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
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
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
My younger brother is a decorated combat veteran and was a platoon leader in Iraq. — 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
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 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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 a deep-seated skepticism about the morality of violence. Violence is almost always morally corrosive. — 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 where we… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
