Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer

Where Men Win Glory the Odyssey of Pat Tillman

By Jon Krakauer

I have recently read Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. I started taking notes to get background information on why we are in the Middle East today. Little did I know it would take this many pages to understand the corrupt, backhanded, shifty ways of every nation involved in this situation. I’m stunned, shocked, confused, angry, and appalled at the lengths the government, as well as others, will go to control and lie about virtually anything. To fully understand the entire book (Since this is just mostly my notes and comments toward the book) I have provided an overview to skim through.

The overview from Amazon.com – “In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.
Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman’s own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman’s wife, other family members, and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman’s name to promote his administration’s foreign policy. Long after Tillman’s nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible.
In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer draws on Tillman’s journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research on the ground in Afghanistan to render an intricate mosaic of this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death. Before he enlisted in the army, Tillman was familiar to sports aficionados as an undersized, overachieving Arizona Cardinals safety whose virtuosity in the defensive backfield was spellbinding. With his shoulder-length hair, outspoken views, and boundless intellectual curiosity, Tillman was considered a maverick. America was fascinated when he traded the bright lights and riches of the NFL for boot camp and a buzz cut. Sent first to Iraq—a war he would openly declare was “illegal as hell” —and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by complicated, emotionally charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, patriotism, and masculine pride, and he was determined to serve his entire three-year commitment. But on April 22, 2004, his life would end in a barrage of bullets fired by his fellow soldiers.
Krakauer chronicles Tillman’s riveting, tragic odyssey in engrossing detail highlighting his remarkable character and personality while closely examining the murky, heartbreaking circumstances of his death. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer’s storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war. “

Crazy right?

Also, the revised edition of this book which came out in 2010, (The first version came out the year before), was updated to reflect new developments and includes new material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

This Act, abbreviated, FOIA, is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures and grants nine exemptions to the statute. (Info via Wikipedia)

So, with all this overview and background information, here are my notes.

My comments of the book are in GREEN.

WMWG Part 1; 1989

1989 ... (Soviet – Afghan War)

·         Soviets were controlling Afghanistan.

·         U.S. didn’t want Soviets in Afghanistan – U.S. gives arms and weapons to Afghanistan to provoke Soviets.

·         Soviets fight with Afghanistan – Soviet Union finally leaves.

·         Soviets left, they put Mohammed Najibullah in control of Afghanistan as president – so he would be the Soviet Union’s puppet government in the Middle East, basically still controlling everything without physically being there. Turns into Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Najibullah was part of the secret police in Afghanistan and was a brutal person that tortured and killed many people.

·         Soviets continued to give arms to Najibullah.

·         March 1989 ... U.S. worked with Pakistan’s intelligence service – ISI – to get the Mujahedeen (the holy people that disproved of the Soviet Union’s puppet government in their Afghanistan) to attack the city of Jalalabad – A DRA (Democratic Republic of Afghanistan) stronghold.

·         Osama Bin Laden was one of the Mujahedeen commanders. So the U.S. got involved in Afghanistan and actually helped this guy? I was shocked.

·         Over the next 3 months, neither the Mujahedeen nor the DRA lost or gained any ground – became standoff with many killings.

·         Also during all this fighting, the Mujahideens were a group of people with many different backgrounds, ethnic groups, and religions. So while they were fighting the DRA, there were also many conflicts within this group of people.

·         The Mujahedeen’s withdrew from Jalalabad in July 1989.

·         During this time the Opium trade started because when the Soviets and Afghans were fighting, the Soviets wiped out all of the irrigation systems, leaving nothing able to grow but opium, so many people were getting hooked on this drug.

·         Mujahedeen’s started fighting one another to control the new drug trade – all said to be “in the name of God”.

·         And even though the Soviets had pulled out of Afghanistan, the CIA continued to provide the Afghan holy warriors with 250$ million per year as a counterbalance to the billions spent by the Soviet Union to prop up the DRA.

·         During this time Bin Laden left Afghanistan and went to Saudi Arabia because of the Mujahedeen infighting. He inspired many Arab Jihads to go to the conflict – al-Qaeda training camps instructed them in guerilla warfare.

WMWG Part 2; 1991

1991...

·         April 1991 ... Holy warriors – (Haqqani’s forces; Haqqani is one of the major Mujahedeen’s trying to fight to control Afghanistan) Overran the DRA in Khost City. Khost city was the first major Afghan urban center to come under Mujahedeen control since Soviets invasion.

·         Then, 6 months later the Soviet Union collapsed and Najibullah (the president of Afghanistan for the Soviets.) Stopped getting money and support from the Soviet Union/Russia.

·         DRA was doomed since it ran out of fuel, food etc. DRA soldiers deserted in droves to join the Mujahedeen forces. Since the Mujahedeen’s still had food and control.

·         Mujahedeen warlords wanted to try and capture Kabul City – where the seat of Najibullah’s government was.

People started calling the Mujahedeen “warlords” when they all started fighting over the drug trade.

·         Here are some Mujahedeen Warlords that’ll you’ll be hearing more of in the next couple years –

Abdul Rasul Sayyaf – He had close ties with Bin Laden

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar – received $$$ from the CIA. Close ties with Haqqani

Ahmed Shah Massoud

They come into the story at a very pivotal part later. (They all wanted to overrun Kabul and win the power)

·         Abdul Rashid Dostum (A very high commander in the DRA.) A commander that fought against the Mujahedeen forces for Najibullah – turned on them and took most of the tanks, aircraft, and 40,000 soldiers to join forces with Massoud against the DRA.

·         Najibullah recognized his regime was doomed and made a press conference to try and tell the U.S. to stop funding the ‘Forces of Jihad’ (Mujahedeen warlords). He told the U.S. we had a joint struggle (The U.S. fighting alongside with Afghanistan against this kind of fundamentalism.) “Afghanistan will be turned into a center for terrorism.” – Najibullah. So Najibullah agreed he’d step down as president and work with the United Nations to effect a peaceful transition of power.

·         After this, some officials in the George H. W. Bush’s Administration wanted the U.S. to take this opportunity to keep Jihads like Hekmatyar from taking control. But because of a Cold War mind set in the CIA – since the Soviet Union no longer existed, America no longer had any reason for still being involved in these affairs. So the U.S. washed his hands of Afghan affairs and walked away.

This upset me. The U.S. it seems always has to stick their hands into the business of other nations. It might be with good intentions, but without good leadership and the analysis of all the facts and options, I think that is where we run into problems. How could we leave a nation we’ve supported with money and weapons for the last few years? Isn’t it obvious the people of these nations would become resentful toward us, the U.S.?

·         Najibullah stepped down as Mujahedeen forces moved in on Kabul.

·         Osama bin Laden worked to help form a power-sharing cooperation between Hekmatyar and Massoud; since these were the main people vying for power. But Hekmatyar did not want to share.

WMWG Part 3; 1993

1993...

·         So Massoud and Dostum jumped on Kabul and took control.

·         During this time of all the greedy power grabbing, many people kept switching sides and fighting over Kabul.

·         February 26^th, 1993 ... Car bomb went off under the World Trade Center, it supposedly could’ve knocked the entire building down if it had been parked closer to the structure, but it was somewhat minor and only 6 people died. The car bomb was made and detonated by Ramzi Yousef, under the supervision of his uncle Khalid Sheik Mohammed – the man who was later found to be the principal architect of the 9-11 attacks.

WMWG Part 4; 1994

1994...

·         During all this commotion, the civil wars between the rival ethnic groups trying to control the drug trade was still going on. “Checkpoints” were popping up everywhere along major roads and highways. (A drug checkpoint is basically when a group of people flag your car down and force you to give them cash money, for drugs and the like.)

·         When Mohammed Omar was stopped at 5 different checkpoints on the same road, he became infuriated. Omar wanted to take down the checkpoints and stop the extortion. And this was basically how the Taliban was created. Omar went to the holy men of the surrounding villages – “Students of Islam” and told them they needed to help take down these checkpoints. So they helped. Also, the warlords were into child sex slavery, so when Omar went and killed the warlords he’d go and free all the children as well. Many locals began offering the Taliban to help with their other disputes. Omar was seen kind of like a Robin Hood figure. He told people he didn’t want any reward or credit, just that people follow him to set up a just Islamic System in Afghanistan.

My head started spinning when I read this. I have never in my 16 years of life heard that the Taliban used to be good people (Well, good intentions first off...)

·         Where did this sudden martyr come from? Well apparently Omar had a vision where Allah chose him as the one person to bring peace to Afghanistan.

·         During all of these wars young boys with their families fled as refugees to Pakistan. Well, Omar went over there and recruited young boys and men to join the cause.

·         Pakistan’s ISI (Like the CIA) funded and supported the Taliban during this time. The Why? Pakistan saw the Taliban as an effective need against internal aggression. Also they wanted the Taliban to stop the checkpoints and warlords on the Afghan highways (Pakistan had a lot of trucking companies that drove on these roads frequently).

·         By killing and driving away the Mujahedeen warlords, the Taliban received more money from Pakistan and ultimately controlled this entire province.

WMWG Part 5; 1995

1995...

·         By this time the Taliban had 25,000 Jihads and controlled half the provinces in Afghanistan and kept advancing throughout the nation.

·         Because of the sheer number of the Taliban, many mujahedeen’s surrendered, including Haqqani.

·         Omar, in my opinion, started taking a turn for the worse. He decreed that women cannot work, go to school, or can be alone in public without a man to supervise her. He banned things seen as ‘unclean’ like movies, singing, dancing, computers, T.V’s, nail polish, etc.

·         No one really did or said anything about this change because other nations were hopeful that the Taliban would replace the anarchy of the Afghan government and restore order to Afghanistan.

·         Taliban continued to take over Afghanistan, got more Pakistani reinforcements, and captured Herat City.

WMWG Part 6; 1996

1996...

·         This year opens with Massoud, Hekmatyar and Dostum fighting to control Kabul. These 3 joined forces to fight off the Taliban, and they were called the ‘Northern Alliance’.

·         Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are giving money to the Taliban. With this funding, the Taliban surrounded Kabul and cut off all resources to the city. The Alliance surrendered in September and the Taliban moved in.

·         One of the first things they did was to go to the U.N. compound where Najibullah had been staying since stepping down, and beat, castrated, dragged him by the back of a truck, before finally shooting him and hanging him from a pole in the center of Kabul.

I was shocked too the first time I read that. But this man was also a brutal person who very well could’ve tortured people in similar ways.

·         Many people were shocked that Omar actually did this, because his image moved drastically fast from Robin Hood to making Kabul a blood bath.

·         The Taliban now governed the country.

·         During the Soviet occupation, apparently the CIA gave Afghan Freedom Fighters (the Mujahedeen forces and what not) 2,300 missiles. Now they are probably in the hands of the Taliban and possible warlords.

(Confidential memos the CIA make can be deemed no longer important and be declassified and released to the public. Probably where Krakauer got a lot of his information.)

·         During this time, Bin Laden came back from Saudi Arabia, when he left the conflict in Afghanistan in 1990. Where was Bin Laden for 6 years? Well -

In 1990, when Bin Laden was in Saudi Arabia, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Bin Laden wanted to take veterans from the Soviet-Afghan war to take and fight Saddam Hussein. Well instead of the Saudi royal family taking Bin Laden’s advice, they had the U.S. send 300,000 soldiers over. Bin Laden got angry. Bin Laden started openly criticizing the royal family and the U.S.

So in 1992, Bin Laden went to Sudan (In Africa) and started training camps to teach men to make bombs and other terrorist things like guerilla warfare. The CIA saw this as suspicious and asked the president of Sudan to ask Bin Laden to stop the terrorist training camps or leave Sudan. Bin Laden left Sudan but not before he vowed to get revenge on the U.S. for doing this.

So by 1996 Bin Laden is out of Sudan, thoroughly mad at the U.S., and headed back to Afghanistan; Where the Northern Alliance gave Bin Laden a new home in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Which I think happened because they wanted Bin Laden to help them defeat the Taliban.

I’ve been wondering if Bin Laden always hated the U.S. like this and if he had been planning on destroying us longer than we think he has... or if his hatred and resent grew during this time and he just made it up as he went along?

·         When the Taliban defeated the Northern Alliance, Bin Laden switched over to their side.

·         Omar and Bin Laden started spending a lot of time together

I think that Bin Laden was looking for someone who had the most power and money, so he would have the ultimate protection for when he started his attacks on the U.S. I think he waved the fact that he could open training camps to teach the Taliban forces guerrilla warfare and bomb making in front of their faces so they agreed to protect him. He follows the flow of money and power. Clever.

·         Apparently someone in Afghanistan got a hold of some CIA books on bombs and that is how they are learning to make bombs to use again the U.S.

·         Here’s an overview of what the money flow looked liked ---

o   Saudi Arabia Sending money to the Taliban

o   But Saudi Arabia is working with the CIA to keep a watch on Bin Laden and al-Qaeda

o   Saudi Arabia is supporting Pakistan’s ISI by giving them money as well

o   The ISI favored the Taliban and Bin Laden alliance, so they were sending them money.

·         And remember, the CIA had been working with the ISI during the Soviet-Afghan War. But now the CIA did not like Bin Laden and the ISI still liked him.

·         “Having secured the Taliban’s protection, he [Bin Laden] was free to start building the most efficient terrorist organization the world has ever seen.” – Journalist, Jason Burke. November 2001.