I listened to it, rather than turning pages. The first half was more interesting than the
second half, which is more politics than personal or military history. That is not to deny
value to the later portion of the book. It was interesting to compare Zinni's adventures in
Somalia to the account in "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures -- A True Story From
Hell On Earth" by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thompson. They can both be true.
Zinni wins my admiration for his patient determination to improve things, a unit or a nation.
He shows the Somalia warlords as human. It was a disappointment that he took so long to see
through Yasser Arafat.
Zinni makes much of his "tell it like it is" attitude, and his interest in how to fight effectively.
I was surprised that he did not mention the statue of John Boyd in the center of the lobby at
Marine headquarters. Boyd was an Air Force fighter pilot, that taught how to fight effectively,
and told unpopular truths. Amazon has several books about him.
Zinni did not support the Iraq war. He claims plans for after the battles were won were not done,
or not done well. Could be. He claims 300,000 troops were needed. I wish he had supplied details
of that estimate, similar to the detailed plans for the evacuation from Somalia.
This is not one of Clancy's best, but it is still pretty good. I recommend it to those interested
in military history, whatever their opinions on the current Iraq situation.
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Battle Ready Books In Print, Audio Books.