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Task Force Black |  | Author: Mark Urban
Publisher: Little, Brown
Category: Book
List Price: £17.99
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Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 4088
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 1408702649
EAN: 9781408702642
ASIN: 1408702649
Publication Date: February 18, 2010
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Product Description
* The real story of Britain's war in Iraq has never been told ? until now...
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 Good in parts July 19, 2010
Gary B (U.K.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I started off reading this book and was immediately gripped, but by half way through my interest was waning and I was glad to get to the end and put it down. The stories of the special forces operations were interesting. I was appalled at the amount of bickering within and between the US and UK armies - though perhaps we should question why the forces should be any different from other organisations. I learned that the US forces were a more effective military force than I had supposed and the UK forces in Basra less so. However, the book turned into a list of events rather than a narrative and shortly after half way I was questioning my resolve to see the mission through. I am not sure whether I would tackle another of this author's books, though some reviews are saying his other books are better.
Average July 2, 2010
Emsworth Hermit (Hants)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bit disappointed with this. It seems a lot of the interesting stuff has been heavily edited, leaving just the military politics & some brief outlines of some very heroic missions. I understand the reasons for this but it's borderline false advertising. I do feel a bit more educated as to the situation that evolved in Iraq after DS2 but ultimately it's a heavy-read, clearly written by a journalist from a newsy-type perspective.
It seems that Special Forces spent a lot of their time justifying their presence there after the initial plan of finding WMDs was completely scuppered (& doing a sterling job at that) but again i'm left with the feeling that our troops shouldn't be there dying for this pointless cause, & that it's all going to go pear shaped as soon as the ultimate withdrawal finally happens anyway. The Iraqi Govt will clearly topple the second that Western Forces are out of there.
 Book Review - Task Force Black June 4, 2010
CJ Horwood (Hampshire UK)
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this book because I was there as part of TFB. I just wanted to see how it was being reported. It was a really enjoyable read and contained lots of good stuff about the time that TFB was in Iraq.
 The SAS...wow! June 1, 2010
Valak (London)
I liked this work but for one minor problem: it was missing a map of Iraq. There was a lot in the book about various regions/districts/provinces for which it would have helped to be able to locate. Other than that, I felt it was a good narrative on the contribution of British Special Forces in the conflict in Iraq.
As I read the book, I remembered a number of the events described from the media coverage which helped with the narrative. The author displays considerable skill in being able to weave a number of seemingly disparate events into a coherent narrative. My respect for our special forces hit a new high after reading this book. I hope to find a similar narrative for Coalition troops and/or specials ops in Afghanistan.
Fascinating, but needs a good editor May 19, 2010
Sarkasti (Disley, Cheshire, United Kingdom)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Mark Urban has knowledge, insight and decent enough writing skills to make this a thoroughly worthwhile read. It appears to be an honest account; I really don't have the knowledge to make that an authoritative judgement, but why would he present bias? He has clearly researched the topic thoroughly, at least from the UK and American sides. Presenting an Iraqi point of view is not the mission of this book and that is not a criticism. I did, however, find it immensely frustrating to read and the publisher is at fault for not imposing a radical edit. I am not suggesting that material should be excluded, but the book needs illustrative aids and glossaries. There are a few maps and diagrams at the front - low-detail maps of Baghdad and Basra and three diagrams of particular raids. Putting all of these at the front is lazy editing - the diagrams should be placed in context, they could have been more detailed and more informative and the maps could also have been more informative. There should have been more of these diagrams to illustrate particular events; a picture really is worth a large number of words. Urban is very fond of acronyms. Mostly he defines these at first use, but not always. Even when defined, their reuse later in the book can cause confusion. He should have provided a glossary of acronyms and another glossary of individuals to remind the reader of their job/role in the narrative. This could have been helped by some diagrams of the trees of command. All of these changes could be implemented for the paperback edition. So, thank you, Mark Urban for a fascinating book...now lean on Little Brown to get their act together and edit and illustrate this book properly.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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