Rules of Engagement [Hardcover]

Tim Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2005

From the moment Tim Collins's speech to his men in Iraq was made public, he became more than an army colonel. He spoke to a world that was confused, at best, as to the motives for war, and gave some explanation - at last - for the need for this war and gave counsel on how it should be approached. Full of drama, thought and humour, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT describes in graphic and thrilling detail not only Tim Collins's time in Iraq in the lead up to war and during the war itself, but looks back on a life's experience in the army. He talks for the first time about the accusations of war crimes levelled against him and reveals the truth about US behaviour during the conflict. A snap shot of history, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT is an absorbing tale that will stand the test of time and is a moving lesson in the humanity that lies behind a country at war.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'As well as concentrating on Iraq, this well-written, evocative book also focuses on the author's deeply personal relationship with his regiment and men, whose lives were always close to his heart' -- Hugh McManners, Sunday Times 20050529 'This absorbing tale, by turns dramatic, thoughtful and humorous, is a lesson in the humanity behind a country at war' -- Sun 20050626 'Painfully compelling' -- Allan Mallinson, The Times 20050604 'The book is a fascinating, detailed account of what he and his men went through in the invasion and delivers a hard-hitting message of where the Coalition has gone wrong since the invasion' -- Sydney Sun Herald 20050626 'His memoir is incendiary' -- Herald 20050523 'He is a thinking soldier with a gift for words and tells his story well. He is particularly good on the travails of his own regiment' -- John Keegan, Spectator 20050611

About the Author

Tim Collins was born in Belfast and was commissioned into the Army in 1981 when he joined the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers in West Berlin. After a career that encompassed tours in Northern Ireland, the Falklands Islands and Cyprus, time as an operations officer in the SAS and trekking with the Gurkhas in Eastern Nepal, aged 38 he was selected for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and assumed command of 1 Royal Irish in January 2001. He led the Battalion on operations in East Tyrone, on Op FRESCO, the Fireman's strike, and on Op TELIC, the Liberation of Iraq. On returning from that war, he was the centre of a controversy over allegations of war crimes. After clearing his name he was promoted to Colonel. Tim retired from the Army in January 2004 and now lives in Kent with his wife and children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Headline Hardbacks; 1St Edition edition (May 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755313747
• ISBN-13: 978-0755313747
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,775,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful insight to leadership and Iraq, April 26, 2006

By 

N. Brett (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rules of Engagement (Hardcover)

I too would have to start by stating my astonishment at Mr Leonard's comments below. For those of us living close enough to understand the Irish Conflict it is very irritating to see throw away (and inaccurate) comments made from a safe distance.

Anyway the book....
This is a really important book on a number of levels. I have seen some of the reviews that have commented about the author's philosophy but it does help us understand his mind set and approach!

The title suggests this is a full autobiography but it mainly deals with Iraq with a little bit before and a little afterwards.

Collins is a natural leader and his approach to the Iraq conflict should have been a benchmark for the rest of the conflict, i.e put into place standards and controls that would allow the free Iraq people to govern themselves and allow the early withdrawal of British and US troops. Very much a thinking and intelligent leader (although he admits his mistakes) you can see how his tactics work and the resulting improvements in the areas under his control.

Equally fascinating is his view and understanding of the people of Iraq. They come across and a warm but complex people and it is easy to understand how and why they have re-acted to the conflict in the way they have. There is a small section on the way a British cemetery has been immaculately maintained through the passion and loyalty of the locals that was quite moving.

Of course there is much mention of both the famous speech and then later on, the allegations against Collins. It was dis-heartening to see the way that the British Army and establishment failed to support Collins and allowed his name to be smeared in the press when they should have stood by a true asset.

While a biography will obviously paint a reasonably positive view of the author, I think this is a frank account and I have no doubt that the British Army needs more people like Collins.

I learnt a great deal from this one and have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who is interested in either the Iraq conflict or military leadership.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, thought provoking book, December 30, 2005

By 

E. Garden (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rules of Engagement (Hardcover)

Before I add my own comment, I have to refer to the outrageous comments by Mr Leonard above.

Col Collins had a great career, he would not have served 2x with the SAS and 1x with DSF and been made Col of a Regt if that were not the case. He was not removed from command, his time in command was extended, the charges never included cowardice. Finally this book is not about tactics, its a statement/record of what happened, right or wrong. Its interesting that Col Collins followed the Hearts and Minds doctrine favoured by the british, and he brought back all his men alive, this can be contrasted by the alternate approaches and their impact.

On to the book, after the initial slow section on NI and Sierra Leone I found the Gulf war section well written and compelling, I read it in 24hrs as it was hard to put down. Living in the US we saw almost no visibility of UK ops so this provided great insight into the work and challenges of the UK Division.

I highly recomend this book if you want to read an alternative view of how things could have been conducted in Iraq, albeit on a small scale.

The final section on his return to Iraq feels like an afterthought and the section on the accusations and their resolution is disheartning but believable.

Overall Col Collins comes across in a positive light for me.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ASYMMETRIC WARFARE, July 2, 2007

By 

DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rules of Engagement~Tim Collins (Paperback)

Colonel Tim Collins first achieved fame for his address to his troops when about to go into battle in Iraq. This elicited a letter of admiration from the heir to the British throne, and I seem to recall that it was admired in the White House too. This distinguished soldier has since left the British army in disgust, and the strange tale of how that came about can be read in the later chapters of this book.

Rules of Engagement divides into four sections as I read it. By page-count the bulk of the book consists of episodes from the Iraq war in which he was directly engaged. The final chapter reproduces the gist of an address that he was invited to make at University College Dublin, and gives us his reflections on the proper way such an operation as Iraq needs to be handled. However when he went to Iraq in his early 40's Collins was already a battle-hardened veteran, from Sierra Leone, from his native Ulster and even from commanding an emergency fire brigade in the Midlands when the fire service itself was on strike. What comes over vividly from these early tours of duty is just how clearheaded a commanding officer needs to be. Brilliant strategies in the manner of Patton v Rommel are one thing, but when the CO is dealing with opponents who are drunk, or high on drugs, or just freaked out on the sheer excitement of rioting, his own wits and not his manuals or training courses are going to provide any answers he can find. This was the experience that Collins brought to his command in Iraq, where the situation almost verged on rational by comparison. His accounts are engrossing, literate and sometimes highly amusing, at least if one enjoys, as I do, the sarky Ulster brand of humour. In one incident, seemingly very minor, he started the chain of events that led to his being subjected to one of the most despicable episodes that ever disgraced the British army. An American called Biastre, a `Major' in some kind of auxiliary unit and the Thersites of this Iliad, had picked a quarrel with Collins, emerging with his dignity somewhat impaired. By way of restoring this, Biastre submitted a report to his superiors accusing British officers in general of disrespecting Americans, and Collins in particular of nothing less than war crimes. This wretch's allegations had not the smallest semblance of probability, but the American high command solemnly passed them on to its British counterpart and Collins was required to submit to an enquiry. Someone was out to get him, someone apparently senior who briefed the media but lurked in anonymity, and I as I read the story felt, as a lifelong opponent of the death penalty, that the WW1 practice of shooting for cowardice could usefully have been reinstituted just this once.

The charges were a miserable collection of attempts to make something - anything - stick. Some would have been overlooked as trivial by an infant-school teacher, the more lurid needing only a moment's scrutiny to be dismissed, which was what happened. Collins had his supporters, including the head of the army Sir Mike Jackson himself, of whom it has to be recorded sadly that he did not seem awfully well informed regarding what was happening under his supposed command nor outstandingly able to sort the matter out, and the case duly collapsed. Collins's question seems reasonable - what army needs senior officers like the anonymous creep behind all this? His own style of leadership, questioned at the enquiry, can be read clearly from his factual accounts. British soldiers put up with perennial lack of funding, but when a mentality instinct with mental dishonesty, moral hypocrisy and a deep commitment to unfairness infects the high command they may be less willing to go along with it.

The thoughts that Collins first put to his academic audience in Dublin and now to the rest of us are a paradigm of clarity and rationality and are commended to every thoughtful and concerned citizen. I shall pick just two for present purposes. Earlier in the book Collins had commented (without drawing or implying conclusions) on a difference in ethos between the American and British armies, characterising the latter as live-and-let-live but the American spirit as one of missionary zeal. Looking back after the event, Collins ponders `Who wants armed missionaries?' In my other instance he harks back to the execution of participants in the Easter Uprising of 1916 in Dublin after the insurgency itself had been quelled. This gratuitous act led, he believes, to decades of IRA violence, having turned the motivations of a few extremists into the ideology of a whole nation. One wearies of clichés about not repeating the mistakes of history trotted out by people whose grasp of history is on a par with their command of astrophysics, but here is an illuminating historical parallel usefully presented out of concern for strategists sitting in mental darkness.

This eminent soldier's concern for the future of the British army seems only too well founded, although as a civilian I am not well placed to assess the impact of the recent changes to regimental structures and identities. Where I am with him all the way, and where I differ from many of my friends on the left of politics, is in calling for better funding for our armed services. It should be obvious by now that this is as pressing a social need as that for improvements in health, education, pensions and transport provisions; and not all my opposition to the war in Iraq nor my support for Gordon Brown's agenda on alleviating poverty will let me tolerate seeing Britain's army gradually reduced to one mobile laundry-unit.

Colonel Tim's recent pronouncements have seemed slightly eccentric. What I'm hoping is that we have not taken a real soldier from what he ought to be doing while giving a career to whoever was trying to discredit him for that.