Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War

It has often been said that journalism is the first draft of history. But what if that first draft was written not by a journalist but by a soldier-scholar and trained military historian? And what if that same individual had a position that was at the absolute center of the headquarters of the general (David Petraeus) that was, with a lot of help, turning a war around. That is what we, the American public, have the good fortune of having occurred because Peter Mansoor is that soldier-scholar (first in his class at West Point) and trained historian (doctorate in military history from Ohio State). And the fact that he later chose to retire from the Army to accept a position as Chair of the Military History Department at Ohio State rather than be considered for promotion to general officer allows us to read this now rather than ten or more years from now. I base that number on GEN. Eric Shinseki's estimate that the average general officer is a general for about ten years. Had Mansoor become a general he wouldn't be able to write this book until much later because he most likely would still be in the military.This book covers the period of the “surge” of the Iraq War. But unlike Professor Mansoor's earlier, superb book (Baghdad at Sunrise) this is not really a memoir. It is superb history. But I must caution potential readers. It is, by necessity, written in the first person which is not characteristic of most history and that takes a little adjustment. And if you are a political animal you could feel distracted by his calling-out of politicians that play to their political base during congressional hearings. Perhaps that is the soldier (with their almost pathological belief in individual accountability) coming out in the author. I happen to agree with him (for the most part) but others will not. And it is a relatively small part of the book. I address it because such hearings are about the only peek that most people ever get into the personalities of our military leaders. And because of that one can have a visceral reaction.What is important is the even-handed, detailed portrayal of the “Surge”. If you are interested in military history and no matter where you fall on the “wisdom” of the Iraq War, you should read this. It details how strategy and policy are implemented into operational and tactical reality and covers all of the events and personalities, both famous and obscure, that were involved. As an example, then-Colonel Mansoor relates the importance of managing the flow of information to a general in a war zone because there is just so much of it. How even he, as both gatekeeper and “hatchet-man” (General Petraeus' description) rarely had an opportunity to express his personal opinion. That is both a telling admission and explanation.I am tempted to compare it to Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich but that would be misleading because Speer was never a military man and this is written much more “from the inside” of a military campaign rather than a man trying to justify the fact that he was an enabler of the Nazi War Machine.I purchased the audio book and then the hard cover and found them both terrific.- Don Middleton

There have been a few books out on the Surge now, mostly from the perspective of the NCO on the ground in a specific sector. These are good, gripping tales but leave the reader without the history from a macro perspective. In that sense this book is a refreshing chronicle of an obviously educated man who was also a soldier in the fight on two fronts: Iraq and Washington DC.Written with emotion, we get the facts nonetheless. The advantage of this chronicle is the proximity the author had to the men in charge and the politicians that could at any moment pull the plug on a supreme effort. What I will remember most about this book was how the author helped his superior, General Petraeus prepare a good argument for the Congress on how things were going and why we should continue with the Surge, then along with Ambassador Crocker then spent hours having to listen to members of Congress bash the policy of his Commander in Chief.I thought the conduct of Senator Clinton and Senator Obama were unforgiveable, using all their time allotted to probe these men for answers to assist them in deciding what to do to instead declare the surge a failure. I came away with the sense these people did not really care what the soldiers and diplomats were trying to salvage in Iraq, but just wanted to use their presence to grandstand their own ideas. It was just pathetic to read about that conduct. Judging from what I see on C-Span I don't think it was inaccurate.I drop a star because I thought the book read a little like a Tom Clancy novel; all the soldiers are good, the marriages solid, the fight complex with some allies in unpredictable places. While it was refreshing to see an endorsement of President Bush and reflect on the courage he showed to correct the flawed decision to invade initially, events that have transpired for the other hero in the book, General Petraeus, that bring him back to mere mortal status. He is after all, just a man, but a remarkable man nonetheless.

The value of this book, as the author notes, is that this is the first publication written by ranking officer within the command staff that carried out the surge, an insider's perspective. This book gives a brief history of the Iraq war leading up to the surge and the key elements that resulted in the anarchy that engulfed Iraq and also spurred intense political debate at home as to how to solve the problem. The author gives an in depth account of the various key actors, events, and the nature of the problems that were confronted by coalition forces in Iraq and the solutions that were developed to deal with these problems. Personally, as someone who has invested time into learning about the history of the Iraq war and counter insurgency, the greatest value in this book is how Mansoor tackles the many criticisms that have been leveraged against the surge that question its role in Iraq's improving the stability from 2007 forward. The surge was one of the most significant endeavors of recent human history, a strategy that was developed to pull a failed state out of anarchy and required a doctrinal renaissance on the part of the military as well as the incorporation of the assets and manpower of a variety of civilian agencies to deal with an extraordinary challenge. The methods and effects of the surge have already been the subject of intensive debate. Regardless of personal opinions on the justification of the war, once America invaded Iraq the well being of the country was America's responsibility. As Ambassador Crocker said in his testimony before Congress in 2008, "In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be more important than how we came". This book is the story of how we left Iraq and what we tried to leave behind.

An interesting look behind the scenes at the way the "Surge" actually played out in the operational battlespace.Mansoor brings a credible sense of the way things unfolded and doesn't spare a lot of punches about certainsenior figures (and some people who are even more senior now). A lot of the book is taken up with the behind the scenesof an army engaged in figuring out not just who but how to fight. Well worth the price for an inside look ata critical time in 21st century America.