Rating: 
Summary: Intelligent and Succinct
Review: A very fine, though short, military history of the latest Iraq war padded with a lot of introductory material on the history of Mesopotamia. Criticizes much of the Western media and "Franco-German" Europe for what he sees as lapses in judgement, but never even comes close to entering the realm of biased partisan attacks.
With all that has happened with the occupation since this book was written, I hope a revised and much-expanded edition will eventually appear. I would like to see Keegan's perspective on so much more.
If you want to get an idea of the realities of the conflict from a military, historical, and state-craft perspective, this is the book.
Rating:
Summary: The Iraq War
Review: Author of 18 books on war, Keegan explores the mystery of the Iraq war: its causus belli, the failure to discover weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and the flight of 400,000 Iraqi soldiers from American troops half their number. Keegan's eight-part history begins with "Iraq before Saddam," emphasizing geography and rivers and the "cradle of civilization." The Islamic caliphate transfers from Damascus to Baghdad; Iraq becomes the most powerful state west of China. The Mamelukes class fights wars under the Koran's prohibition against Muslims fighting Muslims, and the Ottoman Turks govern Iraq into the 20th century. History repeats itself. The US chooses Iraqis for provisional council membership as Britain chooses leaders like Nuri Said to administer its mandate. Layer upon layer, Keegan's story unfolds, depicting Saddam Hussein as provincial and uneducated, his power resulting from intrigue and violence. After the conflict in Bosnia and Kosovo, the scene shifts to the Middle East, where France and England struggle with one another for control over Iran, Iraq, and Palestine. The US launches a preemptive war against Iraq. Keegan concludes with tough-minded criticism of the policymaking of President Bush and the neocons. Keegan may well earn another prestigious award. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Important and crucial read for all doudters of the war
Review: Bravo, John Keegan.
The author, a truly great historian, once again, provides the readers with a truly remarkable account of the truth behind the policies of the war in Iraq. Unlike all the deranged arguments from the liberals, John Keegan tells us all the historical and real reasons why the U.S and Great Britain took the courageous path to liberate and change the course of history in Iraq.
He allows us to understand the historical, political, and cultural aspects of the importance of our current policies.
As you read his book, is it easy to understand how our sacrifice will help reshape the future of the region. Too many people have suffered under the dictator, and too many people have been lied to by the Hussein government.
As you get to the final chapters of the book, one will also understand how successful this campaign has been, and how the military has conducted itself in a great manner to bring a fast and secure victory for the people of the region. Much still has to be accomplished to bring stability and peace to Iraq, however unlike the liberal press's view point and final analysis, Iraq is truly a better place then it once was.
The final phrase of the book defines this campaign beautifully.
"The reality of the Iraq campaign of March-April 2003 is, however, a better guide to what needs to be done to secure the safety of our world than any amount of law-making or treaty-writing can offer".
Music to our ears.
Bravo !!
Senator John Kerry, John Edwards and Democatric Party, please read this book and stop making stupid remarks.
Rating: 
Summary: WAY too soon for a look "back" at the War and Occupation
Review: I actually listened to the audio version of this in my car over two days. While some of the history is interesting to history buff's (I'll go ahead and include myself in this category), the "war" is from invasion to the fall of Baghdad.
The REAL war is happening now. And, he doesn't remotely touch that.
This appears to be a terrible grab at selling a book based on current events... as HISTORY, no less.
This guys a great writer...but, this book is substandard, at best.
Rating: 
Summary: Why we went to war with Iraq in 2003.
Review: I admire Keegan and his thoughtful books about why nations/people go to war. This is a good book detailing why the United States and Great Britain went to war with Saddam's Iraq in 2003. Obviously the war in Iraq is not over with the spreading guerrilla war against the Coalition Occupation. The consensus is this was the war to topple the Baath Party and Saddam's dictatorship of Iraq. This is why Keegan limited the focus of the book to just the regime change in Baghdad. He also covers the killings of Saddam's sons and the capture of Saddam himself. For all those who opposed the war, this thoughtful book tells the reasons why it happened.
At a little over two hundred pages, this is an easy read, and gives a detailed summary of the stages for the war. Before the action, Keegan details a short summary of Iraq, along with a chapter about Saddam. A final summary of what the U.S./U.K. face with the guerrilla challenge should have been added. This is a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Up To Par
Review: I have been a loyal reader of Keegan's histories for many years now, and consider him to be one of the best military historians living today. His History of Warfare, Mask of Command, Face of Battle, and Price of Admiralty are essential reading for any student of military history, and his style of writing is inviting and a joy to read. This having been said, I was very disappointed with the Iraq War.
As another reviewer has noted, most of the book concerns the history of Saddam's rise to power, and the events leading up to the current conflict, including the Gulf War. Here Keegan shines with his usual concise and informative style and provides the reader with the best summary of these events I have yet to read. It is when he reaches the current Iraq War that he disappoints. One learns nothing that cannot be found in the various news reportage, books from embedded journalists, etc.
It is, perhaps, not surprising that this is the case. Despite Keegan's rather rosy conclusion, combat operations, some large scale, continued beyond the time of his writing, and indeed do so today. This of necessity limits the information available to the historian as the Pentagon, Department of Defense, and their British counterparts are still, rightly, keeping much information classified. Information concerning military dispositions, systems of communication, logistics, and supply is in many instances still not available to the general public or historians. This includes in some instances Orders of Battle and Tables of Organization and Equipment for many units, two sources of information upon which Keegan has relied heavily in the past. The question in my mind is why Keegan even attempted to write this book at the present time, since he had to be well aware that such information would not be available to him.
In the end, this is an excellent work when it comes to detailing the build-up to the current war and the history of the Baath regime in Iraq, and can be an invaluable resource from that perspective, but readers looking for an in-depth historical examination of the Iraq War itself will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Good Background, Not Much War
Review: John Keegan is an excellent historian, so I expected a good overview of the war that was not provided in other books written by embedded journalists. Unfortunately, Keegan did not have enough material to deliver the complete war story.Keegan starts off with a short but excellent summary of the reasons for the war and his early and balanced analysis of them. The book then turns into a history lesson on Iraq, Saddam, and the political lead-up to the war. This background material takes up over HALF of the books 220 pages of text. Keegan's historical expertise shows through, as the various segments of Iraq's history are covered in a very complete and readable text. However, given that the book is on the Iraq WAR, the background material seems like padding for a lack of war coverage. The actual war is covered in only 80 pages, split between the American drive-up, the British capture of Basra, and the capture of Bagdad. Here is where the historian suffers a lack of material which will come available in the coming years. The result is far too general. Much better material is found in "The March Up" and "In the Company of Soldiers", though the latter includes annoying political commentary. However, Keegan's British background makes for a more complete coverage of the British experience and gives a different perspective from American embedded journalists. Given that the insurgency continues, the conclusion in the final section on the war's aftermath are premature, but Keegan's fine historical instincts and knowledge make for some interesting insights. In summary, it is too early to develop an in-depth review of the war, without the help of the top commanders (Keegan had only a 2 hour interview with General Franks) and/or more material from army/marine sources. While the historical context and Keegan's insights are strong, the lack of material on the war is dissapointing.
Rating:
Summary: The Egocentric War in Iraq
Review: The "Iraq War", in simple terms is neither a book loaded with details in military strategies nor about the horrific and tragic events that occurred in the war. So, to those avid readers who expect to be enlightened with details in military warfare, this book is not for you!
On the other had, Mr. Keegan does begin the book with an interesting point of view about the mystery of the war itself. Mysterious in a sense that after so much hype given to the Republican Guard's loyalty and honor to defend and die for their country, most of them literally abandoned post and went home to their families. Who were we fighting after all, Mr. Keegan asks?
From his book's climatic introduction, Mr. Keegan then proceeds to give a brief history of Iraq, beginning with the Arabian Nights era to today's modern age. In the next chapter, he writes a brief biography on Saddam Hussein, which starts from when he was an uneducated Muslim youth to his rise to absolute power and president of Iraq. It is from this point on that the book does an about face which takes us back from the fruitless war with Iran, the crushing defeat in the Gulf War and of course to the crisis of 2002-2003-the Iraq War:
Mr. Keegan's passage of "The Iraq War of 2003 was exceptional in both beginning well for the Anglo-American force that waged it and ending victoriously" is too egocentric. Let's not forget whom were we fighting: a much disorganized, ill-equipped Army, which lacked advanced technological weapons and worse yet leadership. Therefore, the Iraq War may not have deserved to be called a war, but a plain territorial occupancy by the alliance.
John Keegan is a well recognized author on warfare and has written many other books in the subject such as The Face of Battle, Intelligence in War, The Mask of Command, The First World War, World Armies and many others. Keegan is also the defense editor of The Daily Telegraph. He had the privilege to interview the U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as General Tommy Franks, perhaps the two most important people in the allied forces. It is obvious that both, his experience as a writer and as a reporter provided Keegan with a wealth of information to write with authority and such details as he did.
Rating:
Summary: Written in haste and with an agenda
Review: The war in Iraq has hardly started and John Keegan, the untiring writer as already produced a history of it. This book is deeply flawed. It is not just vague, and badly researched, bringing nothing new to life. John Keegan is at pains to justify the invasion. While there's nothing wrong with having an opinion, but why should this be presented as history?
Rating:
Summary: Iraq Book Saturation
Review: There are a few similarities here with the Ollie North book and others, which is okay but we do have or are approaching book saturation on Iraq. The author makes the assertion that the war is okay and then makes a nice book as part of the justification - a book that is far too short - just 275 pages, about the mechanics of the war, the troops, with some politics thrown in. There was zero legal basis to invade Iraq as there was no legal basis to kill millions of Vietnamese, and of the 200 countries at the UN only a small number, maybe 50, or anything like true democracies. One can start your non democracies with most Muslim countries such as Pakistan, most of Africa, China, and Russia for starters - about 1.5 to 2.0 billion people. So what countries deserve to be liberated? Where does the liberation start and where does it stop? Why just Iraq? Why not Iran a country that is developing WMD's today and is hosting terrorists. Iraq peaked in power in 1991. Most polls in Iraq of their citizens clearly reflect a hatred and wariness of the US invasion about equal to Saddam. So let us keep it all fair, rational, and accurate. Of course the soldiers are heroes (and I am conservative and served in the armed services) but lets keep the military bravery separate from the politics that decided that the "war on terror" was an invasion of Iraq. This doubly true when we now have a zillion Iraq books. I made a Listmania list of my favorite 25. This is not on it. So just 3.5 stars. Jack in Toronto
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