The genius of David Petraeus has always been his masterful manipulation of the media. Michael Hastings More Quotes by Michael Hastings More Quotes From Michael Hastings The simple and terrifying reality, forbidden from discussion in America, was that despite spending $600 billion a year on the military, despite having the best fighting force the world had ever known, they were getting their asses kicked by illiterate peasants who made bombs out of manure and wood. Michael Hastings fightingmilitaryreality A woman I loved [Andi Parhamovich] was killed in Baghdad in January 2007 – al-Qaeda in Iraq took credit for it … The memorial service with me crying over an empty coffin. Michael Hastings baghdadmemorialiraq I have a deep-seated skepticism about the morality of violence. Violence is almost always morally corrosive. Michael Hastings skepticismmoralityviolence Gore Vidal, Glenn Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, talk about how the U.S. became a national security state after World War II. Essentially there's this bipartisan foreign policy elite who've been calling the shots for the last few decades and they're clearly still in control regardless of how clownish or absurd they demonstrate themselves to be. There's no shaking their orthodoxy. To me it was the most depressing thing, these full-scale military interventions firsthand for a number of years, seeing how quickly we can get involved in another war with very little debate. Michael Hastings depressingmilitarywar The idea of aerial military surveillance dates back to the Civil War, when both the Union and the Confederacy used hot-air balloons to spy on the other side, tracking troop movements and helping to direct artillery fire. Michael Hastings militaryairwar General McChrystal wanted to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Michael Hastings rolling-stonesrollingstones I had a recurring fantasy in which I took (Rudy Giuliani) out during a press conference (it was nonlethal, just something that put him out of commission for a year or so), saving America from the horror of a President Giuliani. If that sounds like I had some trouble being 'objective,' I did. Michael Hastings presidentamericayears I made this bad joke on Twitter saying, "I want to put in my first no-bid contract to train the Libyan army and police force." These counter-insurgency guys like to say, "We don't do the big F-16 or big boondoggle projects, we're not pulling this stuff because it's good business." But in fact it turns out there are tons of business opportunities involving counter-insurgency operations - and it's not like we're getting rid of the boondoggle programs either, we're just doing more of everything. Michael Hastings armyguyopportunity I think when war becomes your life, I think its very difficult to have the proper perspective to be able to create a fully balanced policy. Michael Hastings perspectivewarthinking I thought Gen. McChrystal was unfireable, that his position was secure. Michael Hastings secureposition I want to be the greatest investigative reporter of my generation. Michael Hastings greatest-generationgenerationswant The military sensed weakness, exploited it and played Barack Obama. Obama's foreign policy has been consistently hawkish despite this reluctant warrior schtick that he pulls. But at the end of the day a reluctant warrior is still a warrior. Look at the drone strikes, the tripling of the war in Afghanistan, and now Libya. I'm convinced that had Obama been in the Senate in 2003 he would have voted for the Iraq war. He's clearly easily convinced by his advisers and the Pentagon. Michael Hastings weaknessmilitarywar During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the military conducted only a handful of drone missions. Michael Hastings invasioniraqmilitary By the second sentence of a pitch, the entirety of the story should be explained. Michael Hastings sentencesshouldstories Despite failing to get bin Laden, the U.S. government and media portrayed the early Afghanistan war as a great victory. Michael Hastings mediagovernmentwar Inside the White House there were always extreme amounts of doubt about whether they should be escalating in Afghanistan. In fact, most of the president's advisers said, "This is probably not going to work." A lot of people in the military said, "This is probably not going to work." If the thumbnail version of the Iraq war was that George W.Bush lied about mass destruction weapons, the thumbnail version of Barack Obama's war in Afghanistan is that the generals pushed him into a war he didn't want to fight. Michael Hastings fightingmilitarywar The fact is, psychiatric help is not widely available to CIA agents - and as in the military, there is a stigma attached to admitting post-traumatic stress. Michael Hastings cia-agentsstressmilitary When writing for a mass audience, put a fact in every sentence. Michael Hastings masswritingfacts Look, I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising. Michael Hastings advertisingjournalismlooks One of their major initiatives was getting all officers on Facebook. So the question is, why are these people who are there to train the Afghans being pressured to be on Facebook? Again, it sounds benign until you realize that the military's concern isn't the Afghans, it's convincing the American people that we should be in Afghanistan.Soldiers can put up pictures and say "See how happy the Afghans are because of our presence here." It's a way to directly influence the American people using propaganda. Michael Hastings realizingsoldierpeople
