The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008

摘要

The Gamble effectively summarizes the confluence of events that led to the development and implementation of new tactics and strategy in Iraq in 2007. Ricks's access to multiple levels of leadership, from Administration officials, defense experts, and military brass at the Pentagon, to generals and staff in Baghdad, to Soldiers fighting at the tactical level, provides well-rounded insight that will be valuable to most readers. Readers who were part of the surge will notice the weaknesses in some of Ricks's chronologies and conclusions. Readers looking for profound scholarly analysis will notice that The Gamble is largely a compilation of Ricks's Washington Post articles from 2006-2008, strung together by Ricks's observations and conclusions. However, in the absence of any other comprehensive books on the surge, The Gamble successfully captures the general-and most important-reasons for the failures of the Iraqi war until 2007 and the successes thereafter.