The Fourth Star (49 page)

90 “We can’t make a country out of that place”:
From Powell’s
My American Journey
.

90. “We must recognize that peacekeeping is no job for amateurs”:
This is taken from Abizaid’s March 1993 article in
Military Review
entitled “Lessons for Peacekeepers.”

91. Most of the captains and majors now working for him had been to war:
This account of Petraeus’s battalion command is drawn from interviews with Petraeus, Gen. (Ret.) Jack Keane, Fred Johnson, Andrew Lucke, Holly Petraeus, and Randy George, and from several published accounts of the shooting accident.

94. “It made others joke about us, which pulled us together”:
From interview with Petraeus.

95. “Don’t cut my LBE,” he muttered. “I just got it to standard”:
From interview with Fred Johnson.

98 Several weeks later, Petraeus ran into Colonel Bob Killebrew:
The account of Petraeus’s tour in Haiti is drawn from interview with Petraeus, Robert Killebrew, John Shissler, and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Joe Kinzer.

100
“An
environment conducive to political, social and economic development”:
From “Winning the Peace: Haiti, the U.S. and the U.N.,”
Armed Forces Journal International
, April 1995.

100. These clunky terms reflected confused thinking:
The definition of “Military Operations Other Than War” is taken from US Army Field Manual 100–23,
Peace Operations
, December 1994.

101. “Doctrinal voids exist at every level,” Abizaid warned:
From “Preparing for Peacekeeping” by John Abizaid and John Wood,
Special Warfare Magazine
, April 1994.

101. “On that day I think the two of them really didn’t like each other”:
The quote was recounted in a conversation with an officer who is close to both Petraeus and Abizaid and served on their brigade staff in the 82nd Airborne Division.

102. The refugees were Muslims who had once lived in Dugi Dio:
The account of the episode at Dugi Dio is drawn from an interview with Casey, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William Nash, and from an October 11, 1996, article in the
The Talon
, a weekly newspaper published by Task Force Eagle in Bosnia.

105. “You want Abizaid?” he asked:
The account of Abizaid’s transfer to Task Force Eagle comes from Nash.

106. That morning, Chiarelli updated Clark on the timetable:
The account of Chiarelli’s and Casey’s roles in the Kosovo War come from interviews with Chiarelli and Casey and from General Wesley Clark’s memoirs,
Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo and the Future of Combat
.

109. “your chain of command is your chain of command”:
From an interview with Abizaid.

110. On the sixth day of the invasion of Iraq, Lieutenant General John Abizaid sat
in:
This account is based on detailed notes of the meeting taken by one of the participants and interviews with Abizaid and Paul Wolfowitz.

112 “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this place turns out to be something”:
This quote is taken from
In the Company of Soldiers
by Rick Atkinson, who was embedded with the 101st Airborne Division.

114 “We’re in a long war here. I want to keep our guys from getting killed”:
Also taken from Atkinson,
In the Company of Soldiers
.

116 “You’ve got to get a force in here and give them some tanks”:
This quote is taken from
Cobra II
by Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor.

118 Less than a week after arriving, Petraeus stood in a former Baath Party reception
hall:
The account of the election preparations relies on a detailed journal kept by Colonel Richard Hatch, interviews with Hatch and Jeanne Hull, and 101st Airborne Division memos.

120. “At this time would the Shabaks please move to their delegation room”:
From a National Public Radio segment entitled “Iraq Near Establishing Interim Government,” May 5, 2003.

121. “Have you done anything like this before?”:
This exchange was taken from “Mosul Elects Council and Mayor,” which aired on CNN on May 5, 2003.

122. “Do you know how huge it is to have a combat patch?”:
Quote from Atkinson,
In the Company of Soldiers
.

125. “I have had enough of Washington”:
This quote first appeared in
State of Denial
by Bob Woodward and was confirmed in an interview with Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Bates.

126. Franks’s send-off was the sort befitting a conquering hero:
An account of the goodbye ceremony appeared in the
Tampa Tribune
on July 8, 2003. General Franks’s goodbye speech was transcribed on the U.S. Central Command website.

130 A couple of days later Petraeus and Basso flew to Rabiya:
The account of the Rabiya trip relies on “A Mix of President … and Pope; Army General Given Reins to Remake Mosul” by Scott Wilson in the
Washington Post
, May 16, 2003.

134. “Did you see the look on their faces?”:
The account of this trip relies on notes taken at the time by Major General John Custer, who accompanied Abizaid.

135. Two days later Bremer called Abizaid and told him the Kurds:
This account draws on notes of the conversation taken at the time by Abizaid’s executive officer, Colonel Joseph Reynes, and Bremer’s memoir,
My Year in Iraq
.

135. “Over the last two weeks we’ve hit the weapons caches”:
This quote is from an August 3, 2003, article in the
Washington Post
by Thomas E. Ricks, who was traveling with Abizaid.

136. “There is no Arab army on earth that’s less than 300,000 in a country the size of Iraq”:
From notes taken by Custer, Abizaid’s intelligence officer.

138. “This guy could be what we’ve been looking for”:
From notes taken by Custer.

139. “Why aren’t we digging more wells?”:
This exchange is taken from
Frontline’s
2003 documentary
Beyond Baghdad
.

140. On a drizzly winter day in December a line of:
The account of the renunciation ceremony relies on interviews with participants along with accounts of the ceremony such as “Ex-Baathists Renounce Party Ties,” which aired on National Public Radio on January 27, 2004, and Patrick Cockburn’s
The Occupation War and Resistance in Iraq
.

143 This was Chiarelli’s new domain:
The account of Chiarelli’s first few weeks in Baghdad comes from an interview with Chiarelli and from a personal journal he kept during that period.

146 Chiarelli removed his gear and the two men sat in frayed chairs facing each other:
From interviews with Chiarelli and James Stephenson.

148. The first reports came in a little before seven o’clock in the evening:
The account of the Sadr City battle comes from Martha Raddatz’s book
The Long Road Home
and from interviews with Chiarelli, Robert Abrams, and Gary Volesky.

149. “Terrorize your enemy,” Sadr proclaimed following the newspaper closure:
Quoted in Patrick Coburn’s
Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Fall of Iraq
.

151 He went back inside and placed a call to General Eric Shinseki:
Chiarelli’s call to Shinseki is recounted in Raddatz,
Long Road Home
.

151. “Sir, why didn’t we bring our tanks?”:
Recounted in Raddatz,
Long Road Home
.

152. Abizaid had argued for postponing the moves against Sadr:
From Sanchez’s book
Wiser in Battle
.

153. “If you are going to take Vienna, take fucking Vienna”:
From Bing West’s book
No True Glory
.

153. At Sanchez’s headquarters the mood was grim:
From interviews with Colonel Casey Haskins and Stephenson.

154. Chiarelli worried, too:
From interviews with Chiarelli, Volesky, and Barrett Holmes as well as from T. Christian Miller’s book
Blood Money
.

154. “Do these people even want us here?” a frazzled Bush asked Abizaid:
From Brig. Gen. John Custer’s notes of the meeting.

155. He was ushered into the company’s dining facility:
The account of the Bechtel meeting is drawn from interviews with Chiarelli, Stephenson, Col. Kendall Cox, and from Stephenson’s book,
Losing the Golden Hour, An Insider’s View of Iraq’s Reconstruction
.

157 “I’ll give you money when you get the place secure”:
From an interview with Chiarelli.

157. It was a field trip of sorts, organized by Chiarelli:
The account of the meeting between USAID and 1st Cav comes from an interview with Kirkpatrick Day.

158. “That young man, sir—Kirk Day—is a goddamned hero”:
From Stephenson,
Losing the Golden Hour
.

159 “What I’m getting is not what I require”:
From notes taken by participants at the meeting.

159 “We are blowing our window of opportunity”:
From notes taken by participants at the meeting.

161. “Okay, who’s my counterinsurgency expert”?: asked General George Casey:
The account of Casey’s first meeting is based on interviews with Casey, Maj. Gen. Steve Sergeant, and senior staff members at the meeting.

162. Just three months before the invasion he assembled:
This is based on interviews with Casey and members of the fifty-eight-person team. An account of Casey’s effort was also mentioned in
Cobra II
by Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor.

163. On his way into Iraq, Casey had been told by officers in Kuwait:
This account is based on interviews with Casey and Col. (Ret.) Derek Harvey and a previous account in
The War Within
by Bob Woodward.

164. Six months earlier, on Christmas Eve 2003:
This account is based on an interview with Ryan Casey.

165. Casey was told to put together a short list:
The description of Casey’s selection as commander in Iraq comes from interviews with Casey, Abizaid, and Sheila Casey.

170. “There is a strategic opportunity for success”:
From an e-mail from Casey to Abizaid.

171. “he wants Casey to stop saying
um
so much”:
From an interview with Brig. Gen. James Barclay.

172. Petraeus had been promoted and sent back to Iraq:
Newsweek
, July 5, 2005.

172. “From now on, I’m your PAO,” he told Petraeus:
From a participant in the meeting.

173. The U.S. troops, backed by helicopters and fighter jets, did most of the heavy fighting:
The account of the Najaf battle comes from interviews with Casey, Petraeus, Lt. Gen. Tom Metz, and Barclay, and from numerous published accounts.

174. “Frankly I didn’t expect such a key success so early”:
From an interview with Casey.

174 Not all of Casey’s subordinate commanders were as convinced:
The account of the meeting comes from notes taken by a participant.

175 “I am not going to listen to Chiarelli … bitch about the State Department”:
From an interview with Robert Earle and from Earle’s book,
Nights in the Pink Motel: An American Strategist’s Pursuit of Peace in Iraq
.

175. “Will Sadr or his lieutenants attack again?”:
Taken from “Winning the Peace: The Requirement for Full Spectrum Operations,” by Maj. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli and Maj. Patrick R. Michaelis,
Military Review
, July/August 2005.

176. In late September, Petraeus put down his thoughts:
Petraeus’s op-ed, entitled “Battling for Iraq,” appeared in the
Washington Post
on September 24, 2004.

176. “They just walked out the gate and didn’t come back”:
The interview with Maj. Dixon was conducted by the Army’s Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in October 2006.

177. One of the deserters was the battalion commander:
This account is based on an interview with Maj. Jones conducted by the Army’s Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in November 2006.

178. In June Abizaid had assured Petraeus that he would get whatever he needed:
The account of this meeting comes from interviews with several members of Petraeus’s staff at the training command.

179. Petraeus’s staff knew they had a problem:
This account is based on an interview with Colonel Fred Kienle, who served on Petraeus’s staff and helped oversee the Iraqi army training effort.

179. In late 2004, Brigadier General James Schwitters:
This exchange is based on interviews with Petraeus’s staff and interviews conducted by the Army’s Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

180. “I lost fifty-three soldiers in Mosul”:
Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Miller accompanied Petraeus on this trip and took detailed notes. The account is also based on interviews with Petraeus and his aide, Sadi Othman.

181. Ham suspected that Barhawi had been cooperating:
This account is based on interviews with General Ham and his staff.

182. Abizaid knew things weren’t going well:
The account of this meeting is based on detailed notes of the meeting taken by one of the participants and interviews with all of the officers involved.