We're very pleased to announce that Paul Rieckhoff will be joining us at the Clark Community Network on Tuesday, August 29 at 8:00 PM EDT/ 7:00PM CDT as a guest blogger. The conversation begins here.

Paul Rieckhoff is the executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) (formerly Operation Truth), the first and largest organization for veterans of the War on Terror and author of Chasing Ghosts - a scathing and riveting account of his experiences in Iraq and the difficulty in getting politicians and policy-makers to listen. Listen and take corrective action.

During his time in the Adamiyah section of central Baghdad, he led his light infantry platoon on hundreds of combat patrols with the 3rd Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions. He continues to serve his country as an Infantry Officer in the New York Army National Guard.

Rieckhoff is a nationally-recognized authority on the war in Iraq and issues affecting our troops, military families, and veterans at home. He is a frequent TV and radio commentator and has been featured across the country in numerous major national newspapers and magazines. He was named one of "America's Best and Brightest of 2004" by Esquire.

Take a moment to read or listen to the first chapter of Paul's book about his experiences in Iraq from Chasing Ghosts.

Chasing Ghosts is a scathing and riveting account of his experiences in Iraq and the difficulty in getting politicians and policy-makers to listen. Listen and take corrective action.

From: Chasing Ghosts:

I never thought America would make this mistake again. The Iraq War sounded too much like the Vietnam War. It had all the same flaws at its foundation: an unclear rationale, a guerilla enemy that was virtually indistinguishable from civilians, a culture we didn't understand at all, and tenuous public support. Millions of people all over the world were protesting the looming war, and nobody had even died yet. In his book The Long Gray Line, Rick Atkinson describes how, after Vietnam, Ross Perot once proposed building a war memorial that could be seen from the White House that bore this inscription: FIRST COMMIT THE NATION, THEN COMMIT THE TROOPS. How would the American public respond if things got bad?

I really could not believe this was happening: American infantrymen on a plane to a foreign land to execute the will of our President, and supposedly the will of our people. I guess I was out of touch with "the people," because a lot of people I knew were not gung-ho about this war-especially people with family members going to fight. If the President was going to take America to war, I thought he should have a bit better than fifty-one percent of the public behind it.

Using the 9/11 attacks as a justification for this war just didn't hold water in my opinion. The President had failed to prove to me that the Iraqis were in any way connected to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Yet he continued to use the emotional power of 9/11 to gain support for his controversial war-and tons of guys bought the rationale.

--Paul Rieckhoff
Chasing Ghosts
Chapter One: George Bush Had Better Be F*#@ing Right