{"product_id":"chaos-in-the-green-zone-my-time-as-an-iraq-war-strategist-9780700641314","title":"Chaos in the Green Zone: My Time as an Iraq War Strategist","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn American officer offers an explosive memoir from inside coalition headquarters in Baghdad. With raw honesty and exhilarating detail, Tom Mowle shares how policy and strategy were built at a time when it still felt like the US could win the Iraq War.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Tom Mowle volunteered to go to Iraq in 2004 to help shape American strategy, he left behind a comfortable life as a noncombat junior officer and a professor at the US Air Force Academy. In \u003ci\u003eChaos in the Green Zone\u003c\/i\u003e, he relives the chaos and absurdity of war in a way that recalls Joseph Heller's classic novel \u003ci\u003eCatch-22\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMowle vividly depicts the frenetic cycle of activity at a wartime forward headquarters, where the enemy often dictated the schedule of events, fifteen hours a day, seven days a week. Important tasks were set aside for urgent distractions; hard deadlines constrained critical thinking and well-balanced decisions. Frequent indirect fire attacks, the deaths of colleagues, heat-induced illnesses, and personality conflicts thickened the fog of war.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmid this chaos in an unfamiliar land, Tom wrestled with deeply human issues, including his troubled marriage, his daughter's health, and his own career prospects. Through it all, he sought to find meaning through service despite creeping skepticism about the mission at hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eChaos in the Green Zone\u003c\/i\u003e provides keen insights about Iraqi political dynamics and shows how collective ignorance, toxic optimism, and partisan considerations affected coalition decision making. The result was twenty years of dysfunctional Iraqi politics, increased Iranian influence in the Middle East, and many unnecessary Iraqi and American deaths.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis honest memoir, drawn from his original wartime diaries and other materials, is as thrilling as it is insightful. It is a must-read for anyone wanting to see what it was like to serve as a high-level strategist in Iraq and for anyone wondering how we wound up where we are today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMowle, Tom:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eTom Mowle is the author of \u003ci\u003eAllies at Odds? The United States and the European Union, the editor of \u003ci\u003eHope is Not a Plan: The War in Iraq from Inside the Green Zone\u003c\/i\u003e, and the coauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe Unipolar World: An Unbalanced Future\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the owner of Rampart Professional Solutions, a manuscript coaching and editing service in Colorado.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNagl, John:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eJohn Nagl is a retired US Army officer who served in tank units in both Iraq wars. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eLearning to Eat Soup with a Knife\u003c\/i\u003e and helped write \u003ci\u003eThe U.S. Army\/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University Press of Kansas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52176249913618,"sku":"9780700641314","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_894c57a3-920e-435f-9d2c-b3c1bb481efa.jpg?v=1775559879","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/chaos-in-the-green-zone-my-time-as-an-iraq-war-strategist-9780700641314","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}