Synopsis

This compelling book presents an unparalleled record of what happened after U.S. forces seized Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Army Colonel Peter R. Mansoor, the on-the-ground commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division—the "Ready First Combat Team”—describes his brigade’s first year in Iraq, from the sweltering, chaotic summer after the Ba’athists’ defeat to the transfer of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government a year later. Uniquely positioned to observe, record, and assess the events of that fateful year, Mansoor now explains what went right and wrong as the U.S. military confronted an insurgency of unexpected strength and tenacity.

Drawing not only on his own daily combat journal but also on observations by embedded reporters, news reports, combat logs, archived e-mails, and many other sources, Mansoor offers a contemporary record of the valor, motivations, and resolve of the 1st Brigade and its attachments during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Yet this book has a deeper significance than a personal memoir or unit history. Baghdad at Sunrise provides a detailed, nuanced analysis of U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, and along with it critically important lessons for America’s military and political leaders of the twenty-first century.

The Washington Post - Bill Murphy Jr.

Mansoor's unflinching new account, Baghdad at Sunrise,…is nearly unique, because his position was rare among military memoirists. An Army colonel is the highest-ranking officer many soldiers will ever meet. He is entrusted with their leadership—and their lives. (During his year-long tour, 24 of Mansoor's soldiers died, and he is careful to mention each.) But stripped of its martial dignity and veneer, Mansoor's account reveals the colonel's role as a middle manager. He tells the story of that fateful first year of the Iraq war from the point of view of one who saw decisions being made at the highest echelons, yet led soldiers in executing those orders day by day. This is a serious book for a serious audience.

Biography

Peter R. Mansoor is the General Raymond Mason Chair of Military History, Ohio State University. A recently retired U.S. Army colonel, he served as executive officer to Commanding General David H. Petraeus, Multi-National Force–Iraq (2007–8); as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Strategy Group that proposed the surge strategy in Iraq (2006); as founding director of the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center (2006); and as Commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, in Baghdad (2003–4). He lives in Columbus, OH.