Victory in Iraq: How America Won

“Victory in Iraq, How America Won” is the most complete history of the war written to date. The author, Duncan L. Hunter, former chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives for most of the war, takes the reader from deadly firefights in places like Fallujah, Baghdad and Ramadi to the halls of power in Washington, D.C. Hunter’s book is the “big picture” of the Iraq War. From the lightning three-week drive to take down Saddam’s Baghdad regime in 2003 to the ignition of the Sunni rebellion and Muqtada Al Sadr’s “Shiite War,” to the turnaround in Anbar Province followed by the success of the Surge in 2007 and the defeat of Al Sadr’s Mahdi army in 2008, the book reflects all dimensions of the war.
Hunter’s forte is his ability to detail the valorous actions of G.I.s, Marines and Special Forces, gleaned through his daily briefings on combat ops, then connect the battlefield to the political tides in Washington, D.C., that shaped, and were shaped by, the war. He takes the reader through the deadly streets of Fallujah with riflemen extraordinaire like PFC Kip Yeager, then swings to America’s political arena where the Democratic party was building a head of steam behind the anti-war rhetoric of Howard Dean, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Hunter describes the cornering of President Bush when, in late 2006, with his poll numbers bouncing along the ocean floor and his majority in Congress taken in a Democrat landslide, he resisted the pressure to fold like a contrite LBJ in 1968 or a brow-beaten Gerald Ford in l974 and “surged” an additional 20,000 troops into Iraq to stabilize Baghdad.
“Victory” is a chronicle of a massive military undertaking, supported, then unsupported by the quicksand of American politics; planned by military officers whose strategies and tactics worked in the assault, failed initially in the occupation, were adjusted into a winning counter-insurgency and were carried to victory by PFCs and corporals and sergeants who carried l00-pound combat payloads in 110-degree battles and fought like Americans of old who climbed the cliffs of Normandy and stormed the islands of the Pacific. Medics like Corporal J.A. Lamkin, who went through machinegun fire like it was light rain to get to the wounded; sergeants like Alwyn Cashe, who pulled burning men from his Bradley while he himself was on fire; these soldiers are included in Hunter’s description of the heroics of more than l00 Silver Star winners, backfilling for an American news media that saw a different war.
Uniquely, with precise documentation, Hunter takes apart the Washington Post and the New York Times for their inaccurate coverage of the war. These two media giants drive a large “second tier” of news organizations and with them, a big piece of American opinion. Hunter details the Post’s “the attack is bogging down" article of March 27, 2003, which was featured by NBC even before it was printed, then quickly disproven when Baghdad fell a dozen days later. The New York Times followed the Post with its own "bog down" article a day later, and was similarly embarrassed by the quick take-down of Saddam on April 9, 2003.
“Victory,” aside from being a history of the war, is an illumination of America’s military families, the folks for whom the terms honor and sacrifice still hold great meaning. Hunter’s pages follow the Kelly family, whose three Marines, John, the general; John Jr., the captain; and Robert, the PFC; served combined eight combat tours in Iraq, while mom, Karen Kelly, comforted the wounded and tended the home front. The book details the sojourn of Debbie Lee, the mother of the first SEAL killed in Iraq, who supported the war and took 10,000 thank-you cards to our troops in Iraq and travelled America with a message of inspiration. Hunter chronicles Major Tim Bleidestel, who was inspired by his son to re-enlist and finds himself climbing the Gates of Basra during a pivotal battle.
Perhaps the most instructive part of the book for those who care about national security is the chapter “Vietnam and Iraq, Different Endings.” Here the author compares the abandonment of Vietnam by a liberal Congress with the refusal of George W. Bush and his congressional allies to give up on Iraq, instead “surging” additional troops into Baghdad and winning the war.
We didn’t deny the victory of our G.I.s in that war on the grounds that we gave up a large portion of the victory immediately thereafter, he argues. The more than one million Americans who served in Iraq should be given the same unequivocal thanks for victory that their grandparents received, he concludes. The book should be read by everyone who wants to fully understand the Iraq War.