No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah

No True Glory: Confusion and CourageOn the morning of March 31, 2004, four civilian contractors drove through Fallujah, Iraq on Highway 10 expecting to go undetected, but never made it to their destination. Nearly half way through the city, insurgents lobbed grenades at their vehicles and fired AK-47 rifles until the vehicles stopped causing the mutilation that was seen throughout the world. Children as young as ten to men as old as seventy threw rocks, spit, and stabbed the American civilians until death. The insurgents then dragged the American bodies behind cars as cheering occurred among the crowd. Their bodies were hung on what Americans called the Brooklyn Bridge, which became the site in which the horrific video of the Americans was taped. When President Bush received this information, he ordered Marines to find those responsible for the desecration immediately. If one was watching this unravel on the news and wanted to know what happens next, No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah by Bing West (Bantam Dell, 2006, 359 pages) explains that the American government and military questioned their own judgment, which resulted in extreme collateral damage and extensive casualties.No True Glory is a critical analysis that defines Fallujah as the most dangerous city in Iraq, consisting of poverty, corrupt politics, deceptive religion figures, and the most horrific anti-American coalition fighters including foreign fighters that travel to Fallujah for the soul purpose of killing American soldiers. After the four American contractors were murdered in Fallujah, action had to be taken, but the Americans knew it was going to be a struggle. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Americans had four phases of execution in Fallujah. However, they faced the problem of many Islamic fundamentalist wanting to attack and kill Americans. In March 2004, the United States Marines were sent into Fallujah to seize the city; however, Al Jazzera, a public television network seen throughout the Middle East, released several propaganda videos and blaming the Marines. High-ranking Americans including President Bush and Ambassador Bremer, who worked directly for the president and the director of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), ordered a cease-fire. The cease-fire had the Marines holding firm in the city and waiting on orders to continue their mission. West stated, "without a clear agenda, goals, and deadlines, the roles of diplomats and generals in the negotiations became confused" (178), thus after six weeks of holding in Fallujah, the Marines were ordered to withdraw and cordon off the city. Rick Baillergeon wrote a review for Infantry Magazine talking about West: "His frustration is evident when he opines how political indecision translated to casualties on the ground." Exiting the city was suggested by former Iraqi generals' stating that if the Americans drew back the Marines they could restore order. For months the insurgents disregarded what the Iraqi officials were saying and built up their insurgency by recruiting young kids to fight the Marines. In November the American generals and officials re-ordered the Marines to seize the city due to the failure of eliminating foreign fighters and insurgency.Richard Coffman, who is an international business and security consultant, as well as, media commentator on intelligence, homeland security and terrorism, wrote a review stating that No True Glory covers both the high strategy of politics that puts young men at such a high risk and the fighting as mortal combat. He also wrote,...when troops are committed to battle, let them finish the fight. This axiom was violated by virtually everyone in the confused civilian and military chains of command stretching from Washington to Baghdad to the Fallujah theater.West describes Marines as, "America's shock troops" (xxi), and throughout his book he writes in deep detail about the fighting tactics and heroics of young men that fought to their death. During the cease-fire, West reiterates that the fighting was still fierce and Marines were being mortared and ambushed everyday causing casualties, but were unable to advance and eliminate the enemy. Throughout the book, many chapters are based on significant events and small unit fighting. "The House from Hell", chapter twenty seven, describes how a squad of Marines enters an ambush house with six to eight insurgents. After entering the house, several of the Marines were shot and badly wounded, with no escape route. For hours, they fought for their lives while AK-47 rifles shot at them from the range of twenty meters, as well as, exploding grenades throwing shrapnel at them. More Marines tried to enter the house including First Sgt. Kasal who shot ten bullets into a man, ending with two more in the head, but as he was searching a bathroom, "bullets hit the wall around him, and he felt like someone had hit his legs with a sledgehammer. He fell into the doorway and was hammered again" (299). This violent occurrence is just one story of many that show the courage and intensity of the fighting that the Marines faced everyday in the streets and houses of Fallujah. No True Glory is separated into multiple sections, which allow readers to understand the book layout and its complex direction. The book has four parts which are laid out in a timeline with chapters in each that play a specific role in completing the books journey. The book also includes two maps of the city of Fallujah that show the reader specific areas of interest, phase lines and the maneuvering of the troops for both of the attacks. West explains the roles and duties of major characters so the reader can distinguish between the many different military roles played by the Americans and the Iraqis. Halfway through the reading, West includes pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge hanging, downtown Fallujah and First Sgt. Kasal exiting the house from hell with blood completely covering his lower body.No True Glory shows many different aspects of war including politics, courage, bravery and sacrifice. West spent over the course of writing this book about sixteen months in Iraq and interviewed or closely observed more then seven hundred soldiers and Marines (359). West's personal web page states that he served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and moved onto serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration and currently is a Correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. West has written several military books including The Village, which is based on his personal experiences in Vietnam and the way himself and his Marines worked with local villagers to fight the Vietcong. He also wrote about the 1st Marine Division that surged into Bagdad and removed the regime of Saddam Hussein. He and his son, Owen West, are creating a screenplay for No True Glory, which Universal Studios has purchased to create a movie.Marines declared Fallujah secure in a week, but with a price to pay, including seventy Americans killed, over six hundred wounded and eighteen thousand buildings destroyed. When one reads this book, they will understand why in the end the Marines had to force themselves into Fallujah and destroy all that stood in their way. The cost of war is always high and readers will realize that America emphasizes strategically planned attacks and it is not a task complete overnight.Works CitedBaillergeon, Rick. "No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah." Infantry Magazine 95.4 (2006): 51. General OneFile. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. <[...]>.Coffman, Richard. "Book Review: No True Glory". 28 Oct 2005. Military Advantage, Web. 27 Oct 2009.West, Bing. No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah. New York,New York: Bantam Dell, 2006. Print.West, Bing. Home page. Web. 28 October, 2009. [...]

As I write this review, the United States of America is still shell shocked by the brutal terrorist killings that occurred in San Bernardino, California in November 2015. Sadly, the country doesn’t appear to be united. President Obama and the far left think that stricter gun laws can prevent such atrocities whereas those on the far right, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, are essentially wanting to ban all Muslims from the United States. War is hell.I only say this because the whole Iraq mess seemed to culminate from the terrorist attacks on 9/11. We went to war believing Saddam Hussein was hoarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. Since most agree that we had faulty intelligence and no weapons were found, what could we do now that we’ve committed ourselves? Well, the good news is that Hussein was toppled from power, and forced to flee (he was eventually found, and systematically executed). The Iraqi people rejoiced, and our 24 hour news coverage showed a jubilant population celebrating in the streets while ransacking his ubiquitous palaces and statues that wallpapered Baghdad.The problem was, what happens next? Here’s where most people, excluding the political astute, simply were clueless. Many believed that we could “destroy” Iraq and then somehow rebuild the backwards country to resemble the state of Vermont. Those who know better knew better.This book puts us right in the middle of the nastiest place in Iraq, the ugly grime-filled city of Fallujah. This is the last place where anyone would want to be during a war. A bit like the Siberian Front in World War II. What author Bing West manages to do is tell a very thorough account of the frontlines during this calamity that begin in April 2003. He spends equal time talking about the battles with several of the key players on the ground, as well as many involved in the military and political leadership. The author shows us that there’s a very big disconnect going on here.Fortunately, this is not a “Pro War” nor an “Anti-War” book. The author manages to focus on war, and any war is extremely unpleasant. While reading, I couldn’t help draw many parallels to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. A big criticism of that war is that it seemed as though the U.S. wanted the South Vietnamese to win the war more than the South Vietnamese did. Such seems to be the case here. Even with Saddam Hussein gone, you can’t expect a nation that has been embroiled in a set way of living to suddenly throw all the shackles off and embrace democracy. Even after Saddam is gone, there are rife political sides, and most still hate America. A sad analogy: If you adopt a five-year-old dog that has been abused and tormented its whole life, that dog will never be “normal”, no matter how much love you shower upon it.So America really wants to help. Money is spent. Money is given to Fallujah and Iraq. Lots of money. That will inspire them. Right? Nope. So we give more money. More decisions are made, more disagreements between leaders, more frustrated marines on the battlefield. etc. etc. You have to admire the marines for wanting to get the job done. They know they have the manpower to obliterate this hell-hole, and they’re highly motivated after seeing all of the injustice and nastiness firsthand. But we can’t fight wars that way anymore. Not with CNN reporting every move we make. Sadly, casualties in a war always expand beyond the enemy on the frontlines. Buildings get bombed containing innocent civilians, and the 24 news networks are quick to make these the lead stories, which then drives up animosity for any conflict. So President Bush knows he has to be careful. One needs to only remember the Abu Gharib prison story that made headlines during all of the Fallujah crap. Most Americans can probably tell you more about that incident than they can the whole Fallujah episode because, let’s face it, a story about prisoners being unjustly tortured makes sensational headlines.Hindsight tells us that even though we were finally “successful” in Fallujah, nothing has really changed. Imagine turning on your kitchen lights at 2 a.m. and seeing 100 cockroaches. If you’re lucky, you can kill about 5 of them, but the rest will scurry under the surface, multiply, and be back the next night. And the cockroaches in Fallujah have guns and homemade bombs. Like Vietnam, we may have dropped a lot of bombs and killed far more of the enemy than what we lost, but until you break the psyche of the enemy (as we did with Germany and Japan), you can never really say that you’ve “won” the war. We were never able to accomplish that in Iraq, and Fallujah was where this was at its ugliest.A good, but depressing read.

I got this knowing very little of the events of and surrounding the fighting in Fallujah and West's book has more than corrected the gaps in my knowledge. As an ex-Marine, he clearly has an affinity for the troops he writes about, and the book is probably at its best when he is describing the combat experiences of the soldiers. However, West does not neglect the political context, as he also conveys the disconnect between the multiple and at times conflicting political interest groups involved, both back in the USA as well as in Iraq. A few maps would have been useful to get a sense of the geography (Google Maps came in handy), but otherwise this comes highly recommended.

I bought this ebook because I like military history, and this book doesn't disappoint, it highlights just how many casualties their prepared to accept to achieve their goals. It's an good read.

A really good, well written book. The story puts you right into the hell that was Fallujah immediately after the fall of Iraq, you can understand the impossible job the American soldiers had as the higher chain of command struggled to keep all political parties happy whilst trying to suppress a growing insurgency culminating in the destruction of a city. Well worth reading.

Well written and comprehensive account

This description of the various attempts to control the Sunni city of Fallujah by the US forces tries to be scrupulously fair though its author is unashamedly ex-USMC. It repeatedly exposes the problems and inconsistencies of the imperial model of control. Americans would like the Iraqis the run their own city (there is unanimity here) but sadly the wrong sort of Iraqis are the ones with the experience to do it. No Iraqi seems to welcome US involvement, and the practical effect of the combat is a delight to Al-Jazeera, but equally the murderous regime within the city leave one unsurprised that its inhabitants decided to flee. When titans fight men must hide.The book covers the overlapping levels on control over US policy and the consequences of failures and successes. But its great part is the accounts of the close fighting between the two sides. Both willing to take casualties, both constantly adapting and improving their tactics, neither for a moment contemplating defeat.