The Iraq War: Strategy, Tactics, and Military Lessons / Edition 1

by Anthony H. Cordesman

Overview

In the spring of 2003, a stunned world watched the armed forces of the United States and Britain conduct a military campaign against Iraq. As a result, the Iraqi regime was dismantled, and much of the conventional wisdom about modern war was irrevocably altered. Yet as U.S. and British forces occupy Basra, Tikrit, and Mosul, the Iraqi nation has slipped into anarchy—and the phrase shock and awe has begun to sound more appropriate as a description of the war's aftermath, rather than its opening. Such has been the twisted trail of the Iraq War's dramatic events. But like so many other conflicts, the war ultimately seems to pose more questions than it solved. This book is the first in-depth analysis of the second war against Saddam Hussein's regime.

What are the repercussions of the pre-war political fights in Washington, Paris, and the UN? Was meeting initial military goals really due to Anglo-American arms, or had Saddam's regime simply been too degraded to fight? Why didn't Baghdad become a second Stalingrad? Why weren't the occupying forces prepared to impose order? And then there is the significant question: Where are Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? Respected military analyst Anthony Cordesman incisively examines the key issues swirling around the most significant U.S. war since Vietnam. Beginning the search for answers is essential to understanding America's awesome power and its place in a new age of international terror and regional conflict.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275982270
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/30/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	592
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN is Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a military analyst for ABC News. A frequent commentator on National Public Radio, he is the author of numerous books on security issues and has served in a number of senior positions in the US government.

Table of Contents

Table 7.1 Daily Patterns in U.S. Casualties, March 20 to June 27, 2003
Table 17.1 The Detailed Fracture Lines within Iraq
Table 17.2 Iraq's Financial Burden
Map 1 Arabian Peninsula
Map 2 Iraq
Map 3 Baghdad
Map 4 Population Density in Iraq
Map 5 Land Use in Iraq
Map 6 Ethnoreligious Groups and Major Tribes in Iraq
Map 7 Kurdish Areas in Iraq
Map 8 Iraq's Oil Infrastructure

What People are Saying About This

International Affairs

Cordesman has brought together virtually all the known data and official commentary on the 2003 war in Iraq and produced a useful, relevant and up-to-date sourcebook.... The content draws on material as late as July 2003 and his deductions are proving more relevant day by day.

Choice

The definitive work on the war in Iraq.... Essential [for] upper-division undergraduates and above interested in strategic studies and military history.

Army magazine

a masterful work, thus far without peer in its field.

Editorial Reviews

Even as American military personnel are struggling with the aftermath of the Iraq War, the debate continues over why and how we became involved, what happened during the war, and more important, what will be the short- and long-term outcomes of the conflict. Cordesman, a national security strategist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and author of numerous books on terrorism and the Middle East, seeks to define these debates in terms of lessons learned. He outlines the success of American forces in becoming a more lethal and effective fighting machine, emphasizing better cooperation among the services, real-time battlefield information, and even greater precision in targeting. Cordesman also argues that the United States still has much to learn concerning human intelligence gathering, coalition building, and nation building. Thorough in his analysis, Cordesman examines the breadth and depth of the war from the strategic to tactical operations as well as from the Iraqi side. This study will no doubt shape many of the national security arguments for the near future as others attempt either to support or to destroy Cordesman's persuasive analysis. Although technical and requiring extensive knowledge of national security and military terminology, the book is highly recommended for academic and military libraries.-Lt. Col. Charles M. Minyard, U.S. Army, Blountstown, FL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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