{"quotes":[{"text":"[On one of his comrades depicted in the book:]'Sasha was my friend … Like me, he was 19. But he didn't come home. He was killed 12 hours after this photo was taken.","author":"Vladislav Tamarov","tags":["afghanistan","death","soldiers","war"],"id":2605,"author_id":"Vladislav+Tamarov"},{"text":"The only thing worse than his arrogance was his incompetence. He was a bully, behaving like an ass. I saw Angel though, not him. The memorial was right there, just outside the window. It’s in the flowers, and it makes me angry. Angel liked to sit on the couch, watch TV, eat chips. She hated outside. Maybe I should have been a bully and an ass to Angel’s parents. Maybe Angel and Grace would still be alive if I’d behaved like this piece of shit teacher.","author":"Tucker Elliot","tags":["9-11","9-11-01","afghanistan","dodds","education","germany","iraq","korea","military","terrorism","tucker-elliot"],"id":9954,"author_id":"Tucker+Elliot"},{"text":"This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans. As a civilian I owe an unpayable debt to all our military. Going forward let’s not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground. The men of WWII were the greatest generation, perhaps Korea the forgotten, Vietnam the trampled, Cold War unsung and Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan vets underestimated. Every generation has proved itself to be worthy to stand up to the precedent of the greatest generation. Going back to the Revolution American soldiers have been the best in the world. Let’s all take a remembrance for all veterans who served or are serving, peace time or wartime and gone or still with us. 11/11/16 May God Bless America and All Veterans.","author":"Thomas M Smith","tags":["afghanistan","airforce","america","army","coast-guard","coastguard","cold-war","combat","courage","freedom","honor","independence","iraq","korea","marine-corp","marines","memorial","memorial-day","military","navy","pj-s","rangers","revolution","revolutionary","sacrifice","seals","selflessness","service","socom","sof","veteran","veterans","vietnam","war"],"id":12582,"author_id":"Thomas+M+Smith"},{"text":"In the time that we're here today, more women and children will die violently in the Darfur region than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel or Lebanon. So, after September 30, you won't need the UN - you will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and headstones.","author":"George Clooney","tags":["9-11","afghanistan","darfur","death","global","iraq","israel","palestine","politics","un","united-nations","war"],"id":15212,"author_id":"George+Clooney"},{"text":"First Afghanistan, now Iraq. So who's next? Syria? North Korea? Iran? Where will it all end?' If these illegal interventions are permitted to continue, the implication seems to be, pretty soon, horror of horrors, no murderously repressive regimes might remain.","author":"Daniel Kofman","tags":["afghanistan","antiwar-movement","axis-of-evil","despotism","foreign-policy","foreign-policy-of-the-us","interventionism","iran","iraq","iraq-war","north-korea","repression","syria","war","war-in-afghanistan-2001-present"],"id":25821,"author_id":"Daniel+Kofman"},{"text":"During an hour-long conversation mid-flight, he laid out his theory of the war. First, Jones said, the United States could not lose the war or be seen as losing the war.'If we're not successful here,' Jones said, 'you'll have a staging base for global terrorism all over the world. People will say the terrorists won. And you'll see expressions of these kinds of things in Africa, South America, you name it. Any developing country is going to say, this is the way we beat [the United States], and we're going to have a bigger problem.' A setback or loss for the United States would be 'a tremendous boost for jihadist extremists, fundamentalists all over the world' and provide 'a global infusion of morale and energy, and these people don't need much.'Jones went on, using the kind of rhetoric that Obama had shied away from, 'It's certainly a clash of civilizations. It's a clash of religions. It's a clash of almost concepts of how to live.' The conflict is that deep, he said. 'So I think if you don't succeed in Afghanistan, you will be fighting in more places.'Second, if we don't succeed here, organizations like NATO, by association the European Union, and the United Nations might be relegated to the dustbin of history.'Third, 'I say, be careful you don't over-Americanize the war. I know that we're going to do a large part of it,' but it was essential to get active, increased participation by the other 41 nations, get their buy-in and make them feel they have ownership in the outcome.Fourth, he said that there had been way too much emphasis on the military, almost an overmilitarization of the war. The key to leaving a somewhat stable Afghanistan in a reasonable time frame was improving governance and the rule of law, in order to reduce corruption. There also needed to be economic development and more participation by the Afghan security forces.It sounded like a good case, but I wondered if everyone on the American side had the same understanding of our goals. What was meant by victory? For that matter, what constituted not losing? And when might that happen? Could there be a deadline?","author":"Bob Woodward","tags":["afghanistan","bob-woodward","foreign-policy","obama-s-wars","terrorism","united-states","war"],"id":32902,"author_id":"Bob+Woodward"},{"text":"In total this journey will take five flights and fifty-five hours, but in reality it began four decades and two generations ago when my uncle died in Vietnam.","author":"Tucker Elliot","tags":["9-11","9-11-10th-anniversary","afghanistan","dodds","education","germany","iraq","korea","military","terrorism","tucker-elliot"],"id":34442,"author_id":"Tucker+Elliot"},{"text":"For your own security it’s imperative you blend in with the native population.","author":"Tucker Elliot","tags":["9-11","afghanistan","dodds","education","germany","iraq","korea","military","terrorism","tucker-elliot"],"id":39817,"author_id":"Tucker+Elliot"},{"text":"Korea is often called the “Land of the Morning Calm.” It’s a country where you notice the filth and the smog on your first trip and you can’t imagine why you ever thought it was a good idea to visit. Then you meet the people and you walk among their culture and you get a sense there is something deeper beneath the surface, and before you know it, the smog doesn’t matter and the filth is gone—and in its place there is incredible beauty. The sun rises first over Japan, and as Korea is waiting for the earth to spin, for streaks of light to brighten its eastern sky, in that quiet moment there is a calmness that makes Korea the most beautiful country in the world.","author":"Tucker Elliot","tags":["9-11","afghanistan","dodds","education","germany","iraq","korea","military","terrorism","tucker-elliot"],"id":51202,"author_id":"Tucker+Elliot"},{"text":"I have the impression that our children are much more excited about going to school than children in other countries are. They think of it as a special privilege. Going to school, being with other children, getting books and pencils - all of that is like a dream for them.","author":"Cheryl Benard","tags":["afghanistan","education","privilege"],"id":51954,"author_id":"Cheryl+Benard"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":98,"pages":10,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}