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Posted By Thomas E. Ricks
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - 8:23 AM
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On the basis of reader responses to my partial list, plus a bunch of e-mails from less brave people who wouldn't post, here is a compilation the 10 worst books written about the Iraq war. (Note to friend in the hills of eastern Afghanistan: What are they gonna do to you, cut off your hair and send you to the hills of eastern Afghanistan?)
Three commonalities strike me about these books. Almost all are by senior officers or officials, almost all have co-authors, and almost all have lousy titles. Only one journalist made the list: Michael Hastings. That's right-General McChrystal's Rolling Stone pal.
Regular readers of this blog know that I've been immersed in World War II memoirs and histories for several months. For whatever reason, they tend to be much better, even when from generals. Slim, Eisenhower and Gavin all produced very interesting books, while the only real stinker I've read so far is Mark Clark's.
And now, the full list of Iraq war losers, beginning with the worst of the worst:
1. Tommy R. Franks: American Soldier
2. L. Paul Bremer III: My Year in Iraq
3. Ricardo Sanchez: Wiser in Battle
4. Janis Karpinksi: One Woman's Army
5. Douglas Feith: War and Decision
6. Richard Myers: Eyes
on the Horizon
7. Mike DeLong: Inside
Centcom
8. Nathan
Sassaman: Warrior King
9.
Michael Hastings: I
Lost My Love in Baghdad
10. Midge Decter: Rumsfeld
(likely to be replaced
by the
man's own book)
Now where do I go to get my wasted time back?
Sort of came out of the blue...I guess there was a behind the scenes groundswell?
I didn't think "Lost my Love" was great...but it wasn't awful...self-serving, sure, but then it was a memoir about a specific event, so that's unavoidable. Would he have made the list without his recent reputation? I sort of question how many 'voters' actually read it.
But I'm not defending it that strongly either...
You Stay Classy Michael Hastings
Hastings was trying to sell this story to various publishers a mere three weeks after she was killed.
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/books/newsweek_correspondent_proposes_book_on_fiances_death_in_baghdad_three_weeks_later_56078.asp
The URL on that story may be a bit hard to click.
Here's a shorter version: http://tinyurl.com/2f3a6g
Three commonalities strike me about these books. Almost all are by senior officers or officials, almost all have co-authors, and almost all have lousy titles.
That alone tells how desperate the political non-fiction publishers must be these days. I suppose just about any serious name recognition will do.
...between the names on this list and the short list of the dumbest bastards in national defense over the past decade. But stay tuned: if 43, The Former Putz In The White House writes, he'll go to the tippy-top of both tallies.
Had to read Feith's and Bremer's book for a class. Bremer came across like someone who thought he had been crowned King of Iraq. While Feith whined about not getting State Dept. support, even making Colin Powell apologize to him for some trivial thing. All in all, those two accounts made me worry about the type of people we put at the higher echelons of government. Chicken-hawks, cry-babies, and stupid.
Was the class, "How to Cover Your Ass And Make Money Too"?
...sorry, that was too easy.
Seriously though, what kind of class had you read that kind of tripe?
I think these are all...let's crash to write this book and make some dough while there is dough to be made.
The WWII memoirs probably have the virtue of some settling time between action and documentation. This ultimately results in a truer picture (less undermined by changing circumstances, how's that Mission Accomplished banner working out for you George?) Also might serve to temper some of the narcissistic navel gazing.
it's tough to recall a single Civil War memoir that has stood the test of time. Most memoirs aren't even decent source material. I suspect these self-serving tracts will quickly fade away, if anyone gives them credence even now.
OTOH, honest journalism (Tom's stuff, for example, and many others) do seem to fit in between the day's news and the period's history. Ditto honest battlefield accounts by serving soldiers.
I've tried to be an honest student of these conflicts and have read many accounts. But was not for one moment was I ever tempted to even scan even one of these drivel-fests.
"OTOH, honest journalism (Tom's stuff, for example...)"
"The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation."
I do not not know what period you are refering to with regard to calling Mr. Ricks a journalist. Mr. Ricks is currently best descibed to the public a a former journalist. Mr. Ricks also worked for the ruling class propaganda rag aka The Washington Post. An organization that has long posed as a news organization, but in reality is in business to push the agenda of the District of Corruption as well as run deception operations for the the rulers of the National Security State. In totem, the most dishonest and cowardly major nespaper in the history of the US. No real journalist would even consider selling out with that gang of liars and propaganda shills that at BEST produce a product only worthy of lining a bird cage with. PRAVDA and Washington Post, are one and the same. Let us not forget that both the WP and NYT (The WP´s evil twin) used all of their influence to march this country into illegal wars, as well as cover up for war criminal regime of Bush/Cheney, torture and secret prisons.
Prior to 2000, Mr. Ricks could be described as a "Journalist."
Company Aytch by Sam Watkins and I just finished Grant's memoir and thought it was good.
Have you really read all that many?
""it's tough to recall a single Civil War memoir that has stood the test of time."
How about U.S. Grant's memoirs of the Civil War?
From Wikipedia:
""On release, the book received universal critical praise. Twain compared the Memoirs to Julius Caesar's Commentaries. Matthew Arnold praised Grant and his book in an 1886 essay. Twain, however, felt Arnold's tone was condescending to both Grant and the United States, and the two authors feuded until Arnold's death in 1888. Gertrude Stein also admired the book, saying she could not think of Grant without weeping.[4] The Memoirs quickly became a best seller. The Grant family, who received 75 percent of the royalties, made approximately $450,000 from the book, re-establishing their fortune.""
People still read it in Civil War study. Critics still consider it seminal literature of the era.
Or Vietnam memoirs, like Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War"...? I know you might classify that as "battlefield accounts by serving soldiers", but where do you draw the line exactly? He was an officer, and much of the book is not about battle per se; one chapter is about how he was put behind a desk in charge of documenting casualties. Another is about when his men shot prisoners, and he was relieved of command.
Or how about Michael Herr's (a journalist) "Dispatches"? I can't think of any Vietnam film that hasn't stolen scenes and language from that book. "Anyone who runs is V.C. Anyone who stands still is *well trained* V.C." It probably did more to shape people's view of the vietnam war that anything else at the time. Again, it's widely read and taught, and considered one of the top 10 books written about the Vietnam war.
Personally I think memoirs of all types are an extremely useful complement to reading strictly "historical" accounts of war, with maps, units, dates, weather, casualties, detailed logistical info, etc. In fact, I think without them, you'd miss a great deal. And that includes the occasional self-serving, CYA thing published by politicos and commanders. Not always good reading, but sometimes useful nevertheless.
There's also the case of "War Novels" written by ex-service members... which I think are much the same in terms of great value for understanding war history. Again, some suck, but its not as thought the genre is that much poorer for it. In fact, I'd say war novels - written by people who've lived through them - probably are the richest of all in terms of quality, and capturing the experience of being in a war, and sometimes sharing insights on larger questions, or delving into minutiae that no other work would/could explore in detail. I think there's a lot to be said in favor of reading all variety of accounts - historical, journalistic, memoirs, and fiction - of wars. You aren't ever going to get everything all in one place. All serve a purpose.
Just my .02
"it's tough to recall a single Civil War memoir that has stood the test of time. "
Sam Grant's is well regarded.
Walt
Tom,
What do you think about Canadian Army Capt. Robert Semrau being acquitted of murdering a wounded Taliban militant?
I thought the criteria for the list was "worst memoirs about the Iraq war"... though one is at least a biography, and not so much about the war... (OK, its about Rumsfeld, which may by default fit in, but still)...
I still think Worst Histories About Iraq/Afghanistan (or non-fiction books) should perhaps be considered for a future list. There are so many things out there that it may do some people some good to get a consensus view of what to skip.
For example: while probably not to be counted amongst the very worst books I've ever read, or even worst 'war history/non-fiction' (there is some really bad stuff out there), "Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton was pretty much a waste of time.
The book covers about a dozen US Special Forces soldiers in Afghanistan post 9/11, supporting the "Northern Alliance" (not much of an alliance in truth, but a couple thousand afghan fighters tied to a few different regional/ethnic warlords - who never would have worked together anyway if we weren't *paying them millions of dollars* - which the author doesnt even bother to mention) to drive the Taliban out of Mazar-i-Sharif, then roll to Kabul. Basically, what happened in Afghanistan between Sept 2001, and Jan 2002. The book does not cover anything subsequent about either the soldiers he focuses on, Afghans like Dostum, or how things changed when the Army took over from the CIA (when "Jawbreaker" eventually became "Anaconda")...The coverage ends with the battle at Qala i Jangi, more or less. No real discussion of the consequences. Just some fight scenes, and some shallow backstory on a few participants. What you might expect for someone who has mostly written about sports and entertainment.
By the time I'd finished the book, I realized there was nothing in it I didn't already know (and much missing) from other already published accounts - magazine articles were more detailed even - and that it was written much like a "Jerry Bruckheimer Presents" movie. The Washington Post review says it all; basically, neither informative, nor insightful, nor well written. Maybe entertaining. If you like Jerry Bruckheimer-type stuff. I don't.
I have not yet read either Gary Shroen's "First In", or Berntsen's "Jawbreaker", which are about the exact same events, but are actual firsthand accounts by CIA people involved, and would be interested in if anyone has read either and would recommend one.
Also interesting might be a "Best of" list, of course. It's not like I was running out to read Paul Bremer's book in the first place.
Although I'm very glad he got #2 at least. He deserves to be in the top 3. I'm surprised the strapline to his title wasn't "My Year In Iraq: You Wouldn't Think I Could Screw Things Up So Badly So Fast, But Really, I Did."
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TO THIS DATE, NO ONE KNOWS WHO ACTUALLY GAVE THE ORDER TO DISBAND THE IRAQI ARMY...NO ONE KNOWS WHO GAVE THE ORDER TO TOTALLY DISBAND THE IRAQI CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE.
To most, this was the most tragic and horrific decision of the Iraq War..yet no one knows who gave the order...was it Bush..or Cheney...but, no one knows.
Ricks..plus other Iraqi journalist who have written outstanding books need to push harder on this issue of who..and why.
Thousands of US WIA and many hundreds of KIA are directly attributed to the decision to totally disband the Iraqi Army and the civilians who ran the infrastructure..
Iraq/2005;Afgh/2003
All that is true. But just because the national command authorities ensured the death and wounding of thousands of our guys for nothing, that doesn't mean they should worry about their legacy.
Besides Cheney appears to be on a slow shuffle off this mortal coil with his bad ticker.
I wonder if 10-15 years down the road, all the thousands of children whose fathers died for not a blessed thing won't be rising up and asking why.
Walt
I may be mistaken but I always took it that this was Paul Bremer's order. Never knew there was any question on the matter.
And other than not waiting for the 4ID to arrive to being the attack, I do count it as one of the 3 dumbest decisions in this misguided effort. (The first dumbest has to be going there in the first place - at least at the time given.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/washington/04bremer.html
""Among others who received the draft order, he said, were Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense; Douglas J. Feith, then under secretary of defense for policy; Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, then head of the American-led coalition forces in Iraq; and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Mr. Bremer said that he had briefed Mr. Rumsfeld on the plan “several times,” and that his top security adviser in Baghdad, Walter B. Slocombe, had discussed it in detail with senior Pentagon officials as well as with senior British military officials. He said he received detailed comments back from the joint chiefs, leaving no doubt in his mind that they understood the plan.""
- - - - - - - - - -
"
Published on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 by the Agence France Presse
""Joint Chiefs Bypassed in Decision to Disband Iraqi Army: Pace""
""WASHINGTON - The Joint Chiefs of Staff were not consulted on the US decision to disband the Iraqi army shortly after the end of major combat operations in Iraq last May, General Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said.
Pace said Paul Bremer, the head of the coalition provisional authority in Baghdad, ordered the army disbanded on his own authority.""
re: Uncertainty - So, in short, no one "knows" who gave the order, because everyone who could have given the order (and it wasnt Bremer, really; he was the errand boy) has denied it. Bush 'sorta' denied it. "I can't remember"...
The worst possible interpretation (and possibly the most likely) is that it was a detail often mentioned by many, but little thought about, and when it came down, no one wanted to own it. As we know, success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan. My guess it was a detail proposed by Slocombe, handled by Feith, and his boss (Rummy) was unwilling to second-guess him, and the White House rubber stamped everything he did without reading about it anyway. The key point is that the decision apparently made its way into reality via subordinates, and received no actual review or thought by superiors, and went into action. When the shit hit the fan, no one wanted to throw anyone else under the bus (any thrower would be the next throwee), so everyone pretended it was someone else's fault. In the end, the buck stops at the White House, and as Powell said, "You break it, you bought it". The quasi-denials by Bush are pretty lame for a "commander in chief". Its one thing to say you are nominally in charge; its another to go, "huh? What happened? Oh well. Heckuvajob there Bremer. Here's the medal of Freedom" Poor moment in history.
Second thought = is there no way to keep recidivist spammers (and perhaps Lal Qila?) off this list? You'd think the technology existed...
Thank you Thomas Ricks for sacrificing your time so that we regular humans wouldn't have to. At least I'll know what books to avoid in the future. A waste of time averted! ^.^
Why was "One Woman's Army" so bad?
Anybody read Janis Karpinski's book?
I haven't read it, so is it bad because of writing? Self-servingness? Something else?
Believe the real reason is its "blame everyone but the person in the mirror" attitude. I thought about buying it and reading it all - as a set piece on what-not-to-do - but just couldn't see giving her a dime of my money. There is a circle in hell waiting for her and Dirty Sanchez.
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