A CIA drone strike last week took out Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had been living for months in the heart of Kabul, a short walk from the now-closed British embassy, just as I was reading Degrade and Destroy by Michael R. Gordon. The U.S. world relations with Russia and China, filled with tension and saber-rattling, also include the continuing war against terrorism.

Gordon describes the U.S. actions against Al Qaeda and ISIS this way: “What emerged by fits and starts was a strategy that relied principally on the use of proxy forces in Iraq; the recruitment of new forces in Syria, where none existed; the careful placements of American advisors; and the prodigious use of American and allied firepower in both countries: artillery, surface-to-surface missiles, attack helicopters, AC-130 gunships, and an armada of warplanes, ranging from tanking-killing A-10s, stealthy F-22s, and Predator drones to lumbering B-52s.” (p. 4)

Much of Degrade and Destroy chronicles the disappointments in the Middle East. Time and time again American forces would gain ground and political corruption would lose it again. As the assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri shows, the U.S. still has a presence in that part of the world. But as Gordon documents, it’s limited and only occasionally effective. GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

Maps viii

Introduction 3

1 Impala Rider 7

2 Plan B 18

3 An Appeal from Baghdad 32

4 Make or Break 49

5 All Fall Down 63

6 Back to the Future 78

7 Iraq First 97

8 Talon Anvil 117

9 The Darkest Hour 136

10 Combat 152

11 Dweller 168

12 The War Room 188

13 The Next Ten Plays 210

14 Objective Fish 225

15 Eagle Strike 241

16 The Tactical Directive 258

17 Council of War 276

18 The Final Days 294

19 Wrath of the Euphrates 314

20 Eclipse 333

21 Jazeera Storm 346

22 Continuing Resolve 366

Epilogue 387

Dramatis Personae 399

Notes 405

Acknowledgments 455

Index 459