Iraq War
Book Review: Generation Kill by Evan Wright
(out of 5 stars)
Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright embedded with Bravo Company of the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion just in time for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Spending his time with 2nd Platoon, whose commander Nathaniel Fick published a memoir, One Bullet Away recounting his experiences a year after Generation Kill was published, Wright spent most of his time in the vehicle commanded by Sgt. Brad Colbert. Wright's narrative, which first appeared as a series of Rolling Stone articles, moves fast and presents a grunts-eye view of the first days of the Iraq War.
From crossing the berm and MOPP chemical protection suits, to rolling hot through sheets of gunfire, Wright's experiences are vividly conveyed to the reader in each chapter. I especially appreciated the way he frankly portrayed the men in the platoon. From raunchy jokes in the middle of gunfights to the daily highs and lows of the men, the narrative moves quickly through the whirlwind of battle and brotherhood.
Wright's book makes an excellent addition to the small but growing catalog of works on the Iraq War, and combined with Fick's memoir, the reader can gain a keen insight into small unit actions and the consequences of leadership decisions, superior training, and the frustrating necessity of the chain of command. Four stars. The HBO miniseries based on the book is also recommended and provides a very faithful depiction of Wright's narrative.
Book Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer by Nathaniel Fick
(out of 5 stars)
US Marine Corps officer Nathaniel Fick's memoir describes his experiences in Marine Corps OCS, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War. As a Lieutenant, Fick was a lower-grade officer who saw a great deal of front line action, especially while commanding a platoon in Bravo Company, First Force Recon as part of the tip of the spear during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. His memoir is very well written and provides a key insight into the positives and negatives of fighting wars within the Marine Corps command chain.
Fick decided to join the Marines in order to test himself, and enlists in OCS prior to his senior year at Columbia. After completing his training, he finished school before officially joining the Corps and heading off for training which included a variety of tough tests, including SERE training.
Fick was shipping off for his first international deployment when September 11 took place, and while at sea, his unit got orders to prepare for the invasion of Afghanistan. He took part in a few missions in that theater before being offered a chance to join the elite Recon Marines.
As part of First Force Recon, Fick led his platoon across the berms and into Iraq during the invasion, and was often involved in heavy firefights. Fick, an intelligent and tactically-aware commander, often chaffed under the rigid Marine Corps command structure and openly challenged his CO a couple of times when the orders were clearly wrongheaded. His attitude was not necessarily acceptable to his commanders, and once or twice nearly caused him to be punished, but his men knew they had a strong leader looking out for them and ensuring their ability to accomplish the mission was never compromised.
Fick's insights into the early days of the way, and especially the ways in which the strategies played out, open a unique view of the seeds planted which later turned into a full-blown insurgency. An easy read from start-to-finish, One Bullet Away is a solid addition to the shelves of any military reader, along with Generation Kill, journalist Evan Wright's book (and HBO miniseries) which saw Wright embedded in Fick's platoon. Four stars.
Bible Quotes Included on Intelligence Briefing Covers
According to the GQ Magazine, intelligence reports and briefings from the Department of Defense passed to then-President Bush included Biblical scripture on their covers.
This mixing of Crusades-like messaging with war imagery, which until now has not been revealed, had become routine. On March 31, a U.S. tank roared through the desert beneath a quote from Ephesians: "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." On April 7, Saddam Hussein struck a dictatorial pose, under this passage from the First Epistle of Peter: "It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men."
This sort of Biblical direction was undoubtedly due to the fact that Bush explicitly proclaimed his Christianity and offered numerous instances where he believed he was acting on behalf of God.
- "God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq"
- "I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it"
- "We don't believe that freedom is America's gift to the world. We believe freedom is the God Almighty's gift to each and every person in the world."
Bush was easily manipulated by those aware of his full-throated acceptance of Christianity (and God-dictated neo-Manifest Destity, as well). More from the GQ article:
These cover sheets were the brainchild of Major General Glen Shaffer, a director for intelligence serving both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of defense. In the days before the Iraq war, Shaffer’s staff had created humorous covers in an attempt to alleviate the stress of preparing for battle. Then, as the body counting began, Shaffer, a Christian, deemed the biblical passages more suitable. Several others in the Pentagon disagreed. At least one Muslim analyst in the building had been greatly offended; others privately worried that if these covers were leaked during a war conducted in an Islamic nation, the fallout—as one Pentagon staffer would later say—"would be as bad as Abu Ghraib."
But the Pentagon’s top officials were apparently unconcerned about the effect such a disclosure might have on the conduct of the war or on Bush’s public standing. When colleagues complained to Shaffer that including a religious message with an intelligence briefing seemed inappropriate, Shaffer politely informed them that the practice would continue, because "my seniors"—JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself—appreciated the cover pages.
I bet Myers, Rumsfeld, et al were thrilled to have the Biblical messages included. They were amongst the group pushing hardest for the invasion of Iraq (and Iran), so any means they could use to push Bush in that direction were not only ok, but desired. Religion demonstrates itself as a weakness, and regardless of what you think of Bush as a man or politician, it is clear that his faith was used by those he trusted to manipulate him. By making clear connections between the word of God and Bush's actions, it was easy for Bush to maintain his resolve and follow through on plans that in retrospect even he has to have questioned. A bit more from GQ:
The Scripture-adorned cover sheets illustrate one specific complaint I heard again and again: that Rumsfeld’s tactics—such as playing a religious angle with the president—often ran counter to sound decision-making and could, occasionally, compromise the administration’s best interests. In the case of the sheets, publicly flaunting his own religious views was not at all the SecDef’s style—"Rumsfeld was old-fashioned that way," Shaffer acknowledged when I contacted him about the briefings—but it was decidedly Bush’s style, and Rumsfeld likely saw the Scriptures as a way of making a personal connection with a president who frequently quoted the Bible.
The rest of the article goes on to single out Rumsfeld as a bad apple in the bunch, incapable of normal relations with those in the White House. However, a lot of that insinuation reads like after-the-fact sour grapes and finger pointing from those who didn't get their way.
Regardless, the insights here about religion as a fulcrum at the highest levels should raise numerous red flags, ones many of us have been screaming about for years. The dangers of religion as a matter of policy in government are numerous. Governments which rely on religious scriptures are easily described as exclusionary, deterministic, and manipulatable, and give in to terrible instances of groupthink and End Times posturing. Let us hope the current administration is more rational and capable of considering the real world without resorting to mythical characters and fictional instructions from invisible men in the sky.
