$hake your money maker, Gladiator | Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier's Fight for America from Baghdad to...

The best book on the first year of the war | Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier's Fight for America from Baghdad to Washington | Paul Rieckhoff

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	• Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier's Fight for America from Baghdad to Washington Paul Rieckhoff NAL Hardcover, 2006 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 159 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A ground-eye view of the first days after the invasion

I have read many first hand accounts of the recent American invasion and occupation of Iraq, but this one is my favorite. Rieckhoff gives a blatantly honest first hand account of the challenges and rewards of a platoon leader in Baghdad in the first few days after the invasion. I was especially impressed with the account of Rieckhoff's platoon going across the Tigris River, (against orders) to apprehend a sniper that had been firing on them for days. His frustration at the situation of his platoon is easily apparent. There were not enough men, not enough supplies and little or no direction from upper leadership. I had the impression that the post-invasion plan directed to Rieckhoff was basically "1) move in, 2) set up daily patrols, 3) try to keep people from killing you, your platoon and each other." Rieckhoff's unit had to fend for its self for the basic necessities like water that a unit would normally be supplied with. Overall, Chasing Ghosts good read and a great first hand account of the first few months of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. You probably won't be able to put it down.

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$hake your money maker, Gladiator

Too busy ignoring our latest wars ?, especially the earlier part of the Iraq war , here is a good book to get you up to speed. It has good tone, nice flow and reads fast. Dealing with the subject of the book, most people still seem not to get the disposable part of war, and then of course there is the masters and ghouls concept. Furthermore, this has nothing to do with walking in their shoes, it's about belief systems; where either we evolve as in evolution or we're righteous like religion, but we can't be neither, as in the all mighty dollar. To conclude, when our enemies see NO weakness, only strength, there will be peace, history says civilizations come and .... . Also read: The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, Standard Operating Procedure and Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror.

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The best book on the first year of the war

In Chasing Ghosts: Failures and Facades in Iraq: A Soldier's Perspective, Paul Rieckhoff writes a brilliant, no-kidding memoir of what it was really like to walk the streets of Baghdad from his first hand, under-the-helmet perspective. You don't have to like what he has to say but you can't ignore it--regardless of where you sit in the political spectrum. The embedded reportage of the two wars simply lacks the insider's view. Rieckhoff fills in the gaps.

There's no shortage of books on Iraq -- if you only read one make it Chasing Ghosts. This is a definitive account of the first year of the occupation written as only someone who has been there can write it, a book Americans need to read.

A champion of today's generation of warriors and Veterans, Rieckhoff has taken the fight to Washington, D.C. demanding accountability from the elected leadership through his non-profit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). Support him. Support our veterans. And read this book.

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I truly enjoyed this book...

Paul really depicts what life is like for American troops that are on combat missions in Iraq. He brings fourth the fact that Iraq's problems will not be solved by American troops; the tactics currently used there of American troops showing up at Iraqi's homes unannounced will only breed future hatred; the opposition is growing because conditions have gotten worse for Iraqis since the invasion in terms of safety, curfews, electricity, food and water; the Iraqis that are currently detained and tortured in prisons is affecting future Iraqi's generations' views and perceptions of America, their policies, tactics and priorities. Paul also delves into his personal life and the dangers and mental/physical suffering that troops endure as a result of not knowing who the enemy is and what they are fighting for.

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As a First Lieutenant and Infantry Platoon Leader for the U.S. Army National Guard charged with leading thirty-eight men in Iraq, Paul Rieckhoff followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. After Rieckhoff volunteered to take part in the invasion of Iraq, he and his soldiers spent almost a year in one of the most dangerous and volatile areas of Baghdad, where they struggled to maintain order, protect Iraqi civilians, track down insurgents, and defend themselves against sniper and roadside bomb attacks.

But it was clear to Rieckhoff almost from the get-go that America's mission in Iraq was deeply flawed - and that his platoon was overchallenged and underequipped. If there was a plan to stabilize Baghdad after the invasion, no one had let them in on it. And with so many obstacles to overcome, they faced enemies that included thousands of armed, angry, and unemployed men who had been unleashed into the streets when the U.S. government disbanded the Iraqi army.

The way that Rieckhoff responded to these and other challenges over the next ten months set him on a course that would forever change his life. And when Rieckhoff finally came home, he vowed to tell Americans the truth, however controversial, about what was going on in Iraq. He publicly demanded accountability from elected officials, created the first organization specifically for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and took the new fight to the airwaves and the halls of power in Washington.

For anyone who wonders what alternatives there are in Iraq to either "staying the course" or "cutting-and-running," Chasing Ghosts is an uncensored and unrehearsed statement from a war veteran, providing a candid grunt's-eye view of the harrowing, bloody battles on the streets of Baghdad-and a patriot's vision of where America has gone wrong and how it can reset its path.

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