Blood, Metal and Dust

How Victory Turned into Defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq

By: Brigadier (retired) Ben Barry OBE

Narrated by: Christopher Ragland

Length: 21 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON MEDAL FOR MILITARY HISTORY 2021, THE BRITISH ARMY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021, AS A FINALIST FOR THE 2020 ARMY HISTORICAL FOUNDATION DISTINGUISHED WRITING AWARD. FIRST RUNNER UP IN THE TEMPLER MEDAL BOOK PRIZE 2021.

'With a soldier’s eye for telling operational details, Ben Barry offers an authoritative, compelling and inevitably bleak account of the American and British campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.' Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King’s College London

Written by the author of the official British military analysis of the Iraq campaigns, Blood, Metal and Dust is the first authoritative military history of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to tell the detailed story of what happened on the ground.

From the high-ranking officer who wrote the still-classified British military analysis of the war in Iraq comes the authoritative history of two conflicts which have overshadowed the beginning of the 21st century. Inextricably linked to the ongoing ‘War on Terror’, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dominated more than a decade of international politics, and their influence is felt to this day.

Blood, Metal and Dust is the first military history to offer a comprehensive overview of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, providing in-depth accounts of the operations undertaken by both US and UK forces. Brigadier Ben Barry explores the wars which shaped the modern Middle East, providing a detailed narrative of operations as they unfolded. With unparalleled access to official military accounts and extensive contacts in both the UK and the US militaries, Brigadier Barry is uniquely placed to tell the story of these controversial conflicts, and offers a rounded account of the international campaigns which irrevocably changed the global geopolitical landscape.

©2020 Ben Barry (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"At one level Blood, Metal and Dust is a clear, dispassionate and succinct military history of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is much more important than that. As the US and UK turn their backs too quickly on both wars, they are in danger of disregarding the lessons and so failing to profit from their experiences. This book puts that right. Ben Barry is forthright in his criticisms and depressingly correct in his conclusions. Blood, Metal and Dust is essential reading." (Sir Hew Strachan FBA FRSE, professor of international relations at the University of St Andrews and former Chichele professor of the history of war at All Souls College, Oxford)

"Blood, Metal and Dust is a seminal work that exploits newly available archival material to produce a riveting account of the allies’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Armed with a keen scholarly eye and long military experience, Ben Barry dissects key decision points and pitched battles ranging from Tora Bora, Operation Medusa and Wanat in Afghanistan to the US Marines’ Anbar campaign, Operation Viking Hammer in Kurdistan, and the Sadr City battle of 2008. His unsparing judgements should inform future war planning, making this book required reading for the policymaker and the practitioner alike." (Linda Robinson, senior international/defense researcher, RAND Corporation and author of Tell Me How This Ends)

Extensively researched and highly detailed

If you're interested in the history of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, this is the definitive account.

Outstanding Analysis of Strategic Failure

Excellent review of the twin disasters of America’s 21st century foreign policy. Berry states clearly and forcefully that the decision to invade Iraq was the greatest foreign policy of the 21st century. I don’t believe he says so but I also believe that the decision to overthrow the Taliban was also a mistake. We should have wiped out Al Qaeda and declared victory. Instead we farmed out the capture of Al Qaeda to the Northern Alliance and waged war on the Taliban. We succeeded in overthrowing the Taliban but failed to defeat the group that actually attacked us. That left us with two nations to rebuild.

The final chapter is must reading for anybody looking for a detailed and point by point analysis of what went right and wrong with a great explanation for why. I don’t recommend skipping the rest of the book but I do suggest that one pay special attention to Berry’s conclusions.

A front row seat

I lived through these events. The author is spot on in his evaluation of both Iraq and Afghanistan. What he alludes to but doesn’t say is that the American military is its own worst enemy. The military just would not work with other parts of the national security establishments. This led to strategic failures. Another point he alludes to is that the all volunteer force is not working. Many of these soldiers and contractors sabotaged the good work that was done by others. The actions of US soldiers at the prison in Iraq is a perfect example. This lack of professionalism and just common sense was absent on the strategic level as well. Another point he makes is the incredible difficulty in managing international coalitions. Many times America’s coalition partners did more harm than good. This book is remarkable in that it ties all the elements of these wars together and evaluates them.

Great overview

It was a great book overall but then the author had to inject his personal beliefs as if they were fact in his conclusion. Bush is continuously blamed throughout the book, and for good reason, and then the author goes on to add blame to Trump but speaks of the Obama administration as if it did everything right but just got unlucky. I wish authors of histories would stop injecting their personal beliefs into their works. All it does is expose the authors bias and cheapens the work overall.

Excellent

Two stories told well. Hindsight makes it so much easier to identify mistakes but still was sad to listen to AND this was completed BEFORE our disastrous withdrawal.