The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama Book

Maps xi

Prologue xvii

Part 1 Iraqi Freedom: The Occupation and its Discontents, 2003-2006

1 Desert Crossing 3

2 Politics of the Gun 19

3 "Sovereignty with Limits" 40

4 Vigilant Resolve 56

5 A Lost Cause? 74

6 Our Man in Baghdad 88

7 New Dawn 106

8 The Long Telegram 127

9 Papa Jaafari 142

10 The Red Team 158

11 The Year of Living Dangerously 180

12 Together Forward 204

13 The Perfect Storm 220

14 Out West 240

Part 2 Double Down: The Surge and its Aftermath, 2006-2008

15 Some Friendly Advice 267

16 Back to the Drawing Board 287

17 League of the Righteous 312

18 Petraeus Takes Command 329

19 The Enemy within 351

20 The Former-Insurgent Counterinsurgency 369

21 Phantom Thunder 389

22 The USS CENTCOM 410

23 General Petraeus Goes to Washington 429

24 No Plan B 449

25 Charge of the Knights 464

26 March Madness 484

27 Strange Justice 505

Part 3 New Dawn: Obama, Maliki, and Beyond, 2008-2012

28 Let's Make a Deal 523

29 The Home Stretch 542

30 Change at the Top 560

31 The Odd Couple 581

32 Trouble up North 599

33 Crises of Confidence 614

34 Team of Rivals 628

35 The Numbers Game 651

36 Mission Accomplished 672

Epilogue 685

Acknowledgments 693

Notes 697

Index 767