Center for a New American Security

I’ve been reading this thread with great interest. Comments like these are one reason I value this website so much. I am busy finishing my next book, but wanted to chime in with a few thoughts: 

--I am in no way saying that everyone who served in Iraq when Lt. Gen. Sanchez and Lt. Col. Sassaman were there is a loser. That is a sloppy misreading of what I wrote—and, if we want to question motive, as some on this thread do, it makes me wonder if this gross exaggeration is an attempt to hide behind the soldier. What I am saying is that if you want to know why we were on a path to defeat in Iraq from 2003 through 2006, these two books are a good place to start. Again, to be clear: I am not blaming the soldiers—I am blaming senior officers. Do I have the right to do so? Yes, just as you all have the right to disagree or not to read what I write. Accountability? I get judged in the marketplace of ideas every day. That’s the American way, and I am comfortable with it. If people don’t believe you, they tend not to read your articles or buy your books. 

--It does no one any good to pretend things were going well in Iraq when they weren’t, especially if the purpose of the pretense is to avoid hurting the feelings of generals. Anyone who thinks we were winning in 2006 must not have been paying attention. 

--Constructing a narrative? I call it reporting the facts and trying to figure out how they fit together. I know Col. Gentile disagrees. That’s OK. I have enormous respect for him.  I see myself as an umpire, trying to call balls and strikes. Not everyone is going to like that, especially those who get called out on strikes. Some will say that the facts are more nuanced, that the umpire is making everything too black and white, or that “it’s not that simple.” It never is.       

--Tom Ricks doesn’t hate the U.S. Army. Gian mentioned my book ‘Making the Corps,’ about the Marines, but didn’t mention the one that followed,  ‘A Soldier’s Duty,’ which I wrote as a heartfelt appreciation of the Army—one reason I dedicated the book to, among others, “Sam and Courtney.” (If you haven’t read ‘Once an Eagle,’ stop reading this and go to Amazon.com and buy it right now.)     

--“Fight Club.” I didn’t write the headline. Nor have I seen the movie. 

--I tend not to respond to ad hominen attacks, because I figure if they have to sidestep the argument to go after me, that means I’ve won my point. But fwiw, I am post-conscription. I had to register for the draft, but I think by the time I started college in Sept. 1973, the draft was nearly over. To my knowledge, no American soldiers died in Vietnam while I was at Yale (Sept. 1975-May 1977). 

--‘Swiddened’—great word. And a point I will take to heart. 

--“Hyperbolic hagiography”? Gentleman, at this point I would like to ask for a bit of evidence. An example from what I have written, either in this book review or in ‘Fiasco,’ would be helpful. Ditto on “faux military, a Potemkin village of huggy, happy, effeminate civil affairs clerks.” That’s a cartoon. As for Marine generals, I refer you to General Mattis. 

Bottom line, I think it is a fair book review. I don’t consider it over the top. If you think I got Lt. Col. Sassaman wrong, I encourage you to read his testimony at the court martial of one of his platoon leaders. 

         --Tom Ricks