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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > War Literature Megathread: slightly above the eighth grade level
 
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EBB
Feb 15, 2005

 I've been reading Shake Hands With the Devil on your guys' suggestion. I've gotten through the first 6 parts so chronologically I'm at New Year's Day 1994. I'm understanding now how Dallaire was screwed operationally before any of it kicked off- didn't have enough of anything to work with really. I'm not even at the gory parts of the book yet and I'm cringing at the disparity in quality of life between troops from rich/poor nations and the lack of basic logistics like rations.

* # ¿ Aug 19, 2016 01:31
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# ¿ May 21, 2024 01:22
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EBB
Feb 15, 2005

VikingSkull posted:

3) You immediately contact any and all press you can find and whistleblow the poo poo out of everything, and tank your career in the process

That's probably the best case scenario, but the end result was the same. After Mogadishu, American intervention in Africa was finished for at least a half century and no one else in 1994 had the capability or will to intervene, certainly not the UN

According to the book he let in any reporter or photographer brave enough. People just didn't care. Writers were on point with that line in Hotel Rwanda (paraphrased): "You're dirt Paul. We think you're dirt. The West. You're not even a n****r...you're African."

* # ¿ Sep 22, 2016 17:24
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EBB
Feb 15, 2005

VikingSkull posted:

The people not caring thing was the main issue, really.

I know I remember that time on the news, right in the wheelhouse of when my dad and I would watch Peter Jennings every night. The main poo poo was always the war in Bosnia back then.

When I look at how bad the Bosnian War was, and how it was the benchmark of conflict in post WWII Europe, I can't help but contrast it with Syria today and I kinda have to laugh. Who knew you could turbocharge that style of conflict?

Ding ding ding. That's Dallaire's realization about the UN. Bosnia was more important than Rwanda and thus got all the equipment, and the US was still too risk averse from Somalia to commit much of anything beyond some beat up stripped down vehicles and a tiny Marine QRF stationed in a different country.

* # ¿ Sep 22, 2016 17:36
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EBB
Feb 15, 2005

 I'm about a quarter of the way through Legacy of Ashes, just past the Bay of Pigs. I'm getting the feeling that the book needs to be taken with a grain of salt due to what feels like an overly unflattering tone. Despite this it's amazing reading about how loving retarded Dulles and his gang were in the first 15 years of the agency's existence. The way the book poses it, the CIA completely failed to fulfill its primary task of intelligence gathering and focused entirely on bungled special operations.

* # ¿ Apr 21, 2017 17:36
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EBB
Feb 15, 2005

Duzzy Funlop posted:

How have y'all kept this thread from me so long :stare:

It's not our fault you can't read

* # ¿ Oct 16, 2017 14:04
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > War Literature Megathread: slightly above the eighth grade level