No True Glory: A Frontline Account Of The Battle For Fallujah (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
I picked this up at the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, VA last weekend.A detailed and in-depth account of the Marine's experiences in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. I loved the matter of fact style and the Marine's eye view that West uses to tell his story. Part personal narrative from the combatants point of view and part historical narrative of the military and civilian leaders, their decision making, and the operations as they unfolded. West is quite confident that his opinions are correct - maybe even strident at some points but, his story is a good one and he tells it in a way that is compelling. Once again we learn about war from the perspective of the Marine on the ground who is merely there to do a job - to serve, and how that job - as much as these Marines would wish otherwise - always ends up terribly politicized. Read about how the politicians initially called for the Marines to "take" Fallujah overwhelmingly and immediately after the American contractors were killed and hung from the bridge in town, despite the Marine's initial misgivings (they were practicing established counter-insurgency techniques and wanted time for these techniques to pan out). When orders came to attack, the Marines did what Marines do best only to be called off mid operation because of the political fall out from the unsavory images beamed around the world. This is another reminder of the terrible costs of unleashing our combat power and how these decisions should be made carefully and then once made, should be carried through to completion. If our leaders are going to choose to use our military tool, they need to use it as a last resort and then they need to practice a certain amount of "nose holding" because it's going to get messy and ugly. If they are unwilling to offend anyone - including the Arab media which has huge built-in sympathies to anyone we may be fighting in the middle east - then they'd better not turn lose the dogs of war.The author does a nice job of telling a compelling story about a truly amazing group of Americans (the USMC) in a very sticky situation. No True Glory is a compelling read for anyone interested in digging into the details of the war in Iraq.
In “The Iliad” a warrior in the front ranks turned to his companions and said, “Let us win glory, for ourselves, or yield it to others.” For Greek warriors, there was no true glory if they were not remembered afterward in poem or song. There will be no true glory for our soldiers in Iraq until they are recognized not as victims, but as aggressive warriors. Stories of their bravery deserved to be recorded and read by the next generation. Unsung, the noblest deed will die.Those stories are recorded in No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah. A Star for every brave warrior here. Read and pass these deeds on to the next generation. A must read for any student of war and for any who want a better picture of what happened in Iraq.Bing West gives you a lot of action at the squad, company, regiment level but mixes in timely pieces of the higher level machinations and confusion. You can’t understand how Fallujah happened the way it did without seeing how it fit in a bigger picture. I admire how he explains all the military and political forces in play. He is very fair in his assessment and mostly just gives you the facts and lets you make your own judgment.Several things stand out but especially the Marines, from the generals down to the corporals and privates. They demonstrated how they can be your best friend or worst enemy. I also like that West portrayed the opposition clearly.
What do You think about No True Glory: A Frontline Account Of The Battle For Fallujah (2006)?
Excellent account of the battle for Fallujah, house by house, block by block, street by street. It's the story of the courageous Marines that fought to control the city and the bureucrats and politians that screwed things up by holding the Marines back for a several month cease fire. Good book for lessons to learned for the future including: (1) learning that the only way to win a war is to kill until the opposition accepts the terms of surrender rather than suffer more destruction (2) when sending soldiers into battle, let them complete their job and don't use them as political pawns (3) multiple chains of command with politicians only causes confusion.
—Charles Blumberg
Great book. I was skeptical at first, thinking it may have been only an ode to the Marines that fought for Fallujah. I don't want to read propaganda or one-sided proclamations of American greatness. This book told stories at ground level and infused chain of command information where relevant. The book detailed heroics and bravery of young men. What I questioned throughout the whole book ... to what end? And, my read of the book was, it wasn't meant to say "we shouldn't have gone to Iraq." But reading this tale of the young men who fought and died at the direction of the fractured chain of command, you can't help but wonder "why?" I would recommend this book when read alongside other books about Iraq, mostly because it illustrates combat and what happens when a country decides to go to war.
—Pete Nickeas
This is fine military and political history around the battle for Fallujah, Iraq. The application of Halberstadt's journalistic, big picture/little picture style, covering makes this a relatively easy, fascinating read. One of the book's main points is that the Arab, US, and other international media coverage of events in the city were very poorly covered, as the city became very dangerous for all but insurgency-approved arab reporters after the killing and mutilation of the US Blackwater militarized contractors on 5/31/2004. This successful strategy allowed the insurgency to control outgoing information to the rest of the world, and successfully manipulate the politics around the situaion.This is one reason I believe it's important to read books like this that strive to tell a more complete, thought out version of events. A great many people in the world have opinions about the war. It would be better that our opinions were formed on more than soundbyte journalism.The book digs in, and offers an intelligent analysis of the situation from multiple angles, and provides insight into how not to repeat the same mistakes, as any good history should.
—Brom Kim
