Chasing Ghosts:
Failures and Facades in Iraq:
A Soldier’s Perspective
Paul Rieckhoff
Review by John D. Merrill
Chasing Ghosts is the recounting of the first fourteen
months of the US
invasion of Iraq
and the personal results of one soldier’s life. Running
chronologically, the
book describes the expectations of this skeptic and how his sense of
purpose in
the invasion was tenuous to begin with and waned when the reports of
WMDs were
not valid and there was not clear way out once Saddam fell.
Paul continues
with the growing insurgency and the bonds of American soldiers who were
fighting them. He outlines the policy ideas and changes that directly
affect
the troops on the ground. He describes the experiences with the
invasion and
how their roles turn to peacekeepers and police for the volatile parts
of Iraq.
He was clear to include the specific details of when his company and
platoon
first noticed organized insurgency and when the first one of his
company was
killed by insurgents. Paul describes the high tensions of keeping the
peace,
dealing with thieves and opportunists, and worst of all; the American
Media. He
wraps up his time in Iraq with recounting his, self-described, movie
like
departure from Iraq.
Once out of
Iraq,
his story
continues in his quest to be heard about his concerns for the troops in
Iraq
and America
in
general. He describes the problems for soldiers returning home. One of
his friends
from Iraq
had
returned home and suffered from post traumatic stress and after he had
returned
home had gone missing. Paul’s frustrations were not from post-war
trauma as
much as the posturing and politics behind the home front. He makes it
clear
that the power that be in Washington,
both Republican and Democrat, have show their interests in the welfare
of the
troops are more lip-service than anything else. He begins to speak on
behalf of
the servicemen he considers family. Much like his tour in Iraq,
he chronicles his progress working with “Operation Truth,” the
non-profit
organization for Iraq
and Afghanistan Veterans. He has spoken to the President and several
Senators,
including Kerry and Clinton. He is trying to be heard and in this book
he gets
his message across.