Recent Books202 μ¢¤³£ ¬μμ¬describes how the decision was made.
For Bush, the alternative to the surge was
defeat. He met with considerable opposi-
tion at high levels o his own administra-
tion but skillfully managed the process o
winning broad support for his view. The
book features some dissenting voices, but
most o the interviewees approved o
both the handling and the outcome o the
surge. Conspicuous in their absence are
Secretary o Defense Donald Rumsfeld
and General George Casey, commander
o U.S. forces in Iraq. They stayed
committed to their established strategy
even though it was widely judged to be
failing. Indeed, the book leaves one
wishing that the original decision to
invade Iraq had been taken with as much
care as the decision to change course.
Although repetitive at times, this is a
fascinating contribution to the history
o the war.The Nuclear Spies: America’s Atomic
Intelligence Operation Against Hitler and
Stalin
BY VINCE HOUGHTON. Cornell
University Press, 2019, 248 pp.The atom bomb was never a high priority
for the Nazis, at least when compared
with their development o long-range
cruise and ballistic missiles. A major U.S.
intelligence operation during World War
II conÄrmed that the German nuclear
threat was not as great as had been
feared. Specialist teams followed the
Allied armies into Italy and Germany,
gathering information on the German
atomic project but also trying to secure
the relevant scientists, materials, and
papers before they could fall into Soviet
hands. Intriguingly, U.S. intelligence
ocials also hoped to keep the FrenchAmerican and Chinese Energy Security:
A Grand Strategic Approach
BY RYAN OPSAL. Lexington Books,
2019, 228 pp.The survival o any country as a func-
tioning society depends on having
reliable sources o energy. Preserving
access to energy is not simply an eco-
nomic matter but a question o grand
strategy. This informative book focuses
on how China and the United States,
both large importers o oil, secured their
energy supplies between 1992 and 2013.
It compares the evolution o both
countries’ strategies for guaranteeing oil
security through shifts in policy and
advances in technology. Opsal claims
that the United States is well ahead o
China in oil security on many fronts,
but China is rapidly catching up.Military, ScientiÄc, and
TechnologicalLawrence D. Freedman
The Last Card: Inside George W. Bush’s
Decision to Surge in Iraq
EDITED BY TIMOTHY ANDREWS
SAYLE, JEFFREY A. ENGEL, HAL
BRANDS, AND WILLIAM INBODEN.
Cornell University Press, 2019, 416 pp.I
n early 2007, as U.S. troops struggled
to contain a raging civil war in Iraq,
President George W. Bush announced
a “surge” o Äve additional brigades to
the country. Based on interviews with
many o the key participants, including
the president, the Ärst part o this book