Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq - Hardcover

"A work of prodigious research, "Cobra II" will likely become the benchmark by which other histories of the Iraq invasion are measured."--"The New York Times ""Magisterial . . . With mountains of fresh detail on the war's planning and progress with judicious analysis, "Cobra II" . . .""will be hard to improve upon." --"The Economist""Stands as the best account of the war to dateEoffers an instructive lesson on the consequences of inadequate strategic planning."--"The Washington Post Book World""ExcellentE "Cobra II "is everything that the Bush administration's plan for the war was not. It is meticulously organized, shuns bluff and bombast for lapidary statements, and is largely impervious to attack."--"The New York Times Book Review""RemarkableE a classic military history of the blow-by-blow fighting to Baghdad. "Cobra II" makes an irrefutable case for where the laurels lay for the victors and where the blame lies for the defeats."--"The Portland Oregonian" " A work of prodigious research, "Cobra II" will likely become the benchmark by which other histories of the Iraq invasion are measured." -- "The New York Times" " Magisterial . . . With mountains of fresh detail on the war's planning and progress with judicious analysis, "Cobra II" . . ." "will be hard to improve upon." -- "The Economist" " Stands as the best account of the war to dateE offers an instructive lesson on the consequences of inadequate strategic planning." -- "The Washington Post Book World" " ExcellentE "Cobra II "is everything that the Bush administration's plan for the war was not. It is meticulously organized, shuns bluff and bombast for lapidary statements, and is largely impervious to attack." -- "The New York Times Book Review" " RemarkableE a classic military history of the blow-by-blow fighting to Baghdad. "Cobra II" makes an irrefutable case for where the laurels lay for the victors and where the blame lies for the defeats." -- "The Portland Oregonian" Praise for the Authors' Previous Book"The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf""Focuses on high-level decision making and offers the most comprehensive and probing examination thus far of the Gulf War's strategy and operations. It is likely to remain for some time the best single volume on the Gulf War." --Eliot A. Cohen, "Foreign Affairs" "A truly remarkable piece of research and reconstruction . . . extraordinary: a richly detailed human drama, impeccably documented, sure in judgment, and not likely to be matched, still less surpassed, for a long time." --John Barry, national security correspondent, "Newsweek" "Provides a behind-the-scenes look at the highest levels of military decision making that determined the outcome of the first Gulf War."--U. S. Army Chief of Staff's Professional Reading List "A superb account and analysis of what went right and what went wrong in the Gulf War. All of the inside stories of the people and the policies, the triumphs and the blunders, are here." --Jim Lehrer, "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" "This model of investigative military history punctures the self-aggrandizing manipulations of commanders and the self-serving hype of politicians . . . [It leaves] the battlefield strewn with burned-out myths."--Daniel Schorr, senior news analyst, National Public Radio "A fascinating account of the war. I recommend it to my friends as something that gives them a different element of some of the key decisions that were made."--Dick Cheney, former Secretary of Defense "From the Hardcover edition."

There have been many reports about the Iraq war and the vicissitudes of the occupation, yet none has told the complete story. Michael Gordon had unparalleled, behind-the-scenes access to the decision-making processes that determined involvement in Iraq. In "Cobra II" - the secret codename given to the land invasion operation - he delivers the objectively rendered, definitive chronicle of the war.