during the battle. After Brynes convinces Sedak to retire and start a competitive security fi rm that caters to the smaller companies that also want in on the deal, troops and contractors invade the Middle East where combat is just beginning within a chaotic environment fueled by depravity, greed, murder, and heroism. But as the clock ticks away and more lives are lost, everyone wonders if America can ever win a war based on an illegal premise. War and Forbearance shares a powerful tale about modern warfare, its corruptions, successes, and troubling effects on its participants as America stumbles into Iraq in a post-September 11, 2001 world.