Summary

Chapter One: A Muddled Mission begins by setting the scene of the early days of the US invasion of Afghanistan. The author describes the atmosphere at an address that President George W. Bush gave to soldiers at the Virginia Military Institute six months into the war. Whitlock recounts that after only six weeks, the invading US Army was able to unseat the Taliban government in Afghanistan and capture a number of fighters belonging to the al-Qaeda network who had been residing in that country. Bush’s speech on April 17th, of 2002 was both triumphal and sobering, according to Whitlock. In it the president implied that the military invasion would not be an overly prolonged one. This, according to Whitlock, “masked worries circulating among the top members of his leadership team” (19). Foremost amongst these figures was the Secretary...