What Are You Currently Reading? 2007

[goesh]

The Flower and the Rifle

Don't you see?
We are the same
my petal is the trigger
giving birth and death
the same mother
the trigger is my petal
giving death and birth
the same father
Don't you see?
we must carry the flower and the rifle
giving but one to the advancing stranger
who knows not of birth or death
but trods unknowing in Allah's world of motionless purity
the echo of falling petals and casings
brings His stillness
Don't you see?

attributed to Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
but not verified

I think I'm at the lower end of contemplation here, Tom

[SteveMetz]

The Flower and the Rifle

Don't you see?
We are the same
my petal is the trigger
giving birth and death
the same mother
the trigger is my petal
giving death and birth
the same father
Don't you see?
we must carry the flower and the rifle
giving but one to the advancing stranger
who knows not of birth or death
but trods unknowing in Allah's world of motionless purity
the echo of falling petals and casings
brings His stillness
Don't you see?

attributed to Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
but not verified

I think I'm at the lower end of contemplation here, Tom

Now, see, that's our problem--our warfighters are not poets. Well, except for the Marines, but most of their poems begin, "There was an old man from Nantucket..."

Military Review actually ran one of my ditties in their "war poetry" section last year.

[goesh]

In Jerusalem: by Mahmoud Darwish
(an excerpt)

.............
A woman soldier shouted:
Is that you again? Didn’t I kill you?
I said: You killed me . . . and I forgot, like you, to die.

[SWJED]

Now, see, that's our problem--our warfighters are not poets. Well, except for the Marines, but most of their poems begin, "There was an old man from Nantucket..."

Military Review actually ran one of my ditties in their "war poetry" section last year.

Chesty Puller was a fine Marine
and a fine Marine was he
He called for his whiskey
and called for his wife
and called for his corporals three....

Is that better?

[jlechelt]

Currently reading Prodigal Soldiers by James Kitfield.
Fantastic book.

[SteveMetz]

Currently reading Prodigal Soldiers by James Kitfield.
Fantastic book.

He's very good. His War and Destiny is nicely done as well. Do you know him? He's very approachable.

[Jimbo]

[I]The Utility of Force[I] by Rupert Smith

Occupation of Iraq on standby

[jlechelt]

He's very good. His War and Destiny is nicely done as well. Do you know him? He's very approachable.

Thanks for the response Steve. No I don't know him, but I will certainly try to make contact with him at some point. The book is absolutely fascinating. I bought his War and Destiny: looks good as well, but I'm kind of curious as to why it might not have gotten wider play. Is it because he writes to a more specialized audience? Not, perhaps, the same crowd as the masses who buy Fiasco, Cobra II, and the Woodward trilogy? Those are all fine books, but not nearly as expansive as Prodigal Soldiers. Any thoughts on that?

[SteveMetz]

Thanks for the response Steve. No I don't know him, but I will certainly try to make contact with him at some point. The book is absolutely fascinating. I bought his War and Destiny: looks good as well, but I'm kind of curious as to why it might not have gotten wider play. Is it because he writes to a more specialized audience? Not, perhaps, the same crowd as the masses who buy Fiasco, Cobra II, and the Woodward trilogy? Those are all fine books, but not nearly as expansive as Prodigal Soldiers. Any thoughts on that?

On War and Destiny, Jim Kitfield is not as well known as Mike Gordon and Tom Ricks, and the book probably had less popular appeal because it was not just on Iraq, but put the Bush national security policy in a wider perspective. The only problem is that it's like two books--one on the Bush strategy and the other just sort of a war story of his time in Iraq as an embed. So you shift from a grand strategy perspective to the view from inside a Bradley. He really should have written two books. If you want to contact him, I think I have his email address at the office and can get it to you next week. I don't know if his choice of publishers had any effect. Potomac did War and Destiny. They were considering my Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy manuscript but I haven't heard from them, so I'm assuming they're not interested. I'm not pushing it hard at this point since it's unfinished.

On the other three, Ricks is awfully astute but I think his hatred for Rumsfeld was so burning hot that it tainted the book. He vacillated between serious analysis and attack. I'm quoted a couple of times in Fiasco although not by name. In fact, he lauds a briefing I prepared. I met Mike Gordon standing outside BIAP in the early May 2003. Cobra II is on the mark but, of course, it really ends before the insurgency took off. There also have been a few revelations about how the policy was made since it came out. Woodward I don't know what to think of. I've read all three but just can't decide whether to trust them. He relies so much on whoever will talk to him, so it is very much an Armitage perspective.