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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 956.704430973 EAN: 9780674019683 ISBN: 0674019687 Label: Belknap Press Manufacturer: Belknap Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 368 Publication Date: September 28, 2005 Publisher: Belknap Press Studio: Belknap Press Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: In this unprecedented account of the intensive air and ground operations in Iraq, two of America's most distinguished military historians bring clarity and depth to the first major war of the new millennium. Reaching beyond the blaring headlines, embedded videophone reports, and daily Centcom briefings, Williamson Murray and Robert Scales analyze events in light of past military experiences, present battleground realities, and future expectations. The Iraq War puts the recent conflict into context. Drawing on their extensive military expertise, the authors assess the opposing aims of the Coalition forces and the Iraqi regime and explain the day-to-day tactical and logistical decisions of infantry and air command, as British and American troops moved into Basra and Baghdad. They simultaneously step back to examine long-running debates within the U.S. Defense Department about the proper uses of military power and probe the strategic implications of those debates for America's buildup to this war. Surveying the immense changes that have occurred in America's armed forces between the Gulf conflicts of 1991 and 2003--changes in doctrine as well as weapons--this volume reveals critical meanings and lessons about the new "American way of war" as it has unfolded in Iraq. (20031101) Average Rating:
 Rating:  - This is NOT a valid military "history" of the Iraq War !This is NOT a valid military "history" of the Iraq War. Instead, it is an exceedingly poor literary product considering the intellectual gravitas that both Murray and Scales have in the military community. Even taking in to account the minimal information that we had at the time of its publication - it is NOT a valid primer on the Iraq War - it is barely a chintzy slice of the pie. It is certainly a substandard product in comparison to the other fine works - including those that these two gentlemen ... Read More Rating: - Good primerNicely written intro to the Iraq War, brief but with enough detail to allow readers to begin to understand the "war" phase, prior to the "insurgency" phase. Could have used a few more maps. Good photos too. Very little, however, about strategy, esp. that coming from the White House and higher ups. Isn't that part of war too? Rating:  - Falling Short of its TargetIn their book "The Iraq War: A Military History," Murray and Scales demonstrate their expertise in the study and writing of military history and analysis. However, this book is not necessarily a history of the Iraq War as much as it is about the re-making of the American military machine. In any case, their research, as well as their writing, is sound and candid and makes for interesting reading. While the authors do focus on military history, they fail in adequately explaining the Iraq ... Read More Rating:  - An excellent, concise historyHistorian Victor Davis Hanson has remarked that the United States has fought four Iraq Wars, the Gulf War of 1991, the 12 year armistice enforcement from 1991 - 2003, the Iraq War of the Spring of 2003 and the Insurgency War of 2003 - . Historian Williamson Murray and Gen. Robert Scales (ret.) have collaborated on this late 2003 volume about the third US v. Iraq War that ended with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. Their intent was to write a straightforward account of the lead-up to ... Read More Rating: - informative, but a little wrong on a few pointsThis book is a good summary of our war for freedom in Iraq. The book is flawed in that it fails to give proper credit to Donald Rumsfeld for the war plan and gives General Franks far too much credit for the plan. Franks was a weak leader and could not intellectually cope with the implications of transformation. His brain was wired up to fight an old-fashoned war and without the pressure of Don Rumsfeld and a few others, we would have either pursued ... Read More 
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