Rating: 
Summary: Important Political Year Reading
Review: .
Summary:Great reading that is hard to put down. The writers are insightful, with expert, well researched and provide compelling information gleaned from expert well connected sources whom they had long term friendships and associations with. The book appears factually written without an apparent political agenda. An increasingly important factor for books coming out this year. Truly substantial information, facts, and details of the war. Substantially more than will be commented on here. Many disparate situations are better understood and explained by this book - like how can a mechanical support team get lost in the middle of combat? Political Year Issues: General Franks re-wrote modern military tactics with his blitzkrieg through Iraq to topple one of the most brutal dictatorships with the (one time) 5th best army in the world. Could the war have been won with much greater costs and loss of life on both sides? Good thought provoking information including substantial captured Syrian jihad troops in the fedayeen forces - what were they doing there? What does this mean to us in looking forward to the next middle eastern crisis? Questions Remaining: If we found no weapons of mass destruction, but we knew they were there before (they were previously used and the US, England, France and Russia sold them to Saddam Hussein and all agreed they were there at one time). Where did they go? Do the presence of Syrian jihad troops give us a strong enough linkage to pursue Syria for the missing WMD's? (This is my personal belief, for what little it is worth.) The point being there is no evidence of the WMD's being destroyed, therefore they must be someplace. Buried in the desert? Or, in a neighboring country? What is Syria's role in this war (with its superiorly trained troops), and potential aftermath issues that will have to be addressed within this decade? Syria remains a dictatorship that harbors and trains terrorists in its Bacca Valley and still plans to drive every Israeli Jew into the Mediterranean Sea - regardless of any peace treaty. Negatives: Could use more dialogue to bring out the first hand experience, rather than being a citation. Could have used more maps and diagrams. These are really essential for digesting troop movements relative to cities, and relative locations in a fairly dispersed and desolate land.
Rating:
Summary: Important Political Year Reading
Review: .
Summary: Great reading that is hard to put down. The writers are insightful, with expert, well researched and provide compelling information gleaned from expert well connected sources whom they had long term friendships and associations with. The book appears factually written without an apparent political agenda. An increasingly important factor for books coming out this year. Truly substantial information, facts, and details of the war. Substantially more than will be commented on here. Many disparate situations are better understood and explained by this book - like how can a mechanical support team get lost in the middle of combat? Political Year Issues: General Franks re-wrote modern military tactics with his blitzkrieg through Iraq to topple one of the most brutal dictatorships with the (one time) 5th best army in the world. Could the war have been won with much greater costs and loss of life on both sides? Good thought provoking information including substantial captured Syrian jihad troops in the fedayeen forces - what were they doing there? What does this mean to us in looking forward to the next middle eastern crisis? Questions Remaining: If we found no weapons of mass destruction, but we knew they were there before (they were previously used and the US, England, France and Russia sold them to Saddam Hussein and all agreed they were there at one time). Where did they go? Do the presence of Syrian jihad troops give us a strong enough linkage to pursue Syria for the missing WMD's? (This is my personal belief, for what little it is worth.) The point being there is no evidence of the WMD's being destroyed, therefore they must be someplace. Buried in the desert? Or, in a neighboring country? What is Syria's role in this war (with its superiorly trained troops), and potential aftermath issues that will have to be addressed within this decade? Syria remains a dictatorship that harbors and trains terrorists in its Bacca Valley and still plans to drive every Israeli Jew into the Mediterranean Sea - regardless of any peace treaty. Negatives: Could use more dialogue to bring out the first hand experience, rather than being a citation. Could have used more maps and diagrams. These are really essential for digesting troop movements relative to cities, and relative locations in a fairly dispersed and desolate land.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely balanced source
Review: I found this book much better written and covering a wider scope of the Operation Iraqi Freedom than the completely dry book of Anthony Cordesman on the same subject, which didn't have a single map! Murray and Scales have done an excellent work with this book and one can find many interesting details on the operational aspects of the campaign in Iraq, especially the fine maneuver of the 1st Marine Division to deceive the Iragis at Kut and pass the Tigris river in another location outflanking Baghdad from the east.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good descriptive military history of the war...
Review: I found this descriptive military history of the Iraq War to be balanced, fluid, and comprehensive--in the various fields of battle, armed forces staff and theater organization, and the cooperation between services and allies. I am not really a military history buff, but I found this book to be filled with information that somehow had not reached me through the newspapers or television accounts of the War. I found myself grateful to, and admiring the ingenuity and adaptability of, the soldiers, sailors, and airmen (and women) of the United States. I also found the chapters on the political organization and terror of Saddam's Iraq to be very informataive.
I also liked John Keegan's account of the Iraq War (also available on Amazon). Each book has different strengths. This book seemed to capture the "theater"-eye view very well.
Rating:
Summary: A solid piece of history
Review: I purely enjoyed reading this book. It is an excellent initial encapsulation of the war and sets a high standard for others to follow. From the strategic level to the trenches, it reverberates with rich detail as the authors talk us through the decisions and battles of this short but vicious conflict. And while enamored with our great technological capabilities, they maintain perspective when they write that, "Technology may alter how wars are fought, but it will never change the fact that wars are conducted by human beings for political ends."
As Patton wrote, "The man is the weapon." And the ending is inconclusive - properly, I feel, reflecting the reality of the situation today. I fear that they will have to write a sequel. I pray that it is short. This book is worth your time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: Shopworn
Review: If you want to get some background on why we went to Iraq, you'll find only shopworn justification of WMD which has since proven to be wrong. Not well written and weak on a balanced historical perspective and geopolitics. These authors tried to get out first-with-the-least critical analysis. Be patient and check readers' reviews for another book.
Rating:
Summary: Shopworn
Review: If you want to get some background on why we went to Iraq, you'll find only shopworn justification of WMD which has since proven to be wrong. Not well written and weak on a balanced historical perspective and geopolitics. These authors tried to get out first-with-the-least critical analysis. Be patient and check readers' reviews for another book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: Now the only reason I gave this book a 4 star is because this book doesn't have enough dialouge. Besides that this book was fantastic, it starts out with the Prolouge which tells about the Gullf War and then he goes into Iraqi and Saddam history toward the middle of the book. And from then on it's just great besides the liitle dialouge, this book explained very well the weapons of mass destruction (which we haven't found yet)(how the missle launcher,guns etc. And also gave about 35-40 in color photos revealed from this war. If you're intrested in any type of Iraqi history I would reccomend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: Now the only reason I gave this book a 4 star is because this book doesn't have enough dialouge. Besides that this book was fantastic, it starts out with the Prolouge which tells about the Gullf War and then he goes into Iraqi and Saddam history toward the middle of the book. And from then on it's just great besides the liitle dialouge, this book explained very well the weapons of mass destruction (which we haven't found yet)(how the missle launcher,guns etc. And also gave about 35-40 in color photos revealed from this war. If you're intrested in any type of Iraqi history I would reccomend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Overview
Review: The Iraq War is a decent overview of the recent war in Iraq. It's strongest points are made in the early chapters where the authors attempt to put the war in context. "Origins of War" and "The Opposing Sides" are the best summaries I've seen on the build up and causes of the war -- from Saddam's duplicity to the UNs fecklessness, Murray and Scales provide an outstanding background as to why war occurred. The summary on the ground war was adequate, while the chapter on the air war was relatively weak and uninspired. The most disappointing aspect of the book was its lack of insightful post-war analysis and impact of the war on our future military capabilities. But, all in all, the book is a good read and well worth the cost for the outstanding pre-war analysis.
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