Awakening Victory: How Iraqi Tribes and American Troops Reclaimed al Anbar and Defeated al Qaeda in Iraq.

In this instructive first-hand account of how Iraq's insurgents were defeated, Silverman recounts the operations of his unit in Anbar Province's city of Ramadi. A veteran of Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, Silverman deployed to Iraq for a third time in 2006 as the commander of a combat arms battalion assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team. When he arrived, Anbar province was viewed as "the most violent and dangerous place in Iraq", and the seat of the ongoing Sunni insurgency. The mission was to use modern counter-insurgency methods to separate Iraqi nationalists from Al-Qaeda terrorists, while winning the support of the population and its tribal and clan-based "sheikh" system. As the terrorists were separated from support, they were forced to abandon safe havens and retreat to more deserted areas where they were destroyed. This controversial strategy was opposed by those who simply distrusted or hated all Iraqis, and who were reluctant or refused to work with them, as well as those who feared the emergence of Sunni militias. Silverman is critical of the assassinations of enemies and their effect on the population. (Oct.)