Why We Lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, by Daniel Bolger

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September 2014 Issue [Revision]

Why We Lost in Iraq and Afghanistan

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A general’s account of the military’s mistakes
by ,

I am a United States Army general, and I lost the “global war on terror.” It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous; step one is admitting you have a problem. Well, I have a problem. So do my peers. And thanks to our problem, now all of America has a problem, to wit: two lost campaigns and a war gone awry.

I was never the overall commander in either Afghanistan or Iraq. You’d find me lower down the food chain, but high enough. I commanded a one-star advisory team in Iraq in 2005–06, an Army division (about 20,000 soldiers) in Baghdad in…

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, a retired lieutenant general, commanded troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. His book Why We Lost will be published in November by Eamon Dolan Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

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2001- 2003-2011 21st century Decision making Decision makingm Afghan War History Iraq War Military Military art and science Military policy United States

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