Army Chief of Staff Reading List #7

I looked forward to reading this book for a while.  I really enjoyed another of the author’s books, The Generals, and its critical take on U.S. military leadership.  Fiasco did not disappoint.

Fiasco is the story of the early part of the Iraq War.  There is a little background so that one understands the main players, namely Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld, and then it jumps headfirst into a chronological discussion of the decisions made and their repercussions.  Fiasco discusses how the war was basically preordained.  The decision to go to war was made before the evidence was evaluated, if it ever was.  It destroyed some careers, like Colin Powell, and effectively started others, like David Patraeus.

Most important, and disappointing in my opinion, were how many opportunities to adjust or correct the path were squandered.  While disappointed, I also find it incredibly infuriating that this book was written in 2006.  I have been to Iraq twice, 2009 and 2012-13, and the lessons that could be learned from this book were available and KNOWN in 2006.  During my first deployment, my unit worked closely with Iraqi authorities to help them improve.  My unit started some of these partnerships, a process that was probably needed more than five years earlier.  So many people had no idea how to run this war and as a result, I am a two-time participant.

I think that anyone who votes should read this book.  It should make you sick that leaders in our country cared so little about those they sent to a war that was so poorly conceived.