Jon Krakauer’s bestseller Where Men Win Glory is one of those books that most sports fans have heard of – it’s “the Pat Tillman Book” – though I know very few people who have actually read it (sort of like the new ESPN book). I picked this up a month or so back at the recommendation of my father, and initially struggled through the first couple of chapters. At first, the book seemed to be both A) more of a description of the goings-on in Afghanistan than I was looking for and B) more Pat Tillman worship than I had bargained for. Having now finished the book, I can tell you it’s easily one of the most important books I’ve read in quite a while. And it’s certainly changed my perspective on the marriage between our political leaders and the armed services.
Everybody knows the basic story – Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar NFL contract and a new bride in order to go serve in Afghanistan following the attacks on September 11, 2001. You should read this book to learn about Pat’s life and the person he was – undeniably an admirable one – but you should also read this book for the extensive research and the actual field time that John Krakauer put in while in Afghanistan. Krakauer’s analysis of the sketchy circumstances regarding Tillman’s death, and of the Afghan war in general, are presented in a very unbiased fashion which I certainly appreciated. But as more and more disturbing information is revealed, the conclusions you draw for yourself are clear. Without giving too much away, some aspects of the book I found particularly interesting were:
1) Tillman was undoubtedly killed by friendly fire, by a comrad of his who had never seen combat and was a bit trigger happy from about 100 yards away. The Taliban had engaged Tillman’s convey, but shooting had stopped long before. Tillman had been standing up and waving his hands to signal that he was a friendly when he was shot in the head. The handling of Pat’s body and gear once he was killed broke all military protocol, in an effort to throw those responsible for determining his cause of death off track. Some of his brain matter, which was actually scrapped up off the dessert floor by one of his comrads and stored in a canteen so that it could be buried with his body, is still missing to this day.
2) Under pressure from the US government and well as internal pressure, the friendly fire aspect of Tillman’s death was covered up throughout the course of multiple follow up investigations. His family, as well as his brother who was serving with him, were blatantly lied to. Essentially, the US government wanted to use Tillman’s death for propaganda and knew that the story would be much less effective if the fact that he was killed by friendly fire was known. Krakauer also reports disturbing details on how the rescue of Jessica Lynch was smeared similarly in order to raise the morale of the American public with regards to the war in Afghanistan.
3) Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, and George Bush all continuously expressed doubts about the extent to which Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban were a threat. On August 6, 2001 the CIA presented a report to Bush entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike US.” The report included the following passage, “information gathered by the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.” This report was the 36th time in the preceding 8 months that Bush had directly been warned by the CIA of an imminent threat by Al-Quaeda or Bin Laden himself. The CIA officer who pitched this report to Bush was subsequently told by the president in a sarcastic tone, “All right, you’ve covered your ass,” before he dismissed him. After this occurrence, Richard Clarke, the Cheif Counter-Terrorism Advisor to the National Security Council and President Bush, desperately sent Condoleeza Rice a a scathing email asking how her White House colleagues and her would feel when “in the very near future Al-Qaeda has killed hundreds of Americans…. what will you wish then that you had already done?” Clarke’s email was sent on September 4, 2001.
Regardless of your political leanings, Krakauer presents an incredibly well written portrait of the man that Pat Tillman was – as well as some eye opening insight into the War in Afghanistan. Check it out.
I don’t think I’d describe Krakauer’s presentation as “unbiased.” He doesn’t really leave any of the facts surrounding Tillman’s or Lynch’s death open to the readers’ interpretation. I think he’s absolutely right about everything he says about the Bush administration’s handling of 9/11 and of the Pat Tillman affair. But it’s pretty clear that the purpose of the book is to bash on the Bush administration, and particularly Rumsfeld.
If you want to read a great book about how much the government botched the lead-up to 9/11, look for “The Looming Tower” by Lawrence Wright. It’s a history of the the rise of the bin Laden family, the development of the religious fighters after the Soviet-Afghan war, and the formation of Al Qaeda as a military force.
Thanks for the recommendation, and I see your point. I think throughout the book he does try to be unbiased, but when presented with the facts of what actually happened it’s nearly impossible to not formulate an opinion. In other words, I think how the events transpired logically brought on the Bush bashing. I don’t think he simply set out with that intent.
I am finishing up the espn book. Should this be my next one?
I’d definitely recommend it. How is the ESPN book going?
its good. Its pretty a easy read as it is made up of interviews of pretty much everyone that has been involved with espn and just small blurbs by the author. I will do a book report for you once I finish.
Not trying to get into a politcal debate here but does it say how many times clinton was warned about these threats?
Hmmm not sure, I don’t think so, but I’ll go back and read that section again. Looking forward to the book report. What do you call it when you do a book report and build a little scene inside of a shoe box to share with the class? I’m drawing a blank on the word but that’s what I’ll be expecting.
Diarama? spelling maybe off. I always thought that was a funny word growing up.
It still is.
That’s it! Well done. I made some nice ones in my day.
a shoebox diorama
damn, i was beat by j-bone
J-bone, your question is covered in Wright’s book. During Clinton’s term, a bunch of security measures were put in place that prevented the CIA and the FBI from putting their information together. So for example, the FBI knew that Suspect A was in the US and communicating with Terrorist B, and the CIA knew that B was directly involved with the bombing of the USS Cole, but because they weren’t allowed to share information, A was never detained. So Bush had heard that there were potential threats gathering around Sept 2001, but the information that could have prevented the attack was collected, and had been mishandled, since the Embassy Bombings in 1998.
With apologies to everyone who came to this site to read about sports.
It’s a sports related book. Good info Shmi.
Agreed. I thought the book started slow and got nervous that it was more of a history lesson and the “meanwhile pat tillman was in California at 5 years of age…” But he really ended up doing a great job in my opinion. Jbone of you want the book I can bring it this weekend. Very informative and crazy to read how some of these event were construed and the amount of time between the lies given and when the truth actually came out (if it all has even come out yet)
Shmi thanks for the heads up on the book I’ll check it out soon.
Funny thing to do .. leave a new wife to go fight in a war .. I don’t understand Pat Tillman, so I should go read the book
I am the farthest fron a Bush supporter as you’ll find .. but I don’t know his administration could have prevented 9/11 without specific ‘where/when/how’ information .. does anybody remember the few months after 9/11 when we had state police guarding bridges and reservoirs? .. kind of an undoable task .. I should read the book
I suggest you do. It’s a good read and grows on you the more you get into it.
I agree Chris, he may have had this info and if he had done something who knows, but it was a major failure on every level for years, not just the few months before.