Product Description

How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers Is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9768 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From the Publisher
I HAVE NEVER BEEN PROUDER TO PUBLISH A BOOK

Michael Yon changed my mind about the war in Iraq, by making me understand it for the first time.

From the very beginning I was against the war. I thought it would be a disaster, another Vietnam. And until I had the privilege of working on this book with Michael I was always for immediate pull-out: why should one more American die for a doomed effort?

Michael--who is as close to totally non-political as anyone I know--showed me two things. First, because I judged by Vietnam, the war of my youth, I had radically underestimated what American soldiers could do. I knew they could blow away any regular opponent on any battlefield. But wage a counterinsurgency against an enemy with broad support in the population? Win the "hearts and minds," to use the Vietnam era phrase that now can be used only ironically? That was asking too much, I thought.

I was 100 percent wrong. Today's American soldiers excel at counterinsurgency, because they excel at the most important thing: winning over the people by inspiring them with their own courage and compassion, discipline and determination. Reading this book is like watching the movie Apocalypse Now, but in an alternate universe in which the opposite always happens. Every time our soldiers get into an incredibly tense situation with some Iraqis who might be friends or might be enemies or murderers, some situation in which what's needed is amazing calm and courage to keep things from blowing up and ending in a blood bath, our guys pull it off!

Just wait until you read the Chapter "High Noon" (my favorite), the story of the American soldiers who have to arrest a corrupt but politically popular Iraqi police chief we had put in office in the first place because he had been a real hero in fighting the terrorists. He had to be removed by Americans to show the Iraqis we really did believe in the rule of law. The whole thing could have blown up into a one-town civil war with hundreds dead on both sides. Won't tell you how it ends, but you will be amazed and very proud.

The other thing Michael helped me understand is the difference between terrorists we just have to kill (often foreigners, or local criminals) and local insurgents we should have been working with all along. For almost five years I could not tell from watching the news--and certainly not from listening to the Administration--who the enemy was, what they wanted or why they were fighting. Not surprisingly it turns out that understanding the various people we were fighting--some of whom have since become great allies--was the key to winning the war, which we are now clearly doing.

I am convinced that everything I once thought about the war was wrong. The truth is we are doing a great thing in Iraq, most of the Iraqi people really do want to be a united democratic nation and already consider America their greatest friend and ally. It would be a crime to turn tail now and abandon them now.

I owe all that to Michael's book, which is why I believe publishing Moment of Truth in Iraq may be the best thing I have ever done for my country.

From the Inside Flap
Never underestimate the American soldier. That's the moral of former Green Beret Michael Yon's brilliant battle-by-battle, block-by-block tale of how America's new `greatest generation' of soldiers is turning defeat and disaster into victory and hope in Iraq.

The American soldier is the reason General David Petraeus's brilliant strategy of moving our soldiers off isolated bases and out among the Iraqi people is working. Working to find and kill terrorists, reclaim neighborhoods, and help lead Iraq to democracy.

Iraqis respect strength. They know that American soldiers are "great-hearted warriors" who rejoice in killing the Al Qaeda terror gangs that took over whole cities and "raped too many women and boys, cut off too many heads, brought drugs into too many neighborhoods."

But Iraqis also discovered that these great warriors are even happier helping rebuild a clinic or a school or a neighborhood. They learned the American soldier is not only the most dangerous man in the world, but the best man too.

Moment of Truth in Iraq is packed with Yon's trademark thrilling and often heart-rending tales from the battlefield:

* The American commander fed up with phony Al Qaeda `documentaries' that showed terrorists shooting at bombed out American vehicles as if they had beaten us in open battle. The commander and his men staged the "bombing" of a broken down truck, then when the terrorists came to put on their act, Navy SEAL snipers killed every one.

* Follow the exploits of the great "Deuce Four" battalion that became the center of a "warrior cult" dreaded by terrorists and revered by Iraqis.

*Think Iraqi soldiers can't fight? Read about the elite Iraqi SWAT team taking down a terror cell for the murder of four American soldiers and a brave Iraqi guide.

*Think Americans are occupiers, not liberators, of Iraq? Tell that to the wounded Iraqi interpreter, who, convinced he was about to die, begged his U.S. commander to have his heart cut out and buried in America.

* Learn why so many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers.

Brutalized by Saddam for decades, Iraqis hungered for strength entwined with justice and tempered by mercy. The American soldier delivered.

We are winning the war in Iraq, not primarily with our overwhelming technology, not with shock and awe destruction, but with the even more powerful force of American values--with the courage and leadership, strength and compassion of soldiers who know both how to kill the bad guy and comfort the child.

Here is the true, untold story of the American soldier and the courage and values that are bringing victory for America--and Iraq.

From the Back Cover
Praise for Michael Yon's battlefield reporting:

"He's fearless . . . provides a candid, soldier's-eye view . . . from the very unique perspective of being there with them for weeks and months at a time . . . delv[ing] deep into the human component."

--General DAVID H. PETRAEUS, commanding general, Multi-National Force, Iraq

"Michael Yon's voice is the voice of the soldier, often unfazed by what he sees, mission-focused and battle-hardened. These guys don't scare easily and they never let up, and Michael tells the story from their point of view."

--BRIAN WILLIAMS, Anchor, NBC Nightly News

"Cuts through the fog of war.... vivid ... shocking and mesmerizing"

--THE BOSTON HERALD

"Yon covers soldiers...the old-fashioned way: He goes down the back alleys and the bad roads"

--JOE GALLOWAY, author of We Were Soldiers Once...And Young

"rack[ed] up more time embedded with combat units than any other journalist"

--THE NEW YORK TIMES

"...I haven't seen anything quite like the coverage in Michael Yon's dispatches from Mosul...a compelling narrative"

--MICHAEL BARONE, US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT

"His readers have learned what most Americans would not know from NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS and NPR"

--former NEW YORK TIMES foreign correspondent CLIFFORD MAY

"Michael Yon brings it. . . . If you want to know what is going on in this war, read him."

--THOMAS E. RICKS, author of Fiasco, and military correspondent, THE WASHINGTON POST

" infuriated his military handlers, even as [he] gave American soldiers a robust new voice."

--THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
Michael Yon is by far the best photo journalist covering Iraq. His descriptions are heartfelt and moving. Moment of Truth is just another superb example of his excellent work.

Truth in the Title, Truth in the Telling
Micheal Yon's book is exceptional. It is, in my opinion, an absolute exercise in truth telling. You will be appalled at the blindness at the top of the command structure and, perhaps as I was, brought to an occasional tear at the creativity, courage and humanity of the soldiers on the ground.

If you are interested in as close to an unbiased view of what has gone on in Iraq this book is a must read. If you want your faith restored in the absolutly incredible capabilities of our armed services this book serves that pubpose in spades.

I completed this book with a renewed sense of an already strong pride in the quality of our fighting men and women.

The best journalist of our time
Yon is not an Ernie Pyle: he is objective and even-handed and has been very critical of U.S. policies and actions at times. At all times, however, he remembers that he is a U.S. citizen. He realizes that it is not possible to be "neutral" in a war in which the other side has been absolutely clear that they will kill or enslave "neutrals" if given the opportunity.

From the book: "I prefer to write what I see with my own eyes in the streets and on the battlefield, to paint a picture as intimate and rich in detail as I can, and then, as much as possible, let the reader come to his own understanding." So-called "journalists" from the major news organizations would do well to try doing the same - it's called "reporting".

"Moment of Truth in Iraq" is not military history, it is journalism - a branch of journalism that might be called "military human interest stories". The writing is much tighter than in Yon's freshman book, "Danger Close", which is more of a true-life adventure story (and a good one at that). All-in-all this is an outstanding collection. [...]

Yon is now reporting from Afghanistan.