Robert Timberg (1940–2016)

Once upon a time there was a President of the United States who knew he didn’t like communism, but the rest of foreign policy was like a black box to him. He also sort of trusted around him men in uniform, so he brought them into his Cabinet room aplenty.

Of course, Congress didn’t always agree with the President and it expressly forbade him from financing terrorists....Ooops!...I meant to say Freedom Fighters working to upend a democratically-elected leftist regime in Central America.

The President let it slip to his uniformed advisors that he would be awfully unhappy if his Freedom Fighters failed in their mission to free the people, so his advisors took the initiative. They circumvented Congress and financed the Freedom Fighters with profits from selling arms to Iran, in those days, much like today, deadly opponents of the United States of America and under an arms embargo.

You could have expected from this episode — known widely as the Iran-Contra affair — that Congress would have taken action and impeached the President. After all, it was his employees who screwed up. The President told the people of the United States he knew nothing about the elicit arms sales or the siphoning off of profits to support the Contras.

Congress believed the President and sent his advisors...at least one of them...to prison instead.

This book is largely about the advisors, some good, some not so good, who graduated through the ranks of the Navy and Marines, part of a generation of soldiers who fought in Vietnam, a war most Americans believe they should never have fought. It argues that Ronald Reagan — a President who relied on his wife’s astrologer as well as sailors and Marines for advice — helped the Vietnam-era of soldiers recover their self-respect and that was one of the reasons his advisors got out of line. Because they saw a battle they could win and thought the boss would approve.

But one could take other lessons from this tale.

Nothing upsets the President more than pushback from Congress. There are days — more than few I would guess — when Presidents wish they had absolute power. Having soldiers work for them who are trained to take the mission to heart without questioning the motives is a sore reminder of why soldiers aren’t always the best people to have in the West Wing.

On the other hand, war is an awful thing. If you haven’t been there watching your friends being blown to smithereens by a booby-trapped ammo box or trip line, you never quite get why war should be avoided at all costs, or almost all costs. And hate is contagious. Soldiers can tell you what that means. In real time.
… (lisätietoja)

Substance: A look at some of the men who had positions of authority in the armed forces and administration, who were influenced by the same cultural factors that produced President Ronald Reagan, "the Nightingale", and (in the author's view) "failed" some how because of flaws in their character.The men he looks at are John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Bud McFarlane, Join Poindexter. The jacket cover describes each man as if he were one of the characters in a movie about "The Lost Platoon" or some such war film: very stereotypical.
Here is the "subtitle" on the front of the jacket: "They are secret sharers, men whose experiences at Annapolis and during the Vietnam War and its aftermath illuminate a generation , or a portion of a generation -- those who went. They shared a seemingly unassailable certainty. They believed in America. (last sentence italicized.)

I don't know how accurate his "facts" are (however, they were clearly selected from the information available on each man to fit the author's thesis). His negative opinion of Reagan's politics colors the narrative to the point where I could no longer credit his analysis; I don't believe he understands these men as well as he thinks he does, because he never quite grasps why Reagan swept the elections, twice.

My take: We call some people leaders, because other people follow them. (And if you want to "analyze" some cults of personality, you could pick almost any President and find men and women who (1) follow them uncritically because they are all crazy; or (2) make a reasoned choice to follow them because they have the same goals. From the outside, it's hard to tell the difference.)… (lisätietoja)

Serving in Vietnam, Robert was less than two weeks away from the end of his tour when his vehicle struck a land mine. Severe burns covered his body and face, distorting his visage beyond recognition. This is the story of his struggle back to health and his fascinating career as a journalist.

I found this book particularly fascinating because I have never read a memoir about a seriously wounded Vietnam veteran and his struggles after the war. I found Robert's anger completely justifiable, especially towards other men of his generation who avoided service and then judged those who did serve. I thought it was a bit odd that Robert barely spoke about his second marriage, it seemed like he was leaving out some important life details. However, ultimately this was a good read, highly recommended.… (lisätietoja)