A shocking perspective at how Bush squandered the efforts of Marines who followed his orders faithfully

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	• No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah Bing West Bantam, 2005 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 112 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A shocking perspective at how Bush squandered the efforts of Marines who followed his orders faithfully

Anyone who reads this book who has been trained, educated or experienced in leadership and management for successful results in their fields of endeavor will be able to recognize problems originating not out of military operations and personnel in Iraq but from structural defects in political leadership in the U.S. and failure of U.S. political leaders and high level government officials to fulfill basic leadership and management functions adequately. Leadership and management functions involves a sequential and developing process of planning and organizing for successful results and directing and controlling activities and people to execute the plan.

In some scenarios documented here by Bing West, we see only the consequences of failing to plan or plan defects and poor organization as he describes them because he is seeing only the consequences and has not connected them to their source.

Bing West documents Iraqi uprisings and revolts that spring up all over Iraq from around March and April of 2004. The battle for control of the town of Fallujah takes the center of attention out of many other battles and rebellions because it represents a defeat for the Marines due to international emotional reaction from al Jazeera's production and broadcast of one sided, false and greatly exaggerated propaganda designed to support the cause of rebels and terrorists in Fallujah. This emotional reaction to al Jazeera's propaganda even produced effects upon General John Abizaid and Tony Blair as they urged Bush not to invade Fallujah. Bush responded by postponing the in invasion indefinately as he said that he wanted other options. This was an extraordinary statement by Bush because all options are supposed to be considered at the beginning of a plan. Military force of action is always supposed to be the last option considered because it represents a point of no turning back. Other uprisings and rebellions include battles for the control of Ramadi, Iraq's hiways and roads and uprisings all over the southern part of Iraq and some other areas by Moqtada al Sadr's followers.

The sudden appearance of uprisings all over Iraq within a short period of time reveals 3 defects in top leadership planning:

1. As pointed out by Bing West, uncoordinated overlapping delegation of responsibilities and lines of authority between the Coalition Provisional Authority under direction of the Proconsul, Paul Bremer and the military under the command of General John Abizaid.

2. No contingency plan for the adverse or unexpected events. The Bush administration invested a lot of time and resources in seeking and manufacturing propaganda that justified and legitimized the invasion of Iraq. After the invasion, the propaganda sought and manufactured by the Bush administration attempted to portray a better, safer living environment as a result of the presence of American troops there. Bing West captures a little participation of the military in this production of false propaganda led by the Bush administration without identifying it as such. After the Marines turned Fallujah over to the Rebels, marines and Bush made statements to paint an image of a safer Iraq being in existence. Fox News was also broadcasting this propaganda despite reports from other journalists to the contrary. Bing West tells about wide spread escalating violence in Fallujah and the rest of Iraq. To my surprise, he asks in his book a question which I had asked myself a few times when this stuff was occurring that is, "Where is the president getting his information?" Around this time many people were kidnapped, murdered, sometimes beheaded. Some journalists told of how Iraqi police gave them false directions on how to get somewhere in order to try and trap them in a dead end. The point is that the Bush administration was painting false realities. The Bush administration was very optimistic about what they could accomplish with the invasion of Iraq. Chalabi and other discredited Iraqi exile intelligence sources fed that optimism by feeding the Bush administration with information they wanted to hear. The Bush administration persuaded themselves that what they wanted to hear was the truth. Therefore, they did not plan for adverse contingencies because they were projecting that all would go well.

3. An inadequate number of troops in Iraq to control uprisings and rebellions. Bing West writes about an awkward position when the Marines were committed and prepared to deal with the rebellion in Fallujah when Paul Bremer sent some Marines after an aid of Moqtada al Sadr. Then, rebellions started popping up everywhere. Some coalition forces were overwhelmed and forced to retreat. There were not enough U.S. forces to control the uprisings.

This was the result of an error in judgement on the part of Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz in 2002 when congress asked Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki how many troops would be required to maintain control in the post invasion phase of U.S. military intervention in Iraq. General Shinseki replied "several hundred thousand troops would be needed after which Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz publicly chastized General Shinseki for his statements because Don Rumsfeld wanted to limit the U.S. force to a far smaller number. In another book by New York Times reporter, James Risen this is identified as the reason that the U.S. troops and coalition forces were not reinforced when they needed to be for nearly two years from 2004 until November 2006 things became worse in Iraq. Bush and Don Rumsfeld responded to criticism by former and retired military and intelligence officers that if Commanders on the ground in Iraq needed more troops, they were ready to send more. But the public chastising of General Eric Shinseki by Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld and his assistant Paul Wolfowitz had taught them not to ask for anything more than what was already given.

Operation Vigilant Resolve is the failed siege on Fallujah. The operation to take the town was ordered by the Bush administration out of emotional reaction to the ambush, murder and desecration of corpses of 4 U.S. mercenary contractors as they attempted to drive through Fallujah.

The Marines surrounded the town and were prepared to take it on April 9th 2004 when Paul Bremer persuaded General John Abizaid to postpone the invasion because of international emotional reaction to video propaganda broadcasted by al Jazeera which falsely claimed extremely high numbers of innocent civilian casualties due to assaults by Marines. Rebels and terrorists would not allow Journalists other than al Jazeera who they invited into Fallujah. Journalists embedded with the Marines contradicted some of claims made by al Jazeera. However, since no other journalist account of what was happening inside of Fallujah was available, the Arabs and Europeans accepted al Jazeera propaganda as truth and reacted with emotional sympathy to it and to the Fallujian rebels. Even Tony Blair urged Bush to stop the assault on Fallujah. The kicker was that it had not really even started. General John Abizaid imposed a unilateral cease fire order on the the Marines as they were within range to begin an assault but were waiting orders to proceed to take the town. This was done without any agreement from the enemy that they would also cease fire. So, the Marines took hits on the town's perimeter as rebels would sneek out to shoot at them under cover of darkness and then retreat quickly back into the town. This went on for nearly a month. Don Rumsfeld urged John Abizaid to get on with taking the town. John Abizaid went over Rumsfeld's head and persuaded Bush that if the Marines took Fallujah by force the Iraqis would revolt. Bush responded by ordering that the assault be postponed. Bush said that he wanted other options instead of taking the town by force. As I have already said, this was an extraordinary statement by Bush because all options are supposed to be considered at the beginning of a plan. Military force of action is always supposed to be the last option considered because it represents a point of no turning back. This is a very emotional triggering event for readers who understand the significance of what it meant for the Marines on the perimeter of Fallujah. The Marines were now under presidential orders that contradicted each other. The first order to take Fallujah by force was posteponed indefinately by Bush and the Marines were under unilateral ceasefire order. But the order was not cancelled and there was no order for them to withdraw from Fallujah. So, they could not withdraw. To make the rest of the story short, defeat was handed to the Marines by Paul Bremer, General John Abizaid and President Bush out of emotional international reaction to the terrorist network al Jazeera's broadcasts of propaganda that could not be checked.

They reacted out of fear of a perceived potential revolt by Iraqis. This is even more extraordinary because the Iraqis had already been revolting but the Bush administration refused to recognize it and was producing propaganda of its own to the contrary that everything was going great in Iraq. They had persuaded themselves by their own propaganda and could not recognize what was already happening. The marines were already engaged and suppressing revolts in Ramadi, along the hiway know as ambush alley and against al Sadr's rebels all over Shiite territories of Iraq. Bush's first order to take the town of Fallujah was given because of initial rebellion activities against American occupation by Sunnis of Fallujah.

I could go on. But I have given you more than enough information to understand what may appear to be overwhelming chaotic activity in Iraq. The chaos did not end with the publishing of this book. The revolts descended into civil war which the Bush administration refused to recognize as civil war until November 2006. In November 2006, Former General and Secretary of State Colin Powell, former president Bill Clinton and even Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld finally acknowledged what the public already knew from following the news, that Iraq had been in a state of civil war that was getting worse. I was amazed to see that George W Bush still was denying the state of civil war occurring in Iraq until the new Secretary of Defense , Gates had a talk with him. It was only after that when Bush finally acknowledged publicly that Iraq was in civil war and things were not good in Iraq.

I hope that everyone with an interest in what has been going on in Iraq and the so called war on terror will read this book. If you have read this book, you might also be interested in reading other books on related subjects which I listed below. James Risen's book, "The State of War" gives those who have read this book by Bing West a political view of the war in Iraq and the war on terror that helps give a more complete picture to readers of Bing West's book. I also recommend "Imperial Hubris" by Anonymous to readers who have difficulty in interpreting events of war and historical significance of it due to lack of experience and study on it.

State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration by James Risen

Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War by Robert Greenwald

Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror by Anonymous

Al Qaeda's Great Escape: The Military and the Media on Terror's Trail by Philip Smucker

Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude by Robert Baer

House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties by Craig Unger

Illegals: The Imminent Threat Posed by Our Unsecured U.S.-Mexico Border by Jon E. Dougherty

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Well

This was the first Iraq book that I read and it inspired me read more. However, I served with a few of the people interviewed to write the book and was told that Bing West is a mean old man! Ha!

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Excellent Must Read

My cousin is a Marine Corp officer that has served in Al Anbar Province. I found myself continually enraged while reading the book. The only thing that matches the bravery of the Marines on the ground should be the shame of the White House. The political juggling in handling the insurgency within the city of Fallujah and the dancing the administration did for the international "community" is a disgrace. Discovering the political maneuvering behind the battle and its cost in Marine lives is what I can't get over. One doesn't call off the Marines, just goes to show how the white house was still trying to win the favor of the international "community" with this on again/off again war strategy almost two years after they took the country. Our leaders placed the Marines in a tough spot. The Marines made short order of those thugs in dirty nightshirts; our leaders empowered them both morally and materially by delaying the fight. Their delay strengthened the enemy and that strength was paid in Marine lives. I'm angry.

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Well Told History

Bing West is an author to whom thinking US citizens owe a lot. West was the man who many years ago sat down and wrote "The Village", a particularly prescient and readable work which told the story of US Marine Corps Combine Action teams in Vietnam, whence he had recently returned after a tour of duty. Defense officials have dusted off the Combined Action concept in recent years, although it was never far from the heart of Marine Corps counterinsurgency operating doctrine.

Now, three decades later, the author has returned to the Iraq battlefields to tell the story of his Marines in the latest book, "No True Glory".

West writes from the heart, an old Marine who understands the Corps ethos, leadership - but most of all the grunts who do the hard, dirty work of war fighting in the incredibly difficult environment of Middle Eastern cities. He interviewed dozens of Marines and soldiers, creating a tactical collage of events that is both breathtaking in its candor and remarkable in descriptive power. For a reader who wants a genuine understanding about how the US Marine Corps fought in Fallujah, this is the book.

Bing West is one of those rare Americans who, with his son Major Owen West, have followed the sound of guns to where the Corps is actually fighting. He is to be commended for writing two comprehensive works about Marines in Iraq, each of which fills another chapter in the annals of this proud organization. I have no doubt that his later works will be held in the same high regard as "The Village" was - and is.

Douglass H. Hubbard, Jr.
Author of "Special Agent, Vietnam"

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

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