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Rating: 
Summary: I wish the author had written a more accessible book . . .
Review: "Friendly Fire" is the definitive account of the tragic incident that took place in 1994 in the skies of northern Iraq. If you ever wanted to know how the US Air Force managed to shoot down two US Army helicopters and kill 26 people this is the book for you.However, this is not a book intended to be "popular." At times, its analysis of the event is extremely dense and difficult for someone to understand who does not know about complex models of behavior and perception. This being said, I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants to understand how a terrible tragedy unfolded. However, I wish that the author had written a book which put a good deal of the theorical aspects of the incident in appendices and given a straightforward narrative of the incident and subsequent fallout. Some passages of the book read very easily and dramatically, and I have a feeling such an account might have found a wider audience.
Rating: 
Summary: An Organizational Analysis
Review: Friendly Fire is a insightful, intriguing analysis of the 1994 incident that resulted in the needless deaths of 26 peacekeepers in the Iraqi Norther No Fly Zone. Snook presents a compelling tale of a complex system gone awry, an organization operating on the edge of chaos, and the ultimate result of a deterministic system spinning out of control. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of systems theory and organizational behavior, LTC Snook presents his thesis with exceptional clarity and depth of understanding; his conclusions are as disturbing as they are fascinating: a series of rational decisions made by equally rational human beings still failed to prevent the very incident the organization was designed to forestall. A concise, well-written account of and incident with lessons that we should all take to heart.
Rating:
Summary: An Organizational Analysis
Review: Friendly Fire is a insightful, intriguing analysis of the 1994 incident that resulted in the needless deaths of 26 peacekeepers in the Iraqi Norther No Fly Zone. Snook presents a compelling tale of a complex system gone awry, an organization operating on the edge of chaos, and the ultimate result of a deterministic system spinning out of control. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of systems theory and organizational behavior, LTC Snook presents his thesis with exceptional clarity and depth of understanding; his conclusions are as disturbing as they are fascinating: a series of rational decisions made by equally rational human beings still failed to prevent the very incident the organization was designed to forestall. A concise, well-written account of and incident with lessons that we should all take to heart.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly fascinating
Review: I went into this book thinking "how in the world could this happen" and finished it asking "how is it that this didn't occur before." A fascinating book that has significance for all types of emergency responders, who need to understand how such "mistakes" might occur and thus how to potentially prevent such mistakes from occuring in the future.
Rating:
Summary: I wish the author had written a more accessible book . . .
Review: I went into this book thinking "how in the world could this happen" and finished it asking "how is it that this didn't occur before." A fascinating book that has significance for all types of emergency responders, who need to understand how such "mistakes" might occur and thus how to potentially prevent such mistakes from occuring in the future.
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