Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

"We changed the world and then we fucked the endgame."

Steve Coll had a similar tale in his excellent Ghost Wars where he used a lot of material from station chief Milt Bearden.

Very inspiring movie on two fronts.
Since I transitioned out of the military, I hadn't realized how much I missed being connected to these issues.

Also made me realized that while doing some of things portrayed in the movie may not be exactly the model to follow, it does show that being true to who you are is just as important as doing what you do.

The story in the movie is great. I admire how it shed light on what many consider the edge effects of war. The scene at the refugee camp left my jaw on the floor.

Strongly suggest you read the book... it is even more entertaining and fills in a lot of details that the film misses.

Just finished the book. All I can say is, "WOW!!"
Great review of the Cold War, a look at how the CIA and Congress work (It ain't pretty!), How we ended up where we did vis a vis the Islamists, how screwed up our government bureaucracies can be, and how some motivated people who don't care who gets the credit can make things happen.

On top of that it's a cracking good read.

Respectfully disagree with your final sentence.

Vonne's reading it for me.

Had to see it after reading the book. Went with another couple. They had to be reassured that it was not total fiction. I remember Dan Rather trying to bring the whole thing to the attention of the American public as he reported from the hills. He seemed a little goofy in his tribesmen getup.

One thing to remember is that the Russians did not leave until they could pretend that there was a local "government" in place. As I recall, one year to the date that they left, the Mujahideen hung the mayor of Kabul from a lamp post. Anyone think the folks in Baghdad could last a year?