Ben Rand's Reviews > Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War

Hands down one of the best books on Iraq/Afghanistan I've read. I would actually like to meet Mr. Gates and shake his hand for his service. Gates has an incredibly rare and unique perspective on "Bush 43" and Obama. He comes across as remarkably honest, willing to admit to his own mistakes and shortcomings. The last chapter of the book, entitled "Reflections" has many important insights and should be required reading.

His evisceration of Congress seems spot on: "Uncivil, incompetent in fulfilling basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned, often putting self (and reelection) before country--this was my view of the majority of the United States Congress."

Speaking of the polarization paralyzing government: "we have rarely been so polarized, and so unable to execute even the basic functions of government...Progress in America historically has come from thinkers and ideologues on both the left and the right, but the best of those ideas have been enacted into law through compromise. Now moderation is equated with lacking principles, and compromise with 'selling out.'"

And finally on war: "Wars are a lot easier to get into than out of...Look askance at idealized, triumphalist, or ethnocentric notions of future conflict that aspire to upend the immutable principles of war...'no matter how a war starts, it ends in mud.'"

Terrific book.