Books like Why We Lost by Daniel Bolger

A three-star general offers a 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.

Accounts the 2008 Winter Soldier hearings in Washington, D.C., where Iraq Veterans Against the War presented testimony and documents detailing atrocities witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan, challenging the notion that such acts were isolated incidents.

Former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates gives a candid, personal account of his time serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.