"Achieving Victory in Iraq is, by far, the best available blueprint for reaching a successful outcome in this crucial struggle. At a time of destructive political polarization and partisan noise-making, this book is wonderfully honest, sensible, realistic, and genuinely insightful. The authors--both first-rate soldiers--have provided an important service to our country. Let's hope that our leaders, in and out of uniform, pay attention." -- Ralph Peters, columnist and author of Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World
"Caraccilo and Thompson have written a crisp, stinging rebuttal to Tom Ricks's Fiasco. In Achieving Victory in Iraq, they draw on their combat tours in Iraq to argue that the United States does have a plan and is able to prevail there, if only the American politicians and people will give the U.S. military time to accomplish the mission and learn from its missteps. They point to the consequences of earlier U.S. withdrawals from Afghanistan in 1989 and Somalia in 1993 as cautionary tales of what not to do in Iraq." -- Linda Robinson, author of Tell Me How This Ends: General Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq
"Dom Caraccilo is one of the bright lights of the U.S. Army who, through personal integrity and decency and intellectual preparedness, got right in Iraq what too many senior officers got wrong." -- George Packer, writer for the New Yorker and author of The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq
"Sure to generate heated controversy, Achieving Victory in Iraq is a hard-hitting, compelling account of the complexities of waging war in the modern world. Caraccilo and Thompson courageously address the leading political, social, economic, and military issues inherent in countering an armed insurgency and outline a blueprint for victory as the United States and its allies wage a global war against terrorism." -- Col. Cole C. Kingseed, USA (Ret.), co-author of the New York Times bestseller Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters
"While `political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,' Achieving Victory in Iraq insightfully makes the case that the barrel of that gun must be held by an Iraqi, not an American, soldier. If we're to achieve any degree of success, Caraccilo's and Thompson's blueprint to train Iraqi forces to fight and win primarily through their own processes and cultural mores is our only viable course of action." -- Lt. Col. J. D. Lock, USA (Ret.), author of Rangers in Combat and Chain of Destiny
Product Description
Now that Gen. David Petraeus's troop surge has gained the U.S. much-needed breathing room in Iraq, what should come next? The answer, according to Iraq War combat veterans of the famed 101st Airborne Division Col. Dominic J. Caraccilo and Lt. Col. Andrea L. Thompson, is to turn the fight over to the Iraqis.
In Achieving Victory in Iraq, Caraccilo and Thompson examine how the Iraq War has evolved since 2003 and carefully outline the way forward. They argue that a strategy for handing off the battle to the Iraqis existed from the beginning, even though the American-led coalition sometimes muddled its execution and at times did not even pursue it. A renewed effort to create an independent Iraqi security force capable of standing up against the insurgency, they believe, remains the U.S.'s best shot at victory--not winning over the Iraqi people, not crushing the enemy with American military might.
Drawing on the authors' on-the-ground experiences training and conducting security operations with Iraqi soldiers, Achieving Victory in Iraq describes how this strategy has already succeeded in parts of Iraq and how it can be expanded in the wake of the surge to bring victory to the entire country.
About the Author
Col. Dominic J. Caraccilo currently commands a brigade combat team in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq. He has completed two previous Operation Iraqi Freedom tours, first as a battalion commander in the 173rd Airborne Brigade and then as the operations officer (G3) of the 101st. He fought with the 75th Rangers in Afghanistan and the 82nd Airborne in Operation Desert Storm and deployed to Kosovo. Colonel Caraccilo is a graduate of West Point, the U.S. Naval Staff College, and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and holds master's degrees from the Naval War College and Cornell University.
Lt. Col. Andrea L. Thompson is currently attending the National War College following her assignment as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Army Chief of Staff at the Pentagon. During her two tours in Iraq, she served first as the military intelligence task force commander in the 25th Infantry Division and as the senior intelligence office (G2) of the 101st Airborne Division. She has also served in Germany, Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, and Bosnia. Lieutenant Colonel Thompson graduated from the University of South Dakota, earned a master's degree from Long Island University, and attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
