The Day After: Why America Wins the War but Loses the Peace - Hardcover

Gallagher, Brendan R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 150173962X ISBN 13: 9781501739620

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 2019

Synopsis

Since 9/11, why have we won smashing battlefield victories only to botch nearly everything that comes next? In the opening phases of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, we mopped the floor with our enemies. But in short order, things went horribly wrong.

We soon discovered we had no coherent plan to manage the "day after." The ensuing debacles had truly staggering consequences―many thousands of lives lost, trillions of dollars squandered, and the apparent discrediting of our foreign policy establishment. This helped set the stage for an extraordinary historical moment in which America's role in the world, along with our commitment to democracy at home and abroad, have become subject to growing doubt. With the benefit of hindsight, can we discern what went wrong? Why have we had such great difficulty planning for the aftermath of war?

In The Day After, Brendan Gallagher―an Army lieutenant colonel with multiple combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, and a Princeton Ph.D.―seeks to tackle this vital question. Gallagher argues there is a tension between our desire to create a new democracy and our competing desire to pull out as soon as possible. Our leaders often strive to accomplish both to keep everyone happy. But by avoiding the tough underlying decisions, it fosters an incoherent strategy. This makes chaos more likely.

The Day After draws on new interviews with dozens of civilian and military officials, ranging from US cabinet secretaries to four-star generals. It also sheds light on how, in Kosovo, we lowered our postwar aims to quietly achieve a surprising partial success. Striking at the heart of what went wrong in our recent wars, and what we should do about it, Gallagher asks whether we will learn from our mistakes, or provoke even more disasters? Human lives, money, elections, and America's place in the world may hinge on the answer.

About this title

About the Author:

Brendan R. Gallagher is a US Army lieutenant colonel in the infantry who has completed seven tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, including multiple deployments with the 75th Ranger Regiment. He received the General George C. Marshall award as the top US graduate at the Army Command and General Staff College, and is currently a battalion commander. He holds a PhD in public and international affairs from Princeton.

Review:

"The Day After asks why America has so often won the war but lost the peace that followed. Brendan Gallagher's answers are correct and timeless: Postwar is harder than war. Beware of magical thinking. Learn from history. His book is a good reference for heads of state, scholars, and soldiers."

(Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl, US Army (Ret.), author of Knife Fights)

"A thought-provoking, intensively-researched, and compelling account (and cautionary tale) of the enormous challenges of the 'post-conflict' phases of America's major post-9/11 interventions―by a true soldier-scholar who served on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan and then carefully studied those conflicts."

(General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.))

"The Day After is a searing indictment of American strategic incompetence―a tale of a musclebound giant repeatedly unable to transform military victory into durable political success. Through painstaking case studies of recent interventions, Brendan R. Gallagher shows that the main cause of the problem is national leaders who simply refuse to confront tough choices or engage in disciplined postwar planning. This book will make you angry―and it should."

(Gideon Rose, author of How Wars End)

About this edition

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 150173962X
• ISBN 13: 9781501739620
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320