Unremitting
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
From the former USA Today journalist and author of The Chosen Few, the untold story of The Battle of Ramadi, which led to a war that would last seven years, claim thousands of lives and evolve into a traumatic legacy for the US military and its veterans.
Their nickname was the Magnificent Bastards and they were warriors without a war. Kept stateside after 9/11 and left floating in the Pacific during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the thousand Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment were told they were bench-warmers as America sent troops into combat. But war was waiting. Iraq would explode in violence exactly one year after a U.S. led Coalition swept into Baghdad and the Magnificent Bastards would find themselves at the epicenter. When the battalion first arrived in the provincial capital of Ramadi, Iraq, in February of 2004, they were thrust into a savage battle where hundreds of insurgents organized a three-day offensive aimed at driving the Marines out of their city of 400,000.
In Unremitting, journalist Gregg Zoroya tells the fast-paced, dramatic, and meticulously-researched story of the battle that truly began the Iraq War. Capturing the heroism, courage, and brutality of battle, Zoroya explores this vital part of American military history and beyond, showing how Ramadi was not just a game-changer for the Iraq War, but also for the marines, sailors, and soldiers who fought it, the trauma remaining with survivors more than two decades later.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this balanced account of an Iraq War flashpoint, journalist Gregg Zoroya offers a thoughtful examination of a turning point in modern warfare. A marine regiment, nicknamed the Magnificent Bastards, thought they had a mundane assignment in policing the city of Ramadi. However, the insurgency organized by former members of Saddam Hussein’s forces and Al-Qaeda operatives was more dangerous than anyone anticipated. Zoroya weaves in just how badly the American leadership misread the situation in Iraq, repeatedly putting the troops in risky situations. One observer compared the mission to a foreign power trying to occupy North Carolina, with its sizable population of retired U.S. military leaders. The physical and mental toll the close combat took on the participants, which extended well beyond their time in Iraq, is one of the war’s most lasting legacies. Narrator L.J. Ganser’s smooth delivery provides a suitable balance between personal horrors and tactical details. Unremitting serves both as a historical account of a pivotal battle and an indictment of the decision-making that led to it.
