Where Men Win Glory

The other day I knocked out the last of my 5 books for my Fuller class and so I celebrated by picking up the latest by Jon Krakauer. Krakauer is one of my favorites, you might know his most famous work, Into Thin Air. Where Men Win Glory is the story of Pat Tillman, NFL star turned Army Ranger, who died by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.

As usual in a Krakauer book, the writing is good, the reporting comprehensive. Krakauer weaves the story of Tillman's life together with the story of the birth and growth of al Qaeda, with a brief history of U.S. foreign policy in that part of the world tossed in for fun. A couple of things stand out after devouring these 350ish pages in like 2 days.

First, the shifty, ever-changing nature of U.S. relationships in that part of the world. What a headache! Often when I hear politicians talk about U.S. policy in places like Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan, it sounds so straightforward. Then again, that's the job of a politician, I suppose, because in truth it's anything but. One day, we are encouraging, training and funding Osama bin Laden during the Soviet occupation. The next day, we're spending trillions to hunt him down. It's maddening. If you are someone who needs easy answers and black/white types of situations, stay out of that region of the globe!

Next, the fog of war is real. Krakauer's recitations of various battles are comprehensive, and they paint a picture of a confusing, complex reality. Communications collapse, plans go out the window seconds into the engagement, even the best trained soldiers panic, commanders in an office are disconnected from the reality in the field, etc. It's a mess, and it's a wonder that there are not more friendly fire incidents then there tragically are.

Finally, the power (and necessity) of the truth. Really, in Where Men Win Glory, it's the Bush administration that comes out the bad guys. Tillman is clearly and tragically killed by friendly fire, everyone knows this, but because the government wants good PR, the truth is suppressed. People fabricate stories, lie to families, lose documents, don't follow procedures, etc. It's totally tragic. I mean, war is bad enough, it shouldn't be compounded by lies or half-truths (because, really, don't they always come out?). Even with the recent bin Laden raid, let's wait until the story is clear, then tell it fully. Seems to me that the families, the public, the world are owed nothing less.