I think when war becomes your life, I think it's very difficult to have the proper perspective to be able to create… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
I think when war becomes your life, I think its very difficult to have the proper perspective to be able to create… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Despite failing to get bin Laden, the U.S. government and media portrayed the early Afghanistan war as a great victory. — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
My younger brother is a decorated combat veteran and was a platoon leader in Iraq. — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
After a decade of war you have this Pentagon-military apparatus run amok using resources that they shouldn't be to try to manipulate… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
An information operations team was sent to Afghanistan to conduct various psychological operations on the Afghans and Taliban. The team was then… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
If the thumbnail version of the Iraq war was that Bush lied about WMD, the thumbnail version of Obama's war in Afghanistan… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
A state department official once told me this about the role of the president. He said: "We wage war for realist reasons,… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
And there's this talk that we're asking soldiers to make the greatest sacrifice, but the reality is that civilians bear the burden… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
I have to admit that the empty prestige and the stupid glory - yes, the horrible rush, the deadly sense of importance… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The guys on the ground are the guys I care about. I've had the most satisfaction telling their stories. But when you're… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The use of drones is rapidly transforming the way we go to war. On the battlefield, a squad leader can receive real-time… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The idea of aerial military surveillance dates back to the Civil War, when both the Union and the Confederacy used hot-air balloons… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Inside the White House there were always extreme amounts of doubt about whether they should be escalating in Afghanistan. In fact, most… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The frightening aspect is that it's part of a larger effort from the Pentagon to tear down the wall between public affairs… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Even on just the career level for your average officer, there's no incentive to end the wars. There's not even an incentive… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The minute you start arming people in these conflict zones, things don't go as expected. We also need to look at precedent… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
I was very fortunate to have fallen in love with an amazing woman. She was killed in a very horrible, horrific way… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
It was interesting watching the Afghanistan war review deliberations, this three-month process where Barack Obama did the most thorough foreign policy review… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
When you go into a country like Libya where a large chunk of the population wants the old regime back you could… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Gore Vidal, Glenn Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, all these guys talk about how the United States became a national security state after World… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The humanitarian argument is so selective I find it difficult to swallow. It's not even so much about the choice as to… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Gore Vidal, Glenn Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, talk about how the U.S. became a national security state after World War II. Essentially there's… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
By the time of Andi Parhamovich death, I had already grown skeptical of the Iraq war. What her death made me realize… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The military sensed weakness, exploited it and played Barack Obama. Obama's foreign policy has been consistently hawkish despite this reluctant warrior schtick… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
I have a deep-seated skepticism about the morality of violence. Violence is almost always morally corrosive. — Michael Hastings Copy Share
The humanitarian argument is so selective I find it difficult to swallow. It's not even so much about the choice as to where we… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
If Bill O'Reilly is calling you a far-left critic, in my book, no matter what your political persuasion is, that's probably - that probably… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
I'm post-cynical on this stuff. I look at the El Salvador model as the glory days: Why don't we just fund the death squads… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
Whether or not Afghanistan would be a peaceful nation-state had we not gone into Iraq I doubt. Afghanistan is going to be Afghanistan, no… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
One of their major initiatives was getting all officers on Facebook. So the question is, why are these people who are there to train… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
It was interesting watching the Afghanistan war review deliberations, this three-month process where Barack Obama did the most thorough foreign policy review ever by… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
Inside the White House there were always extreme amounts of doubt about whether they should be escalating in Afghanistan. In fact, most of the… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
The State Department is essentially... I was going to use the word useless. But I don't know if that's correct. — Michael Hastings Copy Share
If someone tells you something is off the record, I don't print it. If they don't tell me something is off the record, then… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
If you polled the military in Afghanistan as to how many think we should be there or not, the numbers would probably be similar… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
Afghanistan would have been difficult enough without Iraq. Iraq made it impossible. The argument that had we just focused on Afghanistan we'd now be… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
“Her name has been released to the press. Her photograph is released, too. I want to talk to the press about it. I don't… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
The frightening aspect is that it's part of a larger effort from the Pentagon to tear down the wall between public affairs and propaganda,… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
An information operations team was sent to Afghanistan to conduct various psychological operations on the Afghans and Taliban. The team was then asked not… — Michael Hastings Copy Share
![“An information operations team was sent to Afghanistan to conduct various psychological operations on the Afghans and Taliban. The team was then asked not to focus on the Taliban but on manipulating senators into giving more funds and troops [to the war].” quote by Michael Hastings](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/44d/michael-hastings-6810_afghanistan_an-information-operations-team-was-sent_395510.png)
