Planning to Fail

In this book, Lebovic identifies a common pattern that explains how the US failed to accomplish its goals in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Planning to Fail presents a detailed analysis of American decision-making in chapters devoted to each of these conflicts. It shows the same basic bias, at each of four stages of intervention. Such bias left US leaders working less than they should have when conditions permitted good choices, and then working fruitlessly when conditions left them with only bad choices.