Over a thirty-five year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions, unusual for a general. Now, as a witness to all levels of military command, Bolger offers a unique assessment of these wars, from 9/11 to the final withdrawal from the region. Writing with hard-won experience and unflinching honesty, Bolger makes the firm case that in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we lost -- but we didn't have to. Intelligence was garbled. Key decision makers were blinded by spreadsheets or theories. And, at the root of our failure, we never really understood our enemy. Why We Lost is a timely, forceful, and compulsively readable account of these wars from a fresh and authoritative perspective.

"An Eamon Dolan Book" -- Title page. "An Eamon Dolan Book." Includes maps of: [Horn of Africa]; [Iraq]; [Afghanistan].

Prologue:Apocalypse then -- Part I: Triumph : the Global War on Terrorism, September 2001 to April 2003. Harbingers ; 9/11 ; The Hindu Kush ; Anaconda ; A weapon of mass destruction ; Apocalypse then redux -- Part II: Hubris : the Iraq Campaign, April 2003 to December 2011. "Mission accomplished" ; What happened in Fallujah ; The color purple ; Implosion ; Malik Daoud ; Requiem on the Tigris -- Part III: Nemesis : the Afghan Campaign, April 2003 to December 2014. Undone ; The good war ; Taliban heartland ; Malik Daoud again ; Attrition ; Green on blue -- Epilogue: Infinite justice. Prologue: Apocalypse then -- Part I: Triumph : the Global War on Terrorism, September 2001 to April 2003. Harbingers ; 9/11 ; The Hindu Kush ; Anaconda ; A weapon of mass destruction ; Apocalypse then redux -- Part II: Hubris : the Iraq Campaign, April 2003 to December 2011. "Mission accomplished" ; What happened in Fallujah ; The color purple ; Implosion ; Malik Daoud ; Requiem on the Tigris -- Part III: Nemesis : the Afghan Campaign, April 2003 to December 2014. Undone ; The good war ; Taliban heartland ; Malik Daoud again ; Attrition ; Green on blue -- Epilogue: Infinite justice.