Another Review And Analysis Of Bing West's 'The Strongest Tribe'

Bing West's 'The Strongest Tribe': Valuable Analysis

Scholar-warrior lauds American soldiers - and lambastes our civilian leadership

If George W. Bush proclaims victory in Iraq, I have a hunch that Bing West, an old Marine combatant, will be thinking, "Yeah, buddy, but you almost gave it away in 2006. And you were bailed out by the generals and grunts."

If you read only a few pages, West's "The Strongest Tribe" could be dismissed as an anti-Bush screed, accompanied by anecdotes about soldiers and Marines at war. But that would be wrong. This is, instead, a valuable analysis of the down-and-up progress of a troubling war.

West, an infantry officer in Vietnam who has written two prior books about the Iraq war, finds abundant evidence of wisdom and bravery among American warriors and faults the press for focusing on mistakes instead of heroism. Yet he finds a corresponding level of incompetence among U.S. civilian leadership — led from the top by an uninvolved and credulous president.

George W. Bush, writes the author, forfeited a president's role to hold civilian and military leaders accountable and rewarded loyalty above performance. West offers a celebrated example we all can remember:

In 2005 Bush awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Gen. Tommy Franks, Ambassador Paul Bremer and former CIA Director George Tenet. What had they done to deserve the honor? Let's take them one by one:

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My Comment: I have read the book .... it is well worth the time to read it.

The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, And The Endgame In Iraq

From Small Wars Journal:

Small Wars Journal has received an advance copy of Bing West’s newest book The Strongest Tribe. We will be posting a review and SWJ interview with Bing in the near future. The early pages and reviews indicate that The Strongest Tribe will be acknowledged as a classic work on counterinsurgency in Iraq – much like The Village defined COIN in Vietnam. The Strongest Tribe can be pre-ordered (highly recommended – 12 August release date) at Amazon. The publisher’s book description, video, several short endorsements and a Random House interview with Bing follow.

Description: From a universally respected combat journalist, a gripping history based on five years of front-line reporting about how the war was turned around–and the choice now facing America.

During the fierce battle for Fallujah, Bing West asked an Iraqi colonel why the archterrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had fled in women’s clothes. The colonel pointed to a Marine patrol walking by and said, “Americans are the strongest tribe.”

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Bing West provides the following video commentary for his new book