This is a must-read interview. @DavidAFrench and General Stanley McChrystal on the three seductions of the American way of war. 1/6
"The first is the idea of covert action. A new president comes in, and he’s told by the intelligence community, 'We can create this great effect and it will be covert. No one will ever know who did it, and it’ll just be a good outcome.' And in my experience, it never stays covert and it rarely works." 2/6
"The second seduction, which I lived as a part of, is the surgical Special Operations raid. That is probably epitomized by the Maduro raid. I would argue that we demonstrated extraordinary competence that night, but not much changed ... on the ground." 3/6
"The third great seduction [is] air power. … We could bomb Iraq pretty easily; we could even take Baghdad with relative ease. We could get rid of the existing government. But once we wanted to change the reality on the ground, who actually controlled things, how things worked, now you’re not at 30,000 feet. You’re at six feet. And you’re the same height as your potential opponent." 4/6
"I tell people about this war, if you like this war, enjoy this first part, because this is the best part. Because everything after this will be harder, because it will be more equal, even though we will have bombed them. We’ll have to get down to a level." 5/6
When I was writing "The Square and the Tower," Stan McChrystal was one of my main sources of inspiration. You'll see why when you read this: nytimes.com/2026/03/23/opi… 6/6
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