Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in IraqThe American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in 'Fiasco', Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster. As many in the military publicly acknowledge here for the first time, the guerrilla insurgency that exploded several months after Saddam's fall was not foreordained. In fact, to a shocking degree, it was created by the folly of the war's architects. But the officers who did raise their voices against the miscalculations, shortsightedness, and general failure of the war effort were generally crushed, their careers often ended. A willful blindness gripped political and military leaders, and dissent was not tolerated. |
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Fiasco
User Review - millhouse - BordersI hope children and adults are not using this book for facts about the Iraq war. This book is an opinion of one writer. I believe President Bush will go down as one of the best presdients' in our ... Read full review
FIASCO
User Review - Overstock.comFIASCO is an excellent summary of the pre-war planning, the excution of the Irag War and the inadequacy in the planning of the post-war phase by the Bush Administration thus far based on the ... Read full review
Contents
270 | |
301 | |
311 | |
321 | |
The Price Paid | 363 |
The Corrections | 374 |
390 | |
413 | |
Betting Against History | 430 |
Notes | 441 |
463 | |
Common terms and phrases
4th ID Abizaid Abu Ghraib Ahmed Chalabi Airborne al Anbar American Anbar April Army's attacks Baathists Baghdad Baqubah base battalion battle began bombs Bremer brigade Bush administration campaign Capt Central Command Chalabi Cheney chief civilian coalition combat convoy counterinsurgency defense secretary detainees enemy Fallujah Feith fight fire Franks Garner going Green Zone guys Holshek Humvee insurgency interview invasion Iraq Iraqi army Iraqi police issue killed later leaders major Marine Mattis military intelligence mission months Mosul Odierno officer operations patrol Pentagon Petraeus postwar president prisoners recalled regime response retired Rumsfeld Saddam Hussein Sanchez senior Shiite Shinseki soldiers Special Forces staff strategic Sunni Triangle Swannack tactics Tall Afar thought thousand Tikrit tion told U.S. Army U.S. commanders U.S. effort U.S. forces U.S. government U.S. military U.S. occupation U.S. troops United Vietnam wanted Washington weapons Wolfowitz wrote Zinni
Popular passages
Page 184 - The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish. ..the kind of war on which they are embarking; neither mistaking it for, nor trying to turn it into, something that is alien to its nature.
Page 198 - Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
Page 39 - There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.
Page 61 - America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
Page 145 - We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated.
Page 63 - President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to (1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.
Page 136 - And freedom's untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
Page 35 - The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.
Page 27 - Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.
Page 35 - I will not wait on events, while dangers gather I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer.