COBRA II

I am reading COBRA II which goes into great detail about the lead up to the Iraq war.

It seems to slant to the right but appears to be driven from a fact-based point of view. I find it interesting after only about 80 pages how spot-on many of the senior officers were during the planning phase. They were starting to see problems with the numbers of troops needed to keep the peace after the initial defeat of the Iraqi forces, problems with building up the country afterward, etc. All issues that have turned out to be problematic. It is an interesting phenomenon in organizations that choose to toss out years of developed experience and wisdom for an untested philosophy. How sad that so many lives had to be lost at the expense of not listening to our own military leaders.

An intersting quote on the slant of the book:

The British, who had a more punctilious attitude toward international law, declined to participate in the Southern Focus operation on the grounds that the United Nations resolutions that were used to justify the patrols of the no-fly zones did not authorize bombing to smooth the way for an invasion.

The tone implies that their inclination toward the rule of law is somehow quaint.