Rome's Wars in Parthia Blood in the Sand

The leader of an empire invades Iraq. He has inadequate intelligence and underestimates the resistance of the locals, but he believes his overwhelming military strength will bring him a swift victory. His army overruns the area between the Tigris and the Euphrates, but as soon as he occupies the area a massive insurgency arises, made up of various ethnic and religious groups. What began as a simple conquest for dominance bogs down in deadly fighting as the once-victorious commander-in-chief now desperately searches for an exit strategy.... This scenario could be any number of Roman campaigns, not to mention America in 2003 CE. Both ancient and modern attempts to invade Iraq have been plagued with the same problems. These problems have been caused by lack of adequate intelligence gathering, both strategic and tactical, and have resulted in long drawn out wars that have been costly in both money and manpower. Ultimately, they led to little political or military gain. Could more have been

Colonel Rose Mary Sheldon is Head of the Department of History at the Virginia Military Institute. Her books include Espionage in the Ancient World: An Annotated Bibliography (McFarland, 2003), Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome: Trust in the Gods, But Verify (Frank Cass, 2005), Spies of the Bible (Greenhill Books, 2007) and with Thijs Voskuilen, Operation Messiah: Saint Paul, Roman Intelligence and the Birth of Christianity (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2008).