Slapout,
I am not qualified to comment on much of the content of your thoughts, but I can heartily concur on Bowden and the products cited ...

Had a chance for a small group sitdown, following the publication of Blackhawk Down...

Real humble guy, who is sharp as a tack, but doesn't rely on those smarts to draw conclusions based on intuition... rather he researches and plugs away like a pit bull on the neck of an intruder.

The only author/thinker who impressed me as much was Robert Kaplan. Both excellent thinkers...