During the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, insurgents sowed doubt in the invincibility of the US military with such makeshift weapons as roadside bombs and signal flags. Under President Barack Obama, the US has wrested back control of public perceptions with armaments only the mighty can muster—Predator drones and the prodigious output of military institutes and think tanks about how to wage and win counterinsurgency. These “weapons of the strong” are examined Middle East Report 255.