Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq

This is what I was looking for when I picked up John Keegan's singularly bad history of the Iraq war. Where Keegan provides a brief military history of Iraq, a brief overview of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and a long, wacky rant on Iraq War critics whom he labels "Olympians" for some reason (very disappointing for such an otherwise respected historian), Gordon and Trainor's "Cobra II" gives us nothing but the military history of the Iraq War in depth.

"Cobra II" avoids commentary and presents just the facts and timelines for the Iraq War -- you can make up your own mind how big a "fiasco" it was/is. Gordon and Trainor take us through the planning process, the invasion, the campaign and the occupation providing original documentation, still classified Pentagon analyses, and interviews with everyone who matters. They even provide accounts of Saddam's thinking, his battle plans and interviews with his generals. It's very thorough.

As you'd expect from the way things are going, the book documents some damning facts including how Defense Secretary Rumsfeld browbeat the military into going to war without the troops they felt were necessary. Rumsfeld wanted to prove his "transformation" of the military into a smaller, more high-tech fighting force was the way of the future and all the intelligence briefings on the Balkan-like problems we'd encounter after Saddam was toppled didn't mean a damned thing to him or the administration. They didn't want to hear it.

It's a crazy fact that Rumsfeld's small-force doctrine was directly responsible for the administration's failure to provide troops to secure the WMD they were so sure they'd find as well as munitions dumps that were looted after the invasion -- the contents of which are now being used against our troops. And it's tragic to read how military planners penciled in international forces for peacekeeping that they knew the administration wasn't even attempting to recruit -- and in fact turned down when they were offered after the fall of Baghdad.

Unlike my review, the bulk of "Cobra II" covers the actual military campaign; it's a true military history. But even there, you see the administration's -- and the top Pentagon general's -- refusal to assess what was happening on the ground and adapt. From the very start, it was clear that Saddam's Fedayeen insurgents were far more motivated and capable than the regular Iraqi army units but, despite insistent warnings from military intelligence officers attached to the invasion forces, the administration and top generals just didn't want to hear it.

"Cobra II" is an amazingly well documented military history of the Iraq War to this point. The commendably objective narrative makes the tale all the more tragic and poignant. You know it's not going to end well. If you want to know how we got to where we are today in Iraq, Gordon and Trainor provide the facts.

tags: cobra ii  iraq