Last Sunday, Andrew Krepinevich reviewed Cobra II for the Washington Post. His lead paragraphs are quite similar to the latest Time magazine piece about "Why Iraq Was a Mistake".

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made headlines last week by conceding that the Bush administration had made "tactical errors, thousands" in waging the war in Iraq. But, she argued, the administration pursued the right underlying strategy in toppling Saddam Hussein, and history's judgment will be based on whether "you make the right strategic decisions."

In their "inside story" of the war, Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor stand Rice's assertion on its head. They show that the US military's tactical brilliance during the war's early stages came despite the strategic miscalculations of senior civilian and military leaders -- and that the Bush team's misjudgments made the current situation in Iraq far worse than it need have been. As it turns out, in addition to the war with Iraq's tyrant, there was an ongoing war between US field commanders, their own senior commander (Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of Central Command) and civilian leaders in Washington.

About the book, Krepinevich concludes it's a bit like democracy -- it is flawed, but it's the best thing we've got so far. (You get an upfront sense of his take by his use of quotes on the term "inside story.")

Pointers to other recent MemeStreams coverage: an NPR story, and an NYT review.

Blundering to Baghdad