The startling and controversial memoir of combat and betrayal, written by one of the most prominent members of the U.S. fighting forces in Iraq.
A West Point graduate, a former star quarterback who carried Army to its first bowl victory, and a courageous warrior who had proven himself on the battlefield time and again, Lt. Col. Nathan Sassaman was one of the most celebrated officers in the United States military. He commanded more than eight hundred soldiers in the heart of the insurgency-ravaged Sunni Triangle in Iraq; his unit's job was to seek out and eliminate terrorists and loyalists to Saddam Hussein, while rebuilding the region's infrastructure.
Yet Sassaman will always be known for a fateful decision to cover up the alleged drowning of an Iraqi by his men, where they purportedly forced two detainees to jump into the Tigris River. The Army initially charged three soldiers with manslaughter and a fourth with assault--the first time troops who served in Iraq had been charged with a killing in connection with the handling of detainees. Sassaman's decision led to his downfall, despite an impressive career, and sent shockwaves through the American military.
"Warrior King" is the explosive memoir of one of the most deeply involved members of the U.S. military in Iraq. This is the first book to take readers from the overnight brutality of combat, to the daunting daytime humanitarian tasks of rebuilding Iraq, to the upper echelons of the Pentagon to show how and why the war has gone horribly wrong.
Nathan Sassaman commanded the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. In August 2003, when his patrol came under attack, Sassaman braved machine-gun and RPG fire to drag one of his wounded soldiers from his vehicle. Then he chased down the insurgents, killing or capturing all of them, earning himself a Bronze Star for valor. He He lives in Colorado.
Joe Layden is a "New York Times" bestselling author and award-winning journalist whose work has been honored by the New York Newspaper Publishers Association and the national Associated Press Sports Editors. He lives in upstate New York.
A West Point graduate, a former star quarterback who carried Army to its first bowl victory, and a courageous warrior who had proven himself on the battlefield time and again, Lt. Col. Nathan Sassaman was one of the most celebrated officers in the United States military. He commanded more than eight hundred soldiers in the heart of the insurgency-ravaged Sunni Triangle in Iraq; his unit's job was to seek out and eliminate terrorists and loyalists to Saddam Hussein, while rebuilding the region's infrastructure.
Yet Sassaman will always be known for a fateful decision to cover up the alleged drowning of an Iraqi by his men, where they purportedly forced two detainees to jump into the Tigris River. The Army initially charged three soldiers with manslaughter and a fourth with assault--the first time troops who served in Iraq had been charged with a killing in connection with the handling of detainees. Sassaman's decision led to his downfall, despite an impressive career, and sent shockwaves through the American military.
"Warrior King" is the explosive memoir of one of the most deeply involved members of the U.S. military in Iraq. This is the first book to take readers from the overnight brutality of combat, to the daunting daytime humanitarian tasks of rebuilding Iraq, to the upper echelons of the Pentagon to show in what ways the war has gone wrong, and why. "West Point graduate and career soldier Sassaman was deployed in 2003 as battalion commander of the Fourth Infantry Division's 1-8 Infantry in Iraq. From day one, he ran afoul of his superior officer, Colonel Fred Rudesheim, whose 'filtered, innocuous, and risk-averse orders, ' the author believed, contributed to the preventable killing of his men. Although a stickler for order, Sassaman calls himself a type-A personality who encouraged in his command the judicious 'crossing of boundaries' in cases of life and death. Boastful of the success demonstrated by his battalion, he admits he had become 'something of a warrior king in Iraq, ' paving the way to career suicide by continually challenging the orders of his superior. Then, on the night of January 3, 2004, two of his men detained two Iraqi males in northern Samarra shortly after curfew and forced them to jump in the Tigris River. 'A high school prank, ' declares the author, who was in command but not present at the time; he repeats the soldiers' assurances that they saw both men walking away from the river and points out that no body was found. Nonetheless, an investigation was conducted and Sassaman held accountable for the alleged drowning of one of the Iraqis. He got a 'letter of reprimand under Article 15 proceeding, ' which meant that he could be promoted to colonel but no higher. He might have been able to live with that, but an April 5 article in the Washington Post, with extensive quotes from Rudesheim, brought the incident to public attention, and Sassaman retired the following summer. 'I thought we could win the war, ' he writes. 'But there is no war right now. It's law enforcement, and we're losing ten, fifteen soldiers a week to law enforcement.' A valuable insider's look at the many-layered ramifications of the American-Iraqi tragedy of errors. "Kirkus Reviews"
