The Fourth Star (50 page)

185 But Major Grant Doty, a slim, bespectacled strategist:
This account is based on interviews of those present at the morning briefing and emails provided by Major Doty.

188 “What a historic day”:
This scene is constructed from notes taken that day by Miller.

190 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was furious:
This account relies on detailed notes taken by several participants at the meeting.

192. The president had reservations:
This account is based on interviews with Casey, Abizaid, and Col. James G. Rose, who all participated in the meeting. An account of the meeting is also in
The War Within
by Bob Woodward.

193. As Casey studied his new orders:
Casey confided this worry to his wife, Sheila, only after returning to the United States.

194. Petraeus led Luck’s team through a three-hour briefing:
The account of this meeting is based on interviews with several of Petraeus’s staff officers, who took detailed notes.

196. Finally Petraeus demanded a meeting with Casey’s chief of staff:
The account of this meeting is based on an interview with Maj. Gen. Donovan and notes taken at the time by Petraeus’s staff.

197. Iraq was a “troop sump”:
This quote comes from Bob Woodward’s
The War Within
and was confirmed by several of Casey’s staff officers.

199 The Army’s official history of the conflict:
This passage is taken from
Certain Victory: The U.S. Army in the Gulf War
by Brigadier General Robert H. Scales.

199. “You need to stop thinking strategically”:
This exchange was recounted by officers on McMaster’s staff.

200. When the briefing was done:
This account is based on interviews with both McMaster and Casey.

201. “We’re managing this war, not fighting it”:
This quote was recounted by several of McMaster’s staff officers.

202. The two visited thirty-one different units:
This account is based on interviews with Hix and Sepp as well as a review of their final report.

205 Casey’s small plane touched down:
This account is based on interviews with several staff officers who attended the meeting as well as interviews with Casey and McMaster.

207. U.S. advisors complained:
The U.S. advisors’ complaints about McMaster are chronicled in interviews conducted by the Army’s Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and in
Iroquois Warriors in Iraq
by Stephen E. Clay.

208. Rumsfeld hit the roof:
The defense secretary’s remarks were made in a Pentagon press conference and posted on the Defense Department’s website.

208 With Iraq collapsing into civil war, President Bush cited:
The quotes are taken from Bush’s speech on March 20, 2006, in Cleveland, Ohio.

208 An influential
New Yorker
article:
The article, entitled “The Lesson of Tal Afar,” was written by George Packer and published on April 10, 2006.

208 “I understand you are looking for a kidnapped boy”:
This account is based on interviews with Gen. Horst and Gen. Casey. It also borrows from an interview with Horst that was conducted by
Frontline
for its documentary
Gangs of Iraq
.

213 Casey clambered out of one vehicle along with several aides:
This account of the meeting with Jabr and the handling of the Jediriyah incident is taken from interviews with Casey and other participants.

216 In November, Senator John McCain went public with his criticism:
A transcript of McCain’s speech is on his Senate website.

218. The doctrine, which drove the Army for two decades:
This description borrows from Rick Atkinson’s account of the impact of the AirLand Battle Doctrine in his book
The Long Gray Line
.

219. The most radical aspect of the manual:
This idea is taken from Sarah Sewall’s introduction to the counterinsurgency doctrine, which was later published by the University of Chicago Press. The idea is elaborated further in “Our War on Terror” by Samantha Power, which appeared in the
New York Times
on July 29, 2007.

221. He had only been back from his first tour since March:
From an interview with Chiarelli.

222. The biggest reservations came from military intelligence officers:
From an interview with Col. Marcus Kuiper.

222. From his base in Tampa, Abizaid told his staff to shift surveillance drones:
From Brig. Gen. Custer’s notes.

223. Two days after the bombing, a worried Casey:
E-mail provided by U.S. military officer.

223. Sometimes he sat in his office or his quarters at night:
From interviews with Casey and Maj. Tony Hale. Documents provided by Casey.

224. As he sat on a folding chair listening, Chiarelli became annoyed:
The account of Chiarelli’s visits to Samarra comes from interviews with Chiarelli and other participants.

225. “Anytime you fight—anytime you fight—you always kill”:
A video of Steele’s speech is posted on YouTube.

226. The pungent smell of manure wafted up from the ground:
One of the authors accompanied Chiarelli on his visit to Al Asad.

228 A few minutes into the proceedings:
Parts of this account came from coverage in the
New York Times
of the public aspects of the proceedings, including “Iraqis Form Government with Crucial Posts Vacant,” May 21, 2006, by Dexter Filkins and Richard A. Oppel Jr. It also relies on interviews with Casey and his staff.

228 “One, he absolutely believes”:
Bob Woodward in his book
The War Within
provided a similar account of Casey’s initial description of Maliki to President Bush.

228. “Excuse me, ma’am. Did you say forty-eight?”
From an interview with Casey and from Woodward’s
The War Within
.

229. After the meeting Rumsfeld shot him a snowflake:
From an interview with Casey.

230. “We’ve got to get in to see Maliki”:
From an interview with Chiarelli.

230 Maliki studied it intently for several minutes:
From an interview with Chiarelli.

230. Chiarelli’s doubts about Maliki grew more acute over the course of the summer:
From an interview with an officer who saw the intelligence reports.

231. Casey had been back from leave only a few hours:
This account of the deliberations at senior command levels in the latter half of 2006 is drawn from interviews with Casey, Chiarelli, and others involved, as well as from e-mails, meeting notes, and other documents written by participants.

233 “Do you really want that job?” she asked him:
From an interview with Celeste Ward.

235 Incensed, Thurman ripped off the Velcro patch that held his two stars:
The account of the episode comes from someone who was present. Chiarelli recalled in an interview the training film from his days as junior officer.

237 several of Chiarelli’s staff were so worried:
This account of Chiarelli’s meeting with Steele comes from two officers on Chiarelli’s staff.

237. A soldier griped in the
Washington Times:
From
Washington Times
, February 16, 2007.

238. The graying men around the conference table:
The account of the Iraq Study Group visit to Baghdad comes from an interview with Chiarelli and from Woodward,
The War Within
.

239. To Casey’s surprise, Maliki admitted that he had ordered the raid:
From an e-mail describing the meeting provided by a U.S. officer.

240
Abizaid
happened to
be in
Baghdad when he got
Casey’s
note:
Abizaid’s visit to Iraq was reconstructed through interviews with Abizaid and from e-mails provided by a U.S. officer.

243. As Hadley’s team prepared to leave for the airport:
Hadley’s visit to Iraq was described by Chiarelli, by an administration official who accompanied him, and in Woodward,
The War Within
.

244. A few days later Hadley drafted a classified memo for Bush:
Hadley’s memo to Bush was reprinted in the
New York Times
on November 29, 2006.

246 Bush was planning on giving an Iraq speech before Christmas:
The White House meetings were reconstructed using notes taken by a participant.

248 He had sent word ahead of time that he needed a few minutes with Casey:
From an interview with Casey.

248 Chiarelli’s last day in Iraq was spent waiting for a plane:
The account of Chiarelli’s return from Iraq comes from interviews with Chiarelli, Brig. Gen. Don Campbell, and Beth Chiarelli.

251 At 7:27 a.m. Casey took his place:
The account of this morning briefing is based on notes taken by a senior officer in the audience.

254 Abizaid stepped up the lectern and did his best:
A video of the change-of-command ceremony is available on the Department of Defense website.

256 The volatile Mashhadani castigated Obaidi:
The first account of the dinner came in
Tell Me How This Ends
by Linda Robinson, which provides a detailed account of Petraeus’s strategy during the surge.

259 “Good morning,” Petraeus mumbled:
The authors attended several of Petraeus’s morning briefings in 2007 and 2008. This account is built from their observations and detailed notes taken by Petraeus’s staff officers.

262 Fixing Tower 57, which was just one small piece:
This account is based on interviews with Petraeus, his staff, and officers from the Third Infantry Division, whose soldiers were responsible for helping to provide security for the Iraqi repair crews. It also borrows from an account of the repair mission that was written by Army journalists and posted on the Multi-National Force-Iraq website.

262 “I’ve occasionally wondered if there is some sort of bad-news limit”:
This quote first appeared in a September 2007 article by Brian Mockenhaupt in
Esquire
magazine.

263 Days earlier Lieutenant Colonel Dale Kuehl:
This account is based on interviews with Kuehl and some of his staff officers. A more detailed account of his efforts appears in
Tell Me How This Ends
by Linda Robinson.

266 Even before Petraeus set foot in the country:
Senior U.S. military officers learned of the Iraqis’ doubts through intercepts of Iraqi cell phone conversations.

266. “Everyone knows this. We’ve been talking about it for months”:
This account is based on interviews with Petraeus and his senior staff members who attended the meeting. The meeting is also briefly covered in Bob Woodward’s
The War Within
.

267. He sat behind a desk wearing a black cavalry hat:
This account relies on interviews with Kuehl and Pinkerton. It also borrows some details from “Meet Abu Abed: The US’s New Ally Against al Qaeda,” which appeared in the
Guardian
newspaper on November 10, 2007.

272 He opened with a searing seven-minute video:
This video was shot by Sean Smith of the
Guardian
newspaper and first appeared on the
Guardiane’s
website in 2007.

277 A few days after he had returned to Baghdad he met:
The account of this meeting is based on detailed notes taken by one of Petraeus’s staff officers.

277. “This is not a government of national unity”:
The account of this meeting is based on detailed notes taken by one of Petraeus’s staff officers.

278. In September 2008 the last of the U.S. reinforcements:
The account of the Rakkasans in Iraq is based on personal observations from time one of the authors spent with the unit in 2008.

287 His solution amounted to an anti-Powell Doctrine for the Arab world:
This phrase is taken from David Kilcullen’s book
The Accidental Guerrilla
, which was published in the spring of 2009. Kilcullen advocates a similar premise.

287. “Throughout the region we need to quit being the primary military force”:
This quote appeared in a speech that Abizaid delivered at Dartmouth University in the fall of 2008. A video of his address is posted on the Dartmouth University website.

288. “Why not have 270 or 2,7000?” Abizaid wondered:
Abizaid made this point in a public address at Fort Huachuca in Arizona in the summer of 2008.

289. When the lights came back on Petraeus stood atop a plywood riser:
This account is based on personal observations by one of the authors who attended the ceremony.

Hundreds of people have generously given their time to help us with this book. None deserve greater thanks than the four generals at the heart of the effort, their spouses, and their children. John Abizaid, George Casey, Peter Chiarelli, and David Petraeus all discussed their careers in multiple, wide-ranging interviews and e-mail exchanges over the course of a year during which no question was off-limits. They shared with us personal papers that provided valuable insight into their lives and careers and helped us understand them as young officers and as the experienced commanders they became. They generously encouraged the men and women they served with over the years to subject themselves to interviews. And they patiently endured numerous follow-up questions and other intrusions during our research. The book would not have been possible without their assistance.

We would like to thank Kurt Campbell, Michele Flournoy, and John Nagl, at the Center for a New American Security, an inspiring national security think tank that gave us a place to work, along with encouragement, countless ideas, and support. Our book was shaped by hundreds of hallway conversations at CNAS with the dedicated people who have made it the most creative and influential think tank in Washington. They include Price Floyd, Derek Chollet, Nate Fick, Michael Zubrow, Shannon O’Reilly, Vikram Singh, Jim Miller, Nirav Patel, Shawn Brimley, Colin Kahl, Sharon Burke, and Andrew Exum. Kurt Campbell, in particular, immediately grasped the book we were trying to write and went to extraordinary lengths to help us.

We’d also like to say a special thanks to Alexander “Sandy” Cochran and Kelly Howard, who provided valuable insights on General Casey’s tenure in Iraq. Major General John Custer, Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Miller, Colonel James Laufenburg, and Colonel Richard Hatch were particularly patient with us as we asked them to walk us through old journals and field notebooks. In each case they supplemented their notes with crucial recollections and invaluable insights. Colonel Steve Boylan helped us both set up reporting trips to Iraq. We also benefited from his deep knowledge of the U.S. military in Iraq, which grew out of his long tenure as a public affairs officer there. Colonel Michael Meese, who heads the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, helped us understand the critical role that Sosh plays in the life of the Army and, even more important, encouraged others in the somewhat secretive world of Sosh to talk about the department.

We’d also like to thank our friends and colleagues from our days at the
Wall Street
Journal
, especially our editors there, Jerry Seib and Alan Murray. In the years when we were there, the
Journal
was a journalistic jewel that encouraged deep inquiry and nuanced writing about the world, and we continually sought to emulate those standards in this project. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our agent, Gail Ross, and her assistant, Howard Yoon, who helped us form the idea for this book and helped shepherd the project through to completion. Our editor, Rick Horgan, and his assistant, Nathan Roberson, at times seemed to understand what we were trying to say and then accomplished it better than we had. Their guidance was invaluable.

David’s parents, Nancy Fuller and Stanley Cloud, and Greg’s parents Michael and Elaine Jaffe, grasped what we were doing and why from the beginning and supported it with their love and time. Thanks to Stanley Cloud, whose comments on our proposal and the final manuscript were invaluable. Finally, we would like to thank our wives and children, who sustained us from the beginning to the end of this project and continue to do so. Both of us had spent long stretches away from the people we love the most even before we began. When we explained what we planned to do, Jennifer Cloud and Kristie Jaffe became the book’s biggest supporters, banishing our doubts and worries about secondary matters. They and our children, Allison Jaffe, Matthew Jaffe, and Joey Cloud, endured our moodiness and our long hours away from them without complaint. They provided irreplaceable advice, encouragement, and love to two first-time authors as they discovered writing a book is considerably harder than daily journalism. They never lost faith in what we were doing, and, because of that, neither did we.

Greg Jaffe and David Cloud

Washington, D.C.

May 2009