A pair of veteran U.S. Army officers outlines a strategy for success in Iraq, drawing on their combined 60 months of service in Iraq and focusing on training the Iraqi Security Forces.

Why have the major post-9/11 US military interventions turned into quagmires? Despite huge power imbalances in the United States' favor, significant capacity-building efforts, and repeated tactical victories by what many observers call the world's best military, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq turned intractable. The US government's fixation on zero-sum, decisive victory in these conflicts is a key reason why military operations to overthrow two developing-world regimes failed to successfully achieve favorable and durable outcomes. In Zero-Sum Victory, retired US Army colonel Christopher D. Kolenda identifies three interrelated problems that have emerged from the government's insistence on zero-sum victory. First, the US government has no organized way to measure successful outcomes other than a decisive military victory, and thus, selects strategies that overestimate the possibility of such an outcome. Second, the United States is slow to recognize and modify or abandon losing strategies; in both cases, US officials believe their strategies are working, even as the situation deteriorates. Third, once the United States decides to withdraw, bargaining asymmetries and disconnects in strategy undermine the prospects for a successful transition or negotiated outcome. Relying on historic examples and personal experience, Kolenda draws thought-provoking and actionable conclusions about the utility of American military power in the contemporary world—insights that serve as a starting point for future scholarship as well as for important national security reforms.

War demands that scholars and policy makers use victory in precise and coherent terms to communicate what the state seeks to achieve in war. The failure historically to define victory in consistent terms has contributed to confused debates when societies consider whether to wage war. This volume explores the development of a theoretical narrative or language of victory to help scholars and policy makers define carefully and precisely what they mean by victory in war in order to achieve a deeper understanding of victory as the foundation of strategy in the modern world.

A high-ranking general's gripping insider account of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how it all went wrong. Over a thirty-five-year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top-level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions, unusual for a general. Now, as a witness to all levels of military command, Bolger offers a unique assessment of these wars, from 9/11 to the final withdrawal from the region. Writing with hard-won experience and unflinching honesty, Bolger makes the firm case that in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we lost -- but we didn't have to. Intelligence was garbled. Key decision makers were blinded by spreadsheets or theories. And, at the root of our failure, we never really understood our enemy. Why We Lost is a timely, forceful, and compulsively readable account of these wars from a fresh and authoritative perspective.

The author (center) and his sons, Sam Hunter (left), who served in Iraq with the Army's 4th Stryker Brigade, and Duncan D. Hunter (right), who served in Iraq with the 1st Marine Division. Book jacket.

By bestselling author Brian Tracy, a revised and updated edition of this indispensable field guide to using military strategies to win in business and life. The modern world can be a battleground, but key strategies that have helped history's great leaders triumph in military campaigns can also be used to achieve business and personal success. Brian Tracy is a leading authority on success and achievement, authoring bestsellers including Eat That Frog!, and raising millions toward advancement with his guidance. In this fully revised and updated edition of a classic, Tracy presents 12 core principles of successful military commanders and how to apply them in almost any situation and emerge victorious, including proven methods to: · Concentrate your strengths in the most effective way to reach your goals · Gather game-changing intelligence to determine the best approach · Decide when to go on the offensive vs. cover your bases · Exploit the element of surprise for maximum benefit Packed with Tracy's transformative advice, Victory! arms readers with powerful skills and a practical road map to unlock their potential for greatness in business and in life.