The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 is a 2009 book by journalist Thomas E. Ricks about the Iraq War. It covers the 2006-2008 period where his last book Fiasco

Fiasco (book)

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq is a book by Washington Post Pentagon correspondent Thomas E. Ricks. Fiasco deals with the history of the Iraq War from the planning phase to combat operations to 2006 and argues that the war was badly planned and executed...

left off. A primary focus is the Iraq War troop surge of 2007

Iraq War troop surge of 2007

In the context of the Iraq War, the surge refers to United States President George W. Bush's 2007 increase in the number of American troops in order to provide security to Baghdad and Al Anbar Province....

, along with the ascension to command of Gen. David Petraeus

David Petraeus

David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...

 and the change in approach of Gen. Ray Odierno towards the use of counter-insurgency strategies. Ricks believes that the troop surge was successful in reducing violence in Iraq and "reviv[ing] American prospects in the war," but that it was a failure based on its initial goal of bringing about a political reconciliation in Iraq.

Ricks states in the first chapter of the book (page 8):

In revisiting the U.S. approach to the Iraq war, Petraeus found tactical success--that is, improved security--but not the clear political breakthrough that would have meant unambiguous strategic success. At the end of the surge, the fundamental political problems facing Iraq were the same ones as when it began. At the end of 2008, two years into the revamped war, there was no prospect of the fighting ending anytime soon. But it was almost certain that whenever it did end, it wouldn't be with the victory that the Bush administration continued to describe, of an Iraq that was both a stable democracy and an ally of the United States. Nor was that really the goal anymore, though no one had said so publicly. Under Petraeus, the American goal of transforming Iraq had quietly been scaled down. But even his less ambitious target of sustainable security would remain elusive, with no certainty of reaching it anytime soon.

Ricks also predicts that the US will have combat troops in Iraq until at least 2015.

External links

• Interview with Tom Ricks on The Gamble