The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure In Iraq, 2006-2008

• Author: Jerome P. Duggan
• Position: Judge Advocate, U.S. Army
• Pages: 229-235

2010] BOOK REVIEWS229

THE GAMBLE: GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS AND THE

AMERICAN MILITARY ADVENTURE IN IRAQ, 2006–20081

REVIEWED BY MAJOR JEROME P. DUGGAN*

You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold

’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.2

We were dealt a real shitty hand, but we’ve played it to

the best of our ability.3

I. Introduction

Thomas Ricks’s The Gamble is the sequel to his acclaimed Fiasco:

The American Military Adventure in Iraq.4 The Gamble picks up where

Fiasco left off, in 2005, and chronicles the dynamic period before,

during, and after the great personnel turnover and “surge” that rendered

the Iraqi Theater of Operations a securer, but still challenging,

environment. This book is a recommended read for military officers,

including judge advocates, for its insight into the fundamental cultural

changes at the highest echelons of the U.S. military, as well as its

illumination of effective leadership’s profound effect on the modern

battlefield. However, at the end of the book, readers must decide for

themselves whether the United States succeeded in its gamble and

whether Ricks succeeded in his Gamble, as both have their successes and

failures.

* Judge Advocate, U.S. Army. Presently assigned as Deputy Director, Center for Law

and Military Operations, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School,

Charlottesville, Virginia.

1 THOMAS E. RICKS, THE GAMBLE: GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS AND THE AMERICAN

MILITARY ADVENTURE IN IRAQ (2009).

2 KENNY ROGERS, The Gambler, on THE GAMBLER (United Artists 1978).

3 RICKS, supra note 1, at 149 (quoting Colonel (COL) Peter Mansoor, General Petraeus’s

close advisor during his tenure as Commander, Multi-National Forces–Iraq).

4 THOMAS E. RICKS, FIASCO: THE AMERICAN MILITARY ADVENTURE IN IRAQ (2006). The

book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category of General Nonfiction in 2007.

General Nonfiction, THE PULITZER PRIZES, http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General-

Nonfiction (last visited Aug. 31, 2009). For differing viewpoints on the planning and

early execution of Operation Iraqi Freedom, see generally BOB WOODWARD, PLAN OF

ATTACK (2004) and RORY STEWART, THE PRINCE OF THE MARSHES: AND OTHER

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS OF A YEAR IN IRAQ (2006).