that most non-specialists find difficult to understand, let alone synthesize into a coherent picture of what is happening on the ground. The Iraq Report and its derivative products and briefings seek to mediate between the military and the American public and leadership by translating the specialist information provided by the military into language and formats accessible to a more general audience. In this way, the Institute for the Study of War works directly to help policy makers and individuals understand what is happening in Iraq.

ISW products provide critical information about the ongoing conflict in Iraq to influential policy-makers and the public. They help anyone interested in the Iraq war to understand the conflict, follow its trends and major operations, and make sense of the debates swirling around Washington and in the media. They are updated continuously and provide a constant and current picture of the changing dynamics of the situation in Iraq, helping opinion leaders and decision-makers evaluate the progress of American and Iraqi efforts. ISW products are unique and without rival in their comprehensiveness, detail, and accuracy.