{"product_id":"book-awj0","title":"Cobra II","description":"Informed by unparalleled access to still–secret documents, interviews with top field commanders, and a review of the military’s own internal after–action reports, \u003ci\u003eCobra II\u003c\/i\u003e is the definitive chronicle of America’s invasion and occupation of Iraq—a conflict that could not be lost but one that the United States failed to win decisively. From the Pentagon to the White House to the American command centers in the field, the book reveals the inside story of how the war was actually planned and fought. Drawing on classified United States government intelligence, it also provides a unique account of how Saddam Hussein and his high command developed and prosecuted their war strategy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten by Michael R. Gordon, the chief military correspondent for \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, who spent the war with the Allied land command, and Bernard E. Trainor, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and former director of the National Security Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, \u003ci\u003eCobra II\u003c\/i\u003e traces the interactions among the generals, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and President George W. Bush. It dramatically reconstructs the principal battles from interviews with those who fought them, providing reliable accounts of the clashes waged by conventional and Special Operations forces. It documents with precision the failures of American intelligence and the mistakes in administering postwar Iraq.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnimpeachably sourced, \u003ci\u003eCobra II\u003c\/i\u003e describes how the American rush to Baghdad provided the opportunity for the virulent insurgency that followed. The brutal aftermath in Iraq was not inevitable and was a surprise to the generals on both sides; \u003ci\u003eCobra II\u003c\/i\u003e provides the first authoritative account as to why. It is a book of enduring importance and incisive analysis—a comprehensive account of the most reported yet least understood war in American history.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49340719300912,"sku":"BDawj0","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/awj0-cover.jpg?v=1762548624","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-awj0","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}