There's been a slew of books by Iraq vets recently. Some by grunts with a lot of attitude and little tactical insight, others by officers with a lot of stars on their shoulders but with no sense of humor or irony. The literary debut from HuffPo's own Paul Rieckhoff, Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier's Fight for America from Baghdad to Washington (Penguin), combines the best of both. Many HuffPo readers already know Rieckhoff as the smack-talking lieutenant who founded Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Association (formerly Operation Truth). He's butted heads with everyone from Sean Hannity on Fox News to antiwar protesters on Air America, where he and I co-hosted a series of programs last fall.
In Chasing Ghosts, Rieckhoff tells his story of leading an infantry platoon in Baghdad in the early days of the occupation. The book may not be as poetic as Jarhead, but it captures the absurdity of war in a way that's reminiscent of Catch-22. Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk agrees, writing, "Chasing Ghosts gives us the best reporting to come out of the Iraq War -- possibly the best reporting to emerge from any war. No book since Catch-22 has depicted this gruesome subject so compellingly. Rieckhoff should make room on his mantel for the Pulitzer Prize."
Whoa.
Is it that good? Paul is a good friend, so don't take my word for it. But I can tell you this much having worked closely with him: Rieckhoff is a true American patriot. Whether you agree with his politics or not (I often don't), there's no doubting his commitment to his country, and his willingness to put his neck on the line to prove it. A six-foot-two, bald-as-a-cue-ball former college linebacker, he quit his job on Wall St. shortly before 9/11 because he felt he needed to see the world. When the attacks hit, he activated with this National Guard unit, spending several weeks digging out remains from the rubble at Ground Zero. When he got the call to go to Iraq, he didn't flinch, even though he knew it was the wrong war at the wrong time. His straightforward rationale: If someone's going to be the face of the U.S. occupation, better me than a trigger-happy high school dropout. Leading an infantry platoon through one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods, Rieckhoff writes about the day-to-day perils of being an occupier with candor and disgust (often at himself). He laughs with his men at the gruesome sight of a suicide bombers face blown off. He cringes when he's forced to set up a sting operation to catch his own men stealing money from Iraqi civilians.
Chasing Ghosts is as funny as it is poignant. And while I disagree with many of Rieckhoff's tactical assessments (he opines at one point that they should have taken out radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr when they had the chance -- this would have resulted in a firestorm that U.S. troops wouldn't be able to contain), his take on what went wrong is crucial for anyone trying to understand the reality of the war. He arrived in Baghdad the day Bush landed on the aircraft carrier. Rieckhoff had no plan, little equipment and no knowledge of the local customs or tribes. His men, a guard unit from the Florida panhandle, were even greener. One night in Kuwait before they're deployed, Rieckhoff holds a "Trivial Pursuit"-type contest in the barracks. Some 60% of the men don't know who the Vice President of the United States is. 'Nuff said.
Especially interesting is Rieckhoff's account of coming back to the U.S. and his attempts to get politicians (both the Bush and Kerry campaigns) to listen to his and other vets' concerns about the war. After getting blown off by both parties, he starts his own non-profit, Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Association, to help raise awareness of troop and veteran issues, like body armor, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Veterans Administration funding. The group has become a force in the media, landing scores of articles and getting its members high profile appearances on TV and radio stations around the country. The organization even helped produce two powerful documentaries that premiered at this week's Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. You can watch exclusive clips of When I Came Home and The War Tapes here on GNN.
Whether you're for or against the war, Chasing Ghosts is an exhilarating read and an important contribution to the growing library of "what went wrong" tomes. I also suggest Aaron Glantz's How America Lost Iraq (read my review here).
Watch Rieckhoff on The Colbert Report here.