Twice Armed: An American Soldier's Battle for Hearts and Minds in Iraq [Hardcover]

Lt. Col. R. Alan King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2006

Lieutenant Colonel R. Alan King and his 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion became operations central after the collapse of the Iraqi army and the beginning of the occupation of Iraq in March 2003. While under his command, these civil affairs and psychological operations soldiers were not content to stay in secure offices inside the green zone. Instead, they knew that to do their job they had to get out and make "house calls," and in the process the 422nd became the most highly decorated civil affairs unit in the history of the U.S. Army, with twenty-one individual awards for valor and five purple hearts.

 

King was particularly well-suited for the new kind of war being waged in Iraq. Armed with his rifle, a Palm Pilot that contained an English translation of the Koran, and an informed and nuanced respect for Middle Eastern culture, King and his team captured or arranged the surrender of almost a dozen of the most-wanted villains from Saddam's regime, including several from the famous deck of cards. He became privy to secrets as weighty as those of Iraq's nuclear weapons program and as light as those behind the outlandish press briefings of the infamous Baghdad Bob.

 

Twice Armed - its title is taken from Plato's maxim We are twice armed if we fight with faith - provides a compelling view of the Iraq war, and the experience from the Iraqi perspective, from one of the war's most decorated officers. The regional expertise that helped King negotiate with clerics and sheikhs also informs his provocative opinions about what it will take to win the battle for the hearts and minds of Iraq, an ancient, mystifying, and deeply religious culture. King has been compared to the legendary T. E. Lawrence, with the press dubbing him “Alan of Arabia,” and this book sheds light on a new and necessary component of modern warfare, one that goes far beyond artillery and armor, and instead tells King's story of cultural interaction and respect that yielded results in his area at the beginning of the war. A trenchant and necessary look at how the winning of the hearts and minds of people in Iraq is as crucial to success as the winning of tactical military goals.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

Twice Armed, by R. Alan King, attempts to explain the challenges, errors, and strategy for ultimate success in Iraq based on its author’s personal experiences as a civil affairs battalion commander and deputy director of the Office of Provincial Outreach, Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). King devotes the first 11 chapters of Twice Armed to describing his personal experiences during the ground war and the initial occupation of Baghdad and in subsequent stability operations…While King’s personal experiences are certainly entertaining, the final two chapters and postscript comprise the “so what” of the book. They contain King’s thoughts about what went wrong for the United States in Iraq and what must be done to win there and against the broader ideology driving Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups…His thoughts are insightful and give Twice Armed particular relevance as the United States continues the fight in Iraq…

Unlike the authors of many recent books published about the Iraq war, King was there, in uniform; he has sufficient credibility and experience to make his book authoritative. Moreover, he was involved in many critical aspects of the ground war and subsequent stability operations, including the cease-fire talks during the first Fallujah battle and confrontations with Muqtada Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. King’s in-depth understanding of Islam and Christianity lends additional credibility to his arguments…While Twice Armed is somewhat civil-affairs-centric, it offers unique insights into dealing with the Iraqi population that could contribute to an eventual successful effort. It should be a must-read for all field grade officers bound for duty in Iraq.

Military Review, May/June 2007
"It offers unique insights into dealing with the Iraqi population that could contribute to an eventual successful effort. It should be a must-read for all field grade officers bound for duty in Iraq.”

From the Inside Flap

Twice Armed is the remarkable memoir of a U.S. Army soldier’s experience capturing some of the most wanted former Iraqi regime leaders and terrorists on behalf of the Coalition Provisional Authority during the war in Iraq. Lt. Col. R. Alan King experienced close combat and survived deadly ambushes, but his success as a war fighter was mostly due to his nuanced understanding of an ancient, mystifying, and deeply religious culture. Twice Armed illustrates how the author negotiated with numerous sheiks and clerics, eventually earning their confidence and trust. A tough-as-nails soldier armed with a Palm Pilot and a Qur’an, Colonel King captured or accepted the surrender of almost a dozen of the most-wanted Iraqi personalities from the former Saddam regime, including a number from the notorious “deck of cards.”

Like T.E. Lawrence more than eighty years before, it was Colonel King’s understanding, respect, and willingness to practice the customs of the Middle East that allowed him to slip behind the shroud of cultural secrecy that has protected Iraqi society for thousands of years. He was made the honorary sheik of one of the largest tribes in Iraq, which afforded him special privileges and enabled him to sit in on tribal negotiations. Powerful sheiks approached him to intervene with the Coalition and to negotiate the surrender of most-wanted tribe and family members on their behalf.

Colonel King also learned secrets of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program from the former chairman of Iraq’s atomic energy agency, a figure who was among the top 100 most wanted personalities from the former regime. On the lighter side, he spoke with Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (a.k.a. “Baghdad Bob”), learning the secrets behind al-Sahaf’s outlandish press briefings. By the end of major combat operations, the unit the author commanded had become the most highly decorated civil affairs battalion in the history of the U.S. Army. The 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award that can be bestowed on a military unit, along with twenty-one awards for valor and five Purple Hearts.

In addition to being a war memoir with a genuinely unusual perspective, Twice Armed provides an on-the-ground look at how the Iraqis perceived the Coalition’s actions and what has led to the growth of the insurgency today. It shares inside accounts from the former elites of the events of the war as they unfolded from the night the Coalition crossed the border, to the fall of Saddam’s regime, through the challenges of the reconstruction, and finally, to the transfer of sovereignty.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Zenith Press; 1st edition (September 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760323860
• ISBN-13: 978-0760323861
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > History > Middle East > Kuwait

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible storytelling about the early Iraq war, September 13, 2006

By 

T.S. Fischer "another avid reader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twice Armed: An American Soldier's Battle for Hearts and Minds in Iraq (Hardcover)

It is almost heartbreaking to read this book, to wonder where Iraq would be if men like Alan King would have been more involved on the ground and in the decision-making process at the Pentagon. He speaks the language, respects the culture, but also plays hardball when he needs to, and guess what? He gets results, fewer people get killed, and the bad guys in Iraq get caught. I could not put this book down. I hope he gets assigned to a think-tank at the Pentagon or White House soon so we can find a way out of the mess that is Iraq today. The stories he tells about catching the guys in the famous "deck of cards" are worth the price of the book alone, but you cannot help but imagine what might have been if more military personnel - at all levels - used their own faith, both in God and democracy and doing right - to respect the faiths of Iraqis and get their country on a path to working and not civil war. A great read and the best book on Iraq I have read of the 11 I own.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced View, September 20, 2006

By 

William L. Mccoy - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twice Armed: An American Soldier's Battle for Hearts and Minds in Iraq (Hardcover)

Twice Armed provides an excellent, balanced view of the US effort in Iraq. Alan King has taken advantage of his experience at the tactical and strategic levels to provide the American public with an apolitical view. Twice Armed, particularly when read in concert with other current publications on the subject, fills in the detail required to fully comprehend the complexities of Iraq and the Middle East.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!, September 25, 2006

By 

Dale Monjar (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twice Armed: An American Soldier's Battle for Hearts and Minds in Iraq (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book very much - it was facsinating to read the stories of the "deck" captures and the sense of understanding the writer has about the Iraqi people and their culture. The writer conveys his story in such an amazing way! - I felt like I was right there with him as he served his country on foreign soil. Very well written and truly a great story to read.