Wiser in Battle is the first book about the war in Iraq by an on-site commander. Former Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez served as commander of Coalition Ground Forces from June 2003 to June 2004. Wiser in Battle offers the full story of his tenure, providing a first-hand account of Saddam Hussein's capture, the battle of Fallujah, and the never-ending quest to take out Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.Sanchez also discusses how minor insurgent attacks grew into synchronized, well-coordinated operations, and then finally ignited into a major insurgency and full-scale Civil War.
General Sanchez was also the senior military commander in Iraq when the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib occurred, and when they were exposed to the world. In Wiser in Battle, he chronicles the full inside story of the scandal, including what really happened, the circumstances that led to the abuses, who perpetrated them, and what the formal investigations revealed.
In addition, Sanchez shows how the Bush Administration led America into a strategic blunder of historic proportions. He details the cynical use of the Iraq war for political gain in Washington and shows how the pressure of a round-the-clock news cycle drove and distorted critical decisions.
At the same time, Wiser in Battle is a personal story about the rise to power of the former highest ranking Hispanic in the U.S. Army. From his poverty-stricken youth on the Texas banks of the Rio Grande River and joining the Reserve Officer's Training Corps at 16 to pay his way through college to service in Vietnam, Kosovo, and most recently, Iraq, Lieutenant General Sanchez tells an essential story that explains the meaning and role of the U.S. military in the new century. Wiser in Battle provides an insider's view into what we've done wrong and what we've done right, as well as "A New Doctine" for the future of the country.