The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan

687 Pages·2016·66.39 MB·English

by  J. Kael Weston

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright © 2016 by John Kael Weston
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House
LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada, a division of Penguin Random
House Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.aaknopf.com
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Excerpt from “Those Who Know Vietnam Hero Still Pondering His
Whereabouts,” published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (May 15, 2000). Reprinted by permission of
Richmond Times-Dispatch. Rodale: Excerpt from “What is a Father? The Hero Figure” by Aaron Mankin,
published in Best Life (June 2007). Copyright © 2015 by Rodale. Reprinted by permission of Rodale, via
Wright’s Media.
All photos are courtesy of the author, with the exception of the following: UCLA Operation Mend photos by
Michelle Van Vliet, courtesy of the UCLA Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery; photo of Waleed
and Colin McNease, courtesy of Colin McNease; and three photos from the U.S. Department of Defense
(www.defense.gov).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Weston, J. Kael, author.
Title: The mirror test : America at war in Iraq and Afghanistan / by J. Kael Weston.
Description: First edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. | “A Borzoi Book.”
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047993 (print) | LCCN 2016011224 (ebook) | ISBN 9780385351126 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9780385351133 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Iraq War, 2003–2011. | Afghan War, 2001– | Iraq War,
2003–2011—Personal narratives, American. | Afghan War, 2001—Personal narratives, American. | Weston,
J. Kael. | United States. Department of State—Officials and employees—Biography.
Classification: LCC DS79.76 W464 2016 (print) | LCC DS79.76 (ebook) | DDC 956.7044/345092—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047993
ebook ISBN 9780385351133
Cover design by Oliver Munday
Cover photograph © George Baier IV
Maps by Mapping Specialists
v4.1_r2
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Preface
Prologue: Twentynine Palms, California
Part I: The Wrong War
Quagmire
Friends and Enemies
Phantom Fury or New Dawn?
Happy Birthday
The Potato Factory
Clear, Hold, Build
Helo Down
Collaboration
KIA in Mayberry
When Senators and Generals Talk
Sara Al-Jumaili and the Last Grand Mufti
A Farewell to Fallujah
The 93
To Monument Valley
Part II: The Right War
Deeper into the Muslim World
Dilawar of Yakubi
Khost U.
A Handshake, or Two
Reformed Taliban
The Ego Has Landed
Life After Guantánamo
The Dead of Sabari District
The Commander and the Top Student
Jackpots and Dryholes
Motor City
Escalation
Our British Friends
Ask and Tell
A Dignified Transfer and The 91
Part III: Home
To Cherokee, Iowa
To Menard, Texas
The Parade
Semper Fido and the Sierras
Operation Mend
The Spirit of America
The Library
A Museum of War
Nick’s Home
The Mall of America
Epilogue: New York City
After War
A Soldier’s War Journal
31 Angels
Author’s Note
Sources
Acknowledgments
A Note About the Author
Illustrations
In gratitude to my twin brother, Kyle, the first and last editor. And to my parents,
Brad and Linda, and the whole Weston family, who welcomed me back home to
the white peaks and red canyons and Orion skies of the American West after a long
time away.
And to Lieutenant General Larry Nicholson, WIA, a leader in both wars.
In memory of Abbas, Hamza, Najm, Kamal, Khudairi, Sami, Ibraheem, Qadir,
Fassal, Jamal, Ryan, Nick, Trevor, Rick, Bill, RCH, and each of the 31 Angels,
among so many, many others.
*
For all who “do” in times of war, including U.S. Army medic PFC Thomas
(Tommie) L. Cole.
For all the teachers and students, over there and over here.
And especially for all the Iraqis, Afghans, and U.S. Marines along the way and
through the years.
No better friends. No greater sacrifice.
This book is not about heroes….Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor
anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power,
except War. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject
is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.
WILFRED OWEN
The War Goes On
Life MAGAZINE COVER, FEBRUARY 11, 1966
The Last of the Light Brigade
There were thirty million English who talked of England’s might, There were twenty broken troopers who
lacked a bed for the night.
They had neither food nor money, they had neither service nor trade; They were only shiftless soldiers, the
last of the Light Brigade.
They felt that life was fleeting; they knew not that art was long, That though they were dying of famine, they
lived in deathless song.
They asked for a little money to keep the wolf from the door; And the thirty million English sent twenty
pounds and four!
They laid their heads together that were scarred and lined and grey; Keen were the Russian sabres, but want
was keener than they;
And an old Troop-Sergeant muttered, “Let us go to the man who writes The things on Balaclava the kiddies
at school recites.”
They went without bands or colours, a regiment ten-file strong, To look for the Master-singer who had
crowned them all in his song; And, waiting his servant’s order, by the garden gate they stayed, A
desolate little cluster, the last of the Light Brigade.
They strove to stand to attention, to straighten the toil-bowed back; They drilled on an empty stomach, the
loose-knit files fell slack; With stooping of weary shoulders, in garments tattered and frayed, They
shambled into his presence, the last of the Light Brigade.
The old Troop-Sergeant was spokesman, and “Beggin’ your pardon,” he said, “You wrote o’ the Light
Brigade, sir. Here’s all that isn’t dead.
An’ it’s all come true what you wrote, sir, regardin’ the mouth of hell; For we’re all of us nigh to the
workhouse, an’ we thought we’d call an’ tell.
“No, thank you, we don’t want food, sir; but couldn’t you take an’ write A sort of ‘to be continued’ and ‘see
next page’ o’ the fight?
We think that someone has blundered, an’ couldn’t you tell ’em how?
You wrote we were heroes once, sir. Please, write we are starving now.”
The poor little army departed, limping and lean and forlorn.
And the heart of the Master-singer grew hot with “the scorn of scorn.”
And he wrote for them wonderful verses that swept the land like flame, Till the fatted souls of the English
were scourged with the thing called Shame.