The Pentagon is trying to influence and limit what books American’s can read about the current war taking place in Afghanistan. The Pentagon is willing to go to great lengths to limit us to specific books that they would like us to read about, like the books Afghanistan Counterinsurgency and the Indirect Approach and Hunter- Killer Teams: Attacking Enemy Safe Havens which are both books that were released by the Joint Special Operations University, which is a Pentagon professional school.
The Pentagon only wants books out there that are pro-war and talks solely about doctrines, strategies, and tactics. When they are faced with books that are more in-depth about what is really going on in the war, they try to put a stop to the publication. If they cannot, they do what they did to Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s book Operation Dark Heart and spend nearly $50,000 taxpayer dollars to reach an agreement with Shaffer and his publisher to purchase the books and destroy most of the copies. They did this because they are trying to keep the true issues and events of the war out of American’s (and the rest of the world’s) eyes. They do not want everyone to know the analysis about whether to fight such wars, the investigation of the true cost of war, and the plans to end the bloody, costly war.
With the marketplace filled with books that are devoted to tweaking, enhancing, and improving war- fighting capabilities, there is a crying need for some counterbalance. Sebastian Junger’s book War does exactly. War goes into detail about specific corrupt, irresponsible events that have occurred in the Afghan War that are not reported or brought to American’s attention.
Title: How the Pentagon Tries to Influence What Books You Can Read About Afghanistan
Source: AlterNet, 10/15/10
Author: Nick Turse
Student Researcher: Gina Uliana, Sonoma State University
Faculty Evaluator: Eric Williams, Sonoma State University