The Warriors of Anbar: The Marines Who Crushed Al-Qaeda—The Greatest Untold Story of the Iraq War

To create this somewhat technical account, journalist Darack embedded with the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment, known as the 2/3, during its hellish 2006 stint in the Haditha Triad region of western Iraq. As he explains, by 2006, al-Qaeda in Iraq had been defeated in Fallujah and Ramadi and had fallen back to a long-held sanctuary in the Triad. At the beginning of each chapter, Darack introduces an individual Marine as he heads out on patrol. It soon becomes clear that many of these soldiers are destined to die: by the time the 2/3 departed Iraq, it had lost 28 members, the most deaths suffered by a Marine Corps battalion since the 1983 Beirut bombings. The commanders on the scene not only clashed with the enemy but also had to overcome complications and restrictions from higher command. Darack succeeds in putting together a coherent military history of a crucial conflict with al-Qaeda, passing along important lessons learned by commanders on the ground and describing the horrors faced by the individual soldiers. Students of military history and military servicemembers looking for lessons in asymmetrical warfare will find this account illuminating and informative, but general readers may be less enthralled. [em](Nov.) [/em]