Fall - United States Special Operations Command

Dawn Over Baghdad:
How the U.S. Military is Using Bullets and Ballots to Remake Iraq
By Karl Zinsmeister. New York, New York: Encounter Books. 2005. ISBN 1-59403-090-1.
Review by LTC Craig A. Myatt
Karl Zinsmeister’s Dawn Over Baghdad: How the U.S.
Military is using Bullets and Ballots to Remake Iraq is a good
historical reference of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004. The
text provides readers with a global framework on the presence
of U.S. forces in Iraq following the 2003 Coalition invasion and
ouster of Saddam Hussein from power. Zinsmeister highlights
how the emergence of democracy in Iraq was dependent on the
will of American enterprise and central control over Baghdad.
In the early chapters of the book, the author depicts the
heart of a formidable United States armed with the spirit of
courage, resilience, and fraternity in the aftermath of terrorists’
attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. He
next details the tactical and operational challenges faced by
American soldiers in 2004 as they attempted to stabilize tensions
in Iraq fueled with hit-and-run attacks from an obstructionist
minority. Zinsmeister implies that central control over
Baghdad destabilized social tensions in Iraq that could have fueled
civil war or a full-blown insurgency.
Throughout the text, Zinsmeister shares a hope and vision
that Iraq will emerge as a sovereign and stable country. He
predicts that Iraq will become an enduring strategic partner with
the United States. In 2010, as Operation New Dawn marks the
official end to Operation Iraqi Freedom and combat operations
by United States forces in Iraq, Zinsmeister’s six-year old text
provides strategic and global reasoning for the U.S. commitment
to the government and people of Iraq relevant in 2004 and now.
The success of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 set the stage
for an eventual shift in U.S. presence from one that was predominantly
military to one that is now predominantly civilian.
Under harsh conditions of war in 2004, the Iraqi people
garnered the hope and resilience to build a democratic nation
free of autocratic influences. Zinsmeister discusses how the
cross-section of America’s warrior class sustained the presence
of U.S. forces in Iraq during the unfolding of guerilla warfare,
counterinsurgency, and reconstruction. The prescribed use of
hard and soft tactics stimulates his discussion on the disciplined
forbearance exercised by American soldiers. The flexibility and
inventive problem solving critical in battlefield operations is
what Zinsmeister claims militarily jumpstarted Iraqi society to
invest in its newly formed democratic nation.
The will of American enterprise reflected itself in the
overall temperate, controlled, and ethical style of engagement
by American military forces as the Departments of Defense and
State worked together with governmental and non-governmental
agencies to help build Iraq’s governing capacity. The discipline
of American military forces paid dividends that
Zinsmeister envisioned would benefit the United States, the
Government of Iraq, and the people of both sovereign nations.
In the end, Zinsmeister suggests that the cost of war in Iraq will
yield a new international partner that may be critical in stabilizing
social tensions throughout that region of the world. The
dawn over Baghdad depicted in Zinsmeister’s text is now a new
dawn for all of Iraq.
Book Review 69