Why We Lost
A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
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Narrated by:
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Steve Coulter
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By:
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Daniel Bolger
About this listen
A high-ranking general's gripping insider account of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how it all went wrong.
Over a 35-year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top-level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions - unusual for a general. Now, as a witness to all levels of military command, Bolger offers a unique assessment of these wars, from 9/11 to the final withdrawal from the region.
Writing with hard-won experience and unflinching honesty, Bolger makes the firm case that in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we lost - but we didn't have to. Intelligence was garbled. Key decision makers were blinded by spreadsheets or theories. And at the root of our failure, we never really understood our enemy. Why We Lost is a timely, forceful, and compulsively listenable account of these wars from a fresh and authoritative perspective.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2014 Daniel Bolger (P)2015 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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As an embedded journalist in Iraq, North got a soldier's-eye view, often while under fire, of what the mainstream media failed to report. A decorated combat veteran, North watched Operation Iraqi Freedom with trained eyes unmatched by other journalists. What he witnessed compelled him to challenge post-war critics of the operation for their uninformed and deceptive views.
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A true Hero.
- By Daniel R Long on 03-13-04
By: Oliver North
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Kill Bin Laden
- A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man
- By: Dalton Fury
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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This work offers a firsthand account of the Battle of Tora Bora and an insider's look at the extraordinary nature of America's supersecret counterterrorist unit---an elite and mysterious group known as Delta Force.
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Ex-military that can relate.
- By William on 02-10-15
By: Dalton Fury
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Relentless Strike
- The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command
- By: Sean Naylor
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 19 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Relentless Strike tells the inside story of Joint Special Operations Command, the secret military organization that, during the past decade, has revolutionized counterterrorism, seamlessly fusing intelligence and operational skills to conduct missions that hit the headlines and those that have remained in the shadows - until now. Because JSOC includes the military's most storied special operations units - Delta Force, SEAL Team Six, the 75th Ranger Regiment - as well as America's most secret aviation and intelligence units, this is their story, too.
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Horrible narrator
- By Michael on 08-19-19
By: Sean Naylor
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Vietnam
- An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
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Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
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A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
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Grunts
- Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II through Iraq
- By: John C. McManus
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
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From the acclaimed author of The Dead and Those About to Die comes a sweeping narrative of six decades of combat, and an eye-opening account of the evolution of the American infantry. From the beaches of Normandy and the South Pacific Islands to the deserts of the Middle East, the American soldier has been the most indispensable - and most overlooked - factor in wartime victory.
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Unfiltered First Hand Look at War
- By Peter Taylor on 01-07-21
By: John C. McManus
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No Mission Is Impossible
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In No Mission Is Impossible, Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal return with the intensely absorbing, fast-paced story of 30 of the boldest missions of the Israeli special forces. Bar-Zohar and Mishal depict in electrifying detail major battles, raids in enemy territory, and death-defying commando missions while also sharing the personal stories of both soldiers and top commanders, revealing their hopes and fears. The stories are often of victories, but sometimes they're of immense failures.
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Kept me somewhat entertained. Forgettable though
- By Oliver Nielsen on 05-06-16
By: Michael Bar-Zohar, and others
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The Brave Ones
- A Memoir of Hope, Pride, and Military Service
- By: Michael J. MacLeod
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
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From the trials of basic training on the home front to the ranks of the legendary 82nd Airborne Division to taking fire in the hot zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, MacLeod chronicles the soldier's evolution as only one who's been in those boots can. Candid, wise, and powerful, his memoir takes listeners on an unforgettable journey through war and allows them to witness bravery firsthand.
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A real story of war.
- By Devin Ronk on 03-07-16
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The Great Gamble
- The Soviet War in Afghanistan
- By: Gregory Feifer
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
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During the last years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union sent some of its most elite troops to unfamiliar lands in Central Asia to fight a vaguely defined enemy, which eventually defeated their superior number with unconventional tactics. Although the Soviet leadership initially saw the invasion as a victory, many Russian soldiers came to view the war as a demoralizing and devastating defeat, the consequences of which had a substantial impact on the Soviet Union and its collapse.
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Correction
- By Alyssa B. Goss on 11-22-09
By: Gregory Feifer
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Hue 1968
- A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
- By: Mark Bowden
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- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
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By January 1968, despite an influx of half a million American troops, the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which "the end begins to come into view". The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke.
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I KNEW This Book Would Sting Me . . . .
- By Rum Runner on 07-28-17
By: Mark Bowden
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Warriors of God
- Inside Hezbollah's Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel
- By: Nicholas Blanford
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
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Hezbollah is the most powerful Islamist group operating in the Middle East today, and no other Western journalist has penetrated as deeply inside this secretive organization as Nicholas Blanford. Now Blanford has written the first comprehensive inside account of Hezbollah and its enduring struggle against Israel.
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Collection of anecdotes
- By Kindle Customer on 05-15-17
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What listeners say about Why We Lost
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JC
- 04-10-15
Good, but not great.
I found this book to be very interesting and filled with noteworthy anecdotes surrounding many battles in both Afghanistan and Iraq. However it lacked more insight into the political aspects of what drove both of these conflicts. As much as I appreciated the many battlefield stories I was looking for more insight and perhaps reasoning behind the battles. Maybe there really isn't any good reason why we went there why we are still in Afghanistan. I fear our country will make the same mistake in the future as long as Pride and money are at the Center of our political landscape.
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- One guy's opinion
- 10-25-24
Finally the truth
A lot of reviews mention that it’s more like a chronological of the wars. I found that it’s a lot of context that supports the conclusion. As a former soldier who spent years on the ground, I can say that this is an accurate and honest assessment of the GWOT.
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- Lawrence Williamson
- 06-16-22
Good but incomplete narrative of The GWOT
Bolger makes a compelling argument of how the US lost the GWOT terror and why. The US military prior to 9/11 was modelled to win lightning wars like Desert Storm, but became an occupying force caught in protracted open-ended counter insurgency operations.
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- Mike Smith
- 02-04-18
Detail and Unexpected Frankness
The book recounts a story very close to all of us yet virtually unknown to most. America’s great struggle to find and defeat her enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The book is intricately detailed yet at times intimately human. One flaw may be the seeming repetitiveness of the narrative.. but this is a flaw of reality’s not of the author’s. The author transcends the partisan narratives of the war with which we are bombarded and have become so familiar. These are human being trying to do a job, from the two presidents to the tens of thousands of men and women who serve. Their ultimate problem alas lay not in their ability to defeat the enemy but in their ability to answer the question that the author so often emphatically asks: who is the enemy?
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- Ian
- 01-21-22
Overall good but as much opinion as fact
Afghan and Iraq vet here, I appreciate the history of the wars, which was for the most part incisive and accurate. Leans a little far into editorial in some parts, in my opinion, but taken with a grain of salt good analysis.
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- Chris Carl
- 11-04-18
Wow, from a vets view !
First off , I was in Iraq during the initial invasion and I’m a practicing Muslim. I just finished both the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and Vietnam a history. The Iraq war, I was always conflicted with but this Generals inside view in the context of military history has given me more pride in serving during the war. He is right about we made costly missteps during our long campaign against the terrorists and at one point we could of won in Iraq but our right to fight and preserver is proper. As a military historian Daniel Bolger has given a proper understanding why we fought and many ideas on how we should win a long term military planning to combat the terrorist threat. His insight on military strategy gives the book lot of depth. My only compliant I wish it was more layered with many different perspectives of all sides of the issues like the other history books I finished. But more likely too early in history to make such a layered history book.
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- Jeremy Allen
- 09-10-16
History more than analysis
Long on history and very short on analysis. I enjoyed the history and had to settle for only a hint of what the title promises.
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- Joshua
- 11-15-15
Good book, misleading title
Any additional comments?
The title "Why We Lost" would perhaps be appropriate for the epilogue only.
The rest of this book, consists of a series of vignettes of western intervention in the Middle East and South Asia from the end of the Cold War up until the time of writing. The title's tagline "A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars" is also inappropriate. If, indeed, the author was present at any of the actions described, it is not clearly stated, and much of the discussion following these engagements followed closely with mainstream interpretation and opinion; the author's personal reflections on these events was not immediately apparent.
To be clear, however, this is a great book. Bolger condenses extensive, multi-source research into a great narrative, and incorporates the view from both troops on the ground, and commanders at home. As a narrative of the wars from a coalition point of view, it is a great contribution.
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- Montaque
- 12-01-15
A General's account of the post 911 wars
This account was the insiders' perspective I was looking for. He didn't seem to be too judgmental or bitter. He just told the story and threw in plenty of tales of the front lines. His analysis was even keeled, I thought. The narration and recording quality was good as well.
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- Will
- 07-12-15
Highly recommend this title!
This book is less "why we lost" and more "here's what happened". It was a great book, I just felt that it's title want justified until the epilogue though.
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