How Iraqi tribes and American troops reclaimed Al Anbar and defeated
al-Qaeda in Iraq * Unique
account of the beginnings of the Global War on Terror campaign to free
Iraq * Revealing insight into how US
military and Iraqi troops worked together to combat insurgents
In August 2006, many thought America had lost the war in Iraq, as the
senior US Marine Corps intelligence officer there wrote that control of al Anbar
Province, the seat of the raging Sunni insurgency, was irrevocably lost to the
insurgents. During that time, there were over 100 attacks per day against
US military and Iraqi forces
in al Anbar, and al-Qaeda in Iraq had planted their flag in the
provincial capital, Ramadi, declaring it the capital of their new “Islamic State
of Iraq.”
In January 2007, as a spearhead of the newly decided “Surge,” the 3rd
Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment deployed to Ramadi as part of the 3rd Infantry
Division, the first regular Army unit to deploy to Iraq for a third time. The
battalion and its parent brigade went to work in a campaign that will be seen as
the D-Day of the Global War on Terror.
Awakening Victory tells the story of this incredible campaign through
the eyes of the commander of the 3rd Battalion, who was right in the thick of
the fight. The book also provides a description of the Iraqi insurgency that
offers the depth and texture that are currently lacking in most American's
perceptions of the war. The author uses the actions of his battalion to describe
a paradigm shift that occurred, while in a totally foreign culture, yet allowed
for a move from a war of bombs and bullets to one of partnership and
ideas.
