{"product_id":"the-last-card-inside-george-w-bushs-decision-to-surge-in-iraq-hardback-9781501715181","title":"The Last Card; Inside George W. Bush's Decision to Surge in Iraq (Hardback) 9781501715181","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eInside George W. Bush's Decision to Surge in Iraq\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eTimothy Andrews Sayle (Edited by), Jeffrey A. Engel (Edited by), Hal Brands (Edited by), William Inboden (Edited by)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781501715181\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 15 September 2019\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e416 pages, 4 maps, 2 charts - 4 Maps - 2 Charts\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm, 0.907 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a fascinating contribution to the history of the war.\u003c\/p\u003e (Foreign Affairs) \u003cp\u003eAn expertly researched and written oral and narrative history, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e examines the excruciatingly complex process of American decision making in the run-up to the 2007 surge against al Qaeda in Iraq... This precious narrative history shows the complexities of war planning and is a most welcome addition to modern American war studies, though it is best intended for advanced readers.\u003c\/p\u003e (Choice) \u003cp\u003eIt is essential to learn the right lessons from the Iraq War, and \u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e is an important first step in what one hopes will be a much longer journey of discovery.\u003c\/p\u003e (Survival) \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e is an excellent resource for scholars. It provides important and authoritative insights into one of the seminal events in American history.\u003c\/p\u003e (The US Army War College Quarterly) \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e makes an invaluable contribution to the emerging literature on the subsequent course of the war, bringing scholars and policy-makers together to explore how and why the surge came to be.\u003c\/p\u003e (International Affairs) \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e is unique in that the book looks to make primary and secondary contributions simultaneously. Without a doubt, the work adds to narratives regarding the Bush administration and its handling of the war in Iraq. It provides insight on a thematically complex subject, offering immediate value to scholars in several fields.\u003c\/p\u003e (Presidential Studies Quarterly) \u003cp\u003eThis oral history of the decision for \"the surge\" in Iraq in 2007 provides a valuable resource for scholars trying to grapple with the larger course of the Iraq War. \u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e is an exemplary effort by this team of scholars to consider this event as history, and o a fantastic resource for teachers who want to assign interviews or essays à la carte to help their students wrestle with the surge's origins and impact.\u003c\/p\u003e (H-Net)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is the real story of how George W. Bush came to double-down on Iraq in the highest stakes gamble of his entire presidency.\u003c\/b\u003e Drawing on extensive interviews with nearly thirty senior officials, including President Bush himself, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e offers an unprecedented look into the process by which Bush overruled much of the military leadership and many of his trusted advisors, and authorized the deployment of roughly 30,000 additional troops to the warzone in a bid to save Iraq from collapse in 2007.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe adoption of a new counterinsurgency strategy and surge of new troops into Iraq altered the American posture in the Middle East for a decade to come. In \u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e we have access to the deliberations among the decision-makers on Bush's national security team as they embarked on that course. In their own words, President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and others, recount the debates and disputes that informed the process as President Bush weighed the historical lessons of Vietnam against the perceived strategic imperatives in the Middle East. For a president who had earlier vowed never to dictate military strategy to generals, the deliberations in the Oval Office and Situation Room in 2006 constituted a trying and fateful moment.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEven a president at war is bound by rules of consensus and limited by the risk of constitutional crisis. What is to be achieved in the warzone must also be possible in Washington, D.C. Bush risked losing public esteem and courted political ruin by refusing to disengage from the costly war in Iraq. \u003ci\u003eThe Last Card\u003c\/i\u003e is a portrait of leadership—firm and daring if flawed—in the Bush White House.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe personal perspectives from men and women who served at the White House, Foggy Bottom, the Pentagon, and in Baghdad, are complemented by critical assessments written by leading scholars in the field of international security. Taken together, the candid interviews and probing essays are a first draft of the history of the surge and new chapter in the history of the American presidency.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction: The American Occupation of Iraq by 2006 and the Search for a New Strategy\u003cbr\u003e 1. America's War in Iraq: 2003–2005\u003cbr\u003e 2. This Strategy Is Not Working: January–June 2006\u003cbr\u003e 3. Together Forward? June–August 2006\u003cbr\u003e 4. Silos and Stovepipes: September–October 2006\u003cbr\u003e 5. Setting the Stage: Early November 2006\u003cbr\u003e 6. A Sweeping Internal Review: Mid–Late November 2006\u003cbr\u003e 7. Choosing to Surge: December 2006\u003cbr\u003e 8. What Kind of Surge? Late December 2006–January 2007\u003cbr\u003e 9. How the \"Surge\" Came to Be\u003cbr\u003e 10. Iraq, Vietnam, and the Meaningof Victory\u003cbr\u003e 11. Decisions and Politics\u003cbr\u003e 12. Blood, Treasure, and Time: Strategy-Making for the Surge\u003cbr\u003e 13. Strategy and the Surge\u003cbr\u003e 14. Civil-Military Relations and the 2006 Iraq Surge\u003cbr\u003e 15. The Bush Administration's Decision to Surge in Iraq: A Long and Winding Road\u003cbr\u003e 16. The President as Policy Entrepreneur: George W. Bush and the 2006 Iraq Strategy Review\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52685416431896,"sku":"9781501715181","price":25.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-last-card-inside-george-w-bushs-decision-to-surge-in-iraq-hardback-9781501715181","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}