Resumo de Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq

I have just finished the first part of the book and believe that the content needs to be addressed. The book has the right title because it is a fiasco in Iraq. I will not go so far as to say it will never workout because only time will tell; however, I do respect Thomas Rick's viewpoint that ill preparation doomed the Iraq war so far. The soldiers on the ground are doing the best that they can, but the type of battle will have to be shifted to defeat the insurgency.

Ricks discusses alot about the containment theory with Saddam Hussein and how it could have worked; one is to never know now that he has been overthrown. I did like how Ricks did the opposite of what all media has done today and simply blame Bush for all the trouble. Ricks starts off with Paul Wolfowitz and explains his views were the beginning of Iraq for a war target. Ricks does not character assassinate Wolfowitz or anyone else for that matter. Ricks simply looks at the people that brought us to war and compares their strengths and weaknesses. I love how he did this. Ricks lets the reader form their own opinion on the subject.

Ricks points to Tommy Franks, Dick Cheney, and George Tenet at fault for the run-up to war. Tommy Franks is blamed for rejecting ideas from subordinates, "meddling in tactical issues and did not address key strategic questions". Cheney started the run-up to war when he gave a speech on August 26th 2002 to the VFW. Cheney stated at the time that there was no doubt Iraq had WMDs. Bush did not have much choice but to go along with his VP on the issue. Ricks says this really started the ball rolling to war on Iraq. Then Ricks points toward George Tenet for the intelligence failures. Ricks states that after Desert Fox, Iraqi intel went downhill because the sources were afraid to speak out. The Iraq War was based on faulty intel and Ricks does an excellent job pointing this out.

Ricks also makes the point about the run-up to the war was questionable. The Bush administration looked at the WMD situation in the worst case scenerio, and the post-war effort in the best case scenerio. This plan was doomed to fall because of this view. The situations were not realistic by any means.

This war is not over and who knows when the post war occupation will end. In every war the U.S has been involved in there have been questions raised about situations. WWI should the U.S let the Germans start unrestricted warfare. WWII did the U.S know about an impeding Japanese attack? Korean and Vietnam Wars should it be the U.S's job to stop the threat of Communism. The Iraq War will be debated for the rest of history, but I believe Thomas Ricks has given a fresh view to the same old blame game.

I highly recommend Thomas Rick's Fiasco as a fresh look into the Iraq War. In history everyone should learn from its mistakes. How will the U.S learn from our mistakes if the mistakes are never addressed.

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