Liberate and Leave: Fatal Flaws in the Early Strategy for Postwar Iraq - Hardcover

An insider’s account of what really goes on in a war zone, Liberate and Leave provides a personal tour of the weeks and months before and after the “liberation” of Iraq--the secret planning process with all its complexities and doubts; attempts to set up a new government amidst lawlessness and looting; painfully vexing policy decisions set against dramatic discoveries of Saddam’s torture chambers and obscenely lavish personal palaces.  A searing indictment of a military command utterly out of touch with practical reality, this book, written in a clear, accessible style, offers much-needed insight into how the ways of war and the ways of the world inevitably intersect--and diverge--in our day.

“The complexity, energy, political stress, and resource depletion a nation experiences with victory is only exceeded by its attempts to rebuild and revitalize the vanquished. Our nation has experienced this dozens of times in our history. The agony of the past six years is a continual reminder to us all.

“Liberate and Leave> serves as a primer to be followed in the future. Don Eberly presents us with a macro view of the problems accompanied by an intelligent micro approach to solutions. This fine book should be required reading for all military professionals, members of Congress, and interagency officials who will be involved in our nation’s future war and postwar challenges.”

—General Jay Garner, Administrator,

Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance

As a member of Garner’s Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), Don Eberly was the first American civilian to set foot into Baghdad’s city hall at the onset of America’s occupation. By that time, the occupation of Iraq had already begun to spin out of control. The heady euphoria of the first few days of the liberation had turned into a nightmare of random gunfire and IEDs.

Eberly explains how the early days of the occupation were marked every bit as much by the absence of high-level American commitment to rebuilding the Iraqi infrastructure as by the outbreak of lawlessness and looting. From his position at the center of events, Eberly provides the ultimate insider account of what happened in the early days of the Iraq War and occupation.

In Liberate and Leave, Eberly reveals:

·         The paucity of worthwhile intelligence data from Washington or U.S. Central Command (the headquarters of Gen. Tommy Franks) on key aspects of the Iraqi government.

·         The root causes of America’s initial feeble response to Iraqi lawlessness.

·         How civilian planners, including the author, improvised and developed their own broad plans when no other plans existed.

·         Disruptions of reconstruction efforts by senior Pentagon officials blindly loyal to the Rumsfeld mantra of “brief stay, light touch.”

·         Confirmation of what many have already suspected: that senior Pentagon officials simply wanted to “liberate and leave” (a Rumsfeld doctrine) with as little assistance to the Iraqi people as possible.

·         How the early strategy failed to stabilize a country that had been completely battered and broken politically, physically, and psychologically.