It gave me a certain pride to learn that Anand Gopals remarkable book on Americas strange, crazed war in Afghanistan, No Good Men Among the Living, has been listed for the National Book Awards this year! Its from the American Empire Project series I co-edit and co-publish at Metropolitan Books and theres nothing else like it. At Truthout this week, former Army Ranger and conscientious objector Rory Fanning wrote a superb review of it, explaining up close and personal why the book mattered to him and should matter to the rest of us as well. Heres his final paragraph (the beginning ones follow below): Give this book to anyone you know who plans on joining the US military or blames Islam for the US occupation of Afghanistan - they are sure to rethink their position after reading it. There is hope, much humanity, and the power to end our unending wars in Gopals magnificent work. Tom It has been more than a decade since I trudged through the mountains of Afghanistan, and drove over the countrys broken roads for the 2nd US Army Ranger battalion. I did two tours in the country. The first, in 2002, was willingly. The second, in 2004, was by force after declaring conscientious objector status. Leaving the Rangers as a CO was one of the most difficult challenges of my life. There are many reasons I left, some of which I am still coming to understand - Anand Gopals book No Good Men Among the Living has helped me reconcile these reasons more than any of the many books Ive read on Afghanistan. Gopals book answers the questions that haunted me both during and after my tours: What were the women who would peek out from second floor windows in dusty clay homes feeling as we barreled down their streets in armored Humvees with 50-calibur machine guns at the ready? Were those who fired Cold War-era Russian rockets at our camps motivated by knowing we would respond in kind with 500-pound bombs dropped from jets? What went through the minds of Afghan men when we stormed into their homes, threw sandbags over their heads in night raids? Why did so many of our missions seem like we were little more than pawns in village disputes? Were we preventing another 9/11? Did they really hate us for our freedom? Was it Islam that was creating terrorists - or was it US imperialism? Gopal moved to Afghanistan in 2008, and for more than two years found the answers to these questions. He wasnt part of the embedded press crew that is vetted for their allegiance to the US mission. Gopal traveled to remote regions of the country on the most treacherous roads in the world to talk to those who were eye-witness to the Russian occupation in the 80s, the countrys Civil War in the 90s, and then the US occupation post 9/11. Gopal gets in-depth with a US-backed warlord, a Taliban fighter and a housewife. truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/26341-afghanistan-survival-skills
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 15:15:01 +0000
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