The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War
Finished before the November 2012 resignation of CIA director David Petraeus, Kaplan’s study contains a curiosity: a footnote cites All In, by Paula Broadwell (2011), a biography of Petraeus by his notorious femme fatale, to the effect that Petraeus was denied the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and given the CIA instead. Why? Stay tuned while we review Kaplan’s account of a coterie of army officers who campaigned to raise the importance of counterinsurgency in American military doctrine. This grouping, which included Petraeus, shared an intellectual perspective on warfare and ascended in influence as the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan descended into protracted, irregular combat. What Kaplan offers is a highly detailed episode in the Pentagon’s bureaucratic politics, which pitted the counterinsurgency-minded officers against brass more mentally comfortable with conventional warfare and which were conducted through conferences, promotions, and annunciation of doctrine. Petraeus’ internecine victory, the publication of Counterinsurgency:FM 3-24 (2007), peaks Kaplan’s narrative, which then elides into that field manual’s application to Iraq and Afghanistan. Intensively researched and factually presented, this work most suits mavens of military affairs.       HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Newsworthiness instantly expands Kaplan’s intended audience; many of the figures interviewed here might, as Washington’s investigatory machine gears up, be seen again soon. --Gilbert Taylor