Kinetic War

2002, Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. Recently abandoned by U.S. forces, this sprawling former Soviet base is where David spent several months in early 2002 as the only journalist embedded inside the U.S. command. That’s when it all began to go wrong. He chronicled Operation Anaconda, the first U.S. effort to use conventional kinetic force against an enemy -- and in a country -- that was little understood. U.S. special forces and Marines had won the war, but Washington sent thousands more troops to chase the few enemy who’d fled into the mountains. That’s the iron logic of kinetic war that David calls the Zombie Fallacy: if the force you’ve sent fails to fix the problem, use even more force! Despite lessons of the past it’s an idea that just won’t die. The effort then relies on the young Americans we send into battle: David vividly describes steadfast American troops in a harrowing firefight.