Tell Me How This Ends?

**Shek** · 11 May 09,, 23:08

I just finished reading Linda Robinson's Amazon.com: Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq: Linda Robinson: Books, and as the title gets at, it does a really good job of telling the story of the surge from the perspective of GEN Petraeus (for a perspective that is more LTG Odierno-centric, read Tom Ricks' "The Gamble"). One of the biggest things that I took away from the book was how much GEN Petraues flattened the command structure by bringing his field grade officers (not just commanders, but also S-3s and XOs) to join him on his workout runs - a chance to get unfettered access where others couldn't butt in or interrupt the conversation (or potentially stifle it). This allowed GEN Petraeus to hear what was working and what wasn't all across Iraq and allow him to push the bottom up process of reconciliation.

Overall, I think it does a good job of telling a behind the scenes story, and just as Fiasco was a great companion read with Cobra II, this is the anchor book against which The Gamble should be a companion read.

**WaltzingMatilda** · 12 May 09,, 01:01

Have you had an opportunity to read Bing West's "The Strongest Tribe" yet? If so, I'd be curious to get your thoughts.

**Shek** · 12 May 09,, 01:20

Originally Posted by WaltzingMatilda

Have you had an opportunity to read Bing West's "The Strongest Tribe" yet? If so, I'd be curious to get your thoughts.

Not yet - it's on the to read shelf. He came and spoke about two months back at West Point and had some interesting stuff to say. However, it was quite humorous when he attributed walling off neighborhoods in Baghdad to "some smart engineer officer out of West Point" when in fact, it had been my boss (who was sitting right by me at the time) who had commanded a squadron in Baghdad. He came up with the idea on his own (although there are plenty of historical examples in slightly different contexts, e.g., Belfast, so it's not a completely novel concept) and worked with the neighborhood leaders before executing it; when higher ups would visit and question it, he'd respond by asking whether home values in the US were more or less in "gated communities."