Alpha

Starred review from June 7, 2021
New York Times reporter Philipps (Lethal Warriors) presents an enthralling, blow-by-blow account of the 2019 court-martial of U.S. Navy SEAL platoon chief Eddie Gallagher for stabbing a wounded ISIS prisoner to death. Philipps traces the history of the Navy’s special operations force from WWII through the Cold War and Vietnam, as SEALs “developed a rogue outsider status that they wore like a badge of honor.” In May 2017, Gallagher’s Alpha team entered Mosul, Iraq, to assist in the battle against entrenched ISIS fighters. As the platoon progressed across the ruined city, Gallagher began to behave “like some two-bit cult leader,” pitting team members against one another and committing such abuses as stealing personal items, deliberately firing at civilians, and putting the platoon into “pointlessly risky situations.” After returning to the U.S., some SEALs came forward with allegations that Gallagher had murdered a 17-year-old prisoner and then posed for a photo with the corpse. Philipps describes how President Trump and Fox News pundits came to Gallagher’s defense, and recounts the shocking events of the court-martial (which ended with Gallagher’s acquittal on all but one charge) in riveting detail. This is the definitive portrait of a saga that exposed deep fault lines within an elite fighting force.

Starred review from August 1, 2021

In June 2018, Navy SEAL Special Operations Chief Eddie Gallagher was arrested on capital charges, accused by members of his own platoon of having brutally murdered a teenage prisoner in Iraq (allegedly an ISIS combatant). Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Philipps (Wild Horse Country) delves deeply into Gallagher's 15-year SEAL career, his 2018 court-martial, and SEAL culture. Philipps conducted two dozen interviews and consulted court transcripts, confidential documents, and more to reveal Gallagher's character and the complexities of his accusers and defenders. Gallagher is depicted as a once-heroic, highly decorated SEAL who saw himself as a pirate and came to believe that killing one's opponent was the ultimate reward; his subordinates claim that, in addition to killing the teen prisoner, he killed civilians in Mosul. Philipps is at his best when recounting the unraveling of Gallagher's trial and how the seemingly strong case resulted in an acquittal. He writes that Gallagher was helped by a strong legal team and his wife Andrea, who led a "Free Eddie" campaign on Fox News that caught the attention of another supporter, President Trump. Gallagher resigned from the navy in 2019. VERDICT This often-gripping narrative will appeal to readers interested in U.S. military courts' prosecution of war crimes, or the mindsets of combatants in modern warfare.--Karl Helicher, formerly at Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A war story focused on "a generation of elite fighters who in the absence of any clear end to conflict, had to decide what the hell they were fighting for." Perhaps the most prominent American special forces unit, the SEALs enjoy a large readership for the steady stream of books recounting their exploits. This disturbing but gripping account by award-winning New York Times correspondent Philipps will appeal to a large audience but few SEAL admirers. Readers may remember the 2019 trial of veteran SEAL Eddie Gallagher for war crimes, including a 2017 murder in Mosul, Iraq. After a review of SEALs history, training, and operations in Iraq, Philipps delivers the result of years searching confidential Navy documents, court transcripts, service and medical records, thousands of text messages and emails, and interviews with current and former SEALs. They testified to Gallagher's erratic and dangerous conduct, which included not just murder, but lying to superiors, theft, narcotic addiction, sniping at obviously innocent civilians, and putting their own lives in danger by inexplicably foolish tactics. But the trial ran in parallel with a media blitz that described a "blue-eyed combat veteran jailed by his own government....Eddie was a real-life version of Rambo made for the Trump era." Fawning TV spots portrayed him as an old-school warrior "just trying to do what needed to be done when he was tattled on by pouty, politically correct millennials." Perhaps aware of how the winds were blowing, many SEALs who had complained to superiors waffled on the witness stand or never appeared. In the end, Gallagher was convicted of one minor charge and immediately pardoned by Trump, who proclaimed that he was exactly the sort of warrior that would make America great. He also fired Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer when, with the approval of SEAL and military brass, he sought to discipline Gallagher, who remains a regular on Fox News and other conservative media. Brilliant journalism that offers a deeply disquieting commentary on America's dysfunctional cultural divide.

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