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A soldier in Iraq said that he wanted to punch Donald Rumsfeld in the gut, then in the face or something like that. He wanted me to use his name, but I knew he'd get in trouble, so I didn't. However, I felt it was a great quote because it summed up the frustration of those guys at that moment.

Michael Hastings

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Michael Hastings
Age: 44
Born: 1980
Born: October 6
Politician
Orland Hills
Illinois
Great
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Frustration
Something
Guy
Soldier
Like
Face
Donald
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Iraq
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More quotes by Michael Hastings

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The only thing I've ever regretted is not writing more not being more honest not saying how it really is in Baghdad. It's hard to get there sometimes.
Michael Hastings
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I want to be the greatest investigative reporter of my generation.
Michael Hastings
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An information operations team was sent to Afghanistan to conduct various psychological operations on the Afghans and Taliban. The team was then asked not to focus on the Taliban but on manipulating senators into giving more funds and troops [to the war].
Michael Hastings
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The State Department is essentially... I was going to use the word useless. But I don't know if that's correct.
Michael Hastings
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I thought Gen. McChrystal was unfireable, that his position was secure.
Michael Hastings
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The simple and terrifying reality, forbidden from discussion in America, was that despite spending $600 billion a year on the military, despite having the best fighting force the world had ever known, they were getting their asses kicked by illiterate peasants who made bombs out of manure and wood.
Michael Hastings
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Afghanistan would have been difficult enough without Iraq. Iraq made it impossible. The argument that had we just focused on Afghanistan we'd now be okay is persuasive, but it omits the fact that we weren't supposed to get involved in nation-building in Afghanistan.
Michael Hastings
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The humanitarian argument is so selective I find it difficult to swallow. It's not even so much about the choice as to where we should get involved and where we shouldn't.
Michael Hastings
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After a decade of war you have this Pentagon-military apparatus run amok using resources that they shouldn't be to try to manipulate U.S. public opinion.
Michael Hastings
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Look at the violence in Pakistan and the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan: the more troops we put in the more violent Pakistan becomes.
Michael Hastings
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The humanitarian argument is so selective I find it difficult to swallow. It's not even so much about the choice as to where we should get involved and where we shouldn't. The minute you start arming people in these conflict zones, like Iraq and Afghanistan, things don't go as expected.
Michael Hastings
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I'm talking to people all of the time. So it hasn't really had a big impact. Access is never my main concern anyway. If you keep digging and making phone calls you can get stories and not have to rely on the good graces of the Pentagon spokesperson. I am not in his good graces.
Michael Hastings
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The guys on the ground are the guys I care about. I've had the most satisfaction telling their stories. But when you're in combat with somebody, yes, a bond does grow.
Michael Hastings
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A woman I loved [Andi Parhamovich] was killed in Baghdad in January 2007 – al-Qaeda in Iraq took credit for it … The memorial service with me crying over an empty coffin.
Michael Hastings
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The idea of aerial military surveillance dates back to the Civil War, when both the Union and the Confederacy used hot-air balloons to spy on the other side, tracking troop movements and helping to direct artillery fire.
Michael Hastings
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Despite failing to get bin Laden, the U.S. government and media portrayed the early Afghanistan war as a great victory.
Michael Hastings
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During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the military conducted only a handful of drone missions.
Michael Hastings
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I had a recurring fantasy in which I took (Rudy Giuliani) out during a press conference (it was nonlethal, just something that put him out of commission for a year or so), saving America from the horror of a President Giuliani. If that sounds like I had some trouble being 'objective,' I did.
Michael Hastings
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The fact that our largest presence in the world is our massive military is going to dictate how we engage with the world.
Michael Hastings