An opinion piece from lead to concluding paragraph, the piece suggests facts not in evidence.

This story shows that there is no easy exit from a mistake of this magnitude. I would have liked more information about the Soviet Army books. The USSR shared a border with Afghanistan and were absolutely ruthless in their battles with the Afghans, yet they lost. America is going to fight two wars at the same time 10,000 miles from our borders and win? Dream on neocons.

The author of this review tries to take on a massive subject and fails. I read nothing here that hasn't been discussed before, nor did I find the overall narrative in anyway enlightening. This is the authors opinion guised as NYRB style book review.

A good story divided into three parts about nine books.

The article seems to speak the truth; always somewhat hard to digest. The democrat's taking ownership of the occupation of Afghanistan seems a recipe for disaster. It never was a just war either, only a feel-good mis-directed revenge upon people in the country where bin Laden paid his rent from his CIA residuals. The hijackers are said to have come from Saudi Arabia, yes?

This is a depressing but relentlessly honest look at our options, and the likely realities, regarding Iraq and Afghanistan as we finally near the much-anticipated change in U.S. administrations. As a proud "leftist," the article leaves me feeling ineffectual in my efforts to force a complete end of the Iraq war. But I am forced to admit that given our choice of candidates and the state of our nation, Powers is most likely very correct in his analysis.

The best summary of the absolutely, wretched failure of Cheney's and Bush's administration to conduct even a small regional war. The author makes a chilling point: voters expect a new president to come into office with a new broom to instantly sweep away past ultra conservative sins. But reality says it ain't gonna happen. Quoting the article: "At an unmarked moment somewhere between the third and the sixth month a sea change occurs: Bush's war becomes the new president's war, and getting out means failure, means defeat, means rising opposition at home, means no second term." Then there's the unspoken real reason for Iraq: all that oil.

This opinion piece has little journalistic merit. The author has limited his reading to highly partisan polemics. No writer about Iraq is credible today if he has not ready Michael Yon’s book, and no writer about the Bush administration’s foreign policy is credible if he has not read Douglas Feith’s definitive book. So the author is not equipped to judge the books that are being reviewed and the gaps in his knowledge show up throughout the piece.