“Over a thirty-five-year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top-level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions, unusual for a general. Now, as a witness to all levels of military command, Bolger offers a unique assessment of these wars, from 9/11 to the final withdrawal from the region. Writing with hard-won experience and unflinching honesty, Bolger makes the firm case that in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we lost — but we didn’t have to. Intelligence was garbled. Key decision makers were blinded by spreadsheets or theories. And, at the root of our failure, we never really understood our enemy. Why We Lost is a timely, forceful, and compulsively readable account of these wars from a fresh and authoritative perspective.”
The watch is the rugged Luminox Nighthawk, appropriate for the battlefield.
Hard to say we lost when what would constitute winning was never defined. By some measures, we certainly won.
This watch reminds me of the Ball. Very bold.
‘Key decision-makers blinded by spreadsheets and theories…’ like Covid 19 ‘experts…?’ In other words, inadequate leadership coupled with a gullible to flat out naive public.
Exactly. Because government is the problem not the solution.
And the pen?
Visconti fountain pen.