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MWSA Review
Zone of Action is a first-hand account of a different side of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. While the coalition’s bombs fell and ground forces rolled over the wire, Lt. Col. Kirk G. Warner and his JAG team refined and enforced the rules of engagement and advised senior leadership on legal matters. When Baghdad fell, they moved in to rebuild and reform a shattered legal system built on the vestiges of decades of brutal repression. The author’s compilation of journal entries, essays and emails follow the action from the command centers of Kuwait to the streets and courtrooms of Baghdad, and beyond.
Entertaining and informative, the book is a front-row seat to historically significant events with key actors, some of which the reader may find familiar. The vivid accounts read like a series of boisterous adventures as Warner zips around Iraq on C-130s, helicopters, and Humvee gun-trucks. The reader rides along as Warner works to reconstruct a fair and effective court system, dismantle the mechanisms of the fallen dictator’s reign of terror, and addresses high-profile criminal activity.
Warner’s colorful prose, descriptive narrative, and wit provide an immersive reading experience. Touching side-stories and anecdotes about living in an active war zone add depth and humanity. While there is repetition, a few editing opportunities, and a heavy dose of military jargon, the book’s readability improves after the first few sections, and the author provides a glossary. Certain gallows humor and a clear pro-war stance give the book an authentic flavor and energy that might turn off certain readers, but this doesn’t detract from its central premise.
Zone of Action is a stimulating read and a testament to a talented team of legal professionals who successfully accomplished a monumental task in the face of overwhelming odds. It should appeal to a wide audience, in particular, fans of military and political history, and legal fiction and non-fiction.
MWSA Review by Ingo Kaufman (March 2022)
Author's Synopsis
Zone of Action is a front-row seat to major combat operations, leadership, tragedy, and nation-building. These are the war-theater observations of a senior Army JAG constantly in the thick of the war, the occupation, and the Iraqi community. He tells the inside-the-war-room story of Operations Cobra II and Iraqi Freedom during the march to Baghdad and the nation-building beyond. It details his official and inner journeys and those of soldiers and Iraqis encountered along the way. It reveals the sacrifice of many unsung heroes and the challenges of liberating and occupying a broken country. It shows the character of our soldiers and leaders . . . and the occasional lack of it. But above all things, it is an honest, often humorous romp through war by someone deep in the arena.
ISBN/ASIN: ISBN 978-1-64663-139-1, ISBN 978-1-64663-137-7, ISBN 978-1-64663-138-4, Library of Congress Control Number: 2020911734
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 302