Craig Whitlock

Winner of the 2024 Investigative Reporters and Editors Book AwardWinner of the 2024 Commodore John Barry Award for Excellence in Maritime Literature#1 New York Times bestselling author Craig Whitlocks masterly investigation into one of the Navys worst scandals (The New York Times).All the admirals in the US Navy knew Leonard Glenn Franciseither personally or by his legendary reputation. He was the larger-than-life defense contractor who greeted them on the pier whenever they visited ports in Asia, ready to show them a good time after weeks at sea while his company resupplied their ships and submarines. He was famed throughout the fleet for the gluttonous parties he hosted for officers: $1,000-per-person dinners at Asias swankiest restaurants, featuring unlimited Dom Perignon, Cuban cigars, and sexy young women.On the surface, with his flawless American accent, he seemed like a true friend of the Navy. What the brass didnt realize, until far too late, was that Francis had seduced them by exploiting their entitlement and hubris. While he was bribing them with gifts, lavish meals, and booze-fueled orgies, he was making himself obscenely wealthy by bilking American taxpayers. Worse, he was stealing military secrets from under the admirals noses and compromising national security.Based on reams of confidential documentsincluding the blackmail files that Francis kept on Navy officersFat Leonard is the full, unvarnished story of a world-class con man and a captivating testament to the corrosive influence of greed within the ranks of the American military.

A revolucionária história investigativa sobre como três presidentes sucessivos e seus comandantes militares, enganaram o público ano após ano no que diz respeito a mais longa guerra da história norte

A diferencia de las guerras de Vietnam e Irak, la invasión estadounidense de Afganistán en 2001 tuvo un apoyo público casi unánime. Al principio, los objetivos eran sencillos y claros: derrotar a al-Qaeda y evitar que se repitiera el 11 de septiembre. Sin embargo, poco despues de que Estados Unidos y sus aliados desalojaran del poder a los talibanes, la mision se desvio del rumbo original y los funcionarios estadounidenses perdieron de vista sus objetivos originales.El ejercito estadounidense se vio envuelto en un conflicto guerrillero imposible de ganar en un pais que no entendian. Pero ningun presidente quiso admitir el fracaso, especialmente en una guerra que comenzo como una causa justa, y las administraciones de Bush, Obama y Trump enviaron mas y mas tropas a Afganistan y dijeron repetidamente que estaban progresando, aunque sabian que no habia perspectivas realistas de una victoria absoluta.Asi como los Papeles del Pentagono cambiaron la comprension del publico de Vietnam, Los Papeles de Afganistan contienen revelaciones sorprendentes de personas que jugaron un papel directo en la guerra, desde lideres en la Casa Blanca y el Pentagono hasta soldados y trabajadores humanitarios en el frente. En un lenguaje sencillo, admiten que las estrategias del gobierno de Estados Unidos fueron un desastre, que el proyecto de construccion de la nacion fue un fracaso colosal y que las drogas y la corrupcion obtuvieron un dominio absoluto sobre sus aliados en el gobierno afgano.Los papeles de Afganistan es un relato impactante que cambiara para siempre la forma en que se recuerda el conflicto.

A Washington Post Best Book of 2021The #1 New York Times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about Americas longest war, foreshadowing the Talibans recapture of Afghanistan, by Washington Post reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock.Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives.Distracted by the war in Iraq, the US military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory.Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the publics understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contains fast-paced and vivid (The New York Times Book Review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In unvarnished language, they admit that the US governments strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the Afghan government. All told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the US government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground.Documents unearthed by The Washington Post reveal that President Bush didnt know the name of his Afghanistan war commanderand didnt want to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he had no visibility into who the bad guys are. His successor, Robert Gates, said: We didnt know jack shit about al-Qaeda.The Afghanistan Papers is a searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials (Tom Bowman, NRP Pentagon Correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.

Una impactante historia de investigación de cómo tres presidentes norteamericanos y sus comandantes militares engañaron al público año tras año sobre la guerra más larga de Estados Unidos, presagiando la reconquista de Afganistan por los talibanes.A diferencia de las guerras de Vietnam e Irak, la invasion estadounidense de Afganistan en 2001 tuvo un apoyo publico casi unanime. Al principio, los objetivos eran sencillos y claros: derrotar a al-Qaeda y evitar que se repitiera el 11 de septiembre. Sin embargo, poco despues de que Estados Unidos y sus aliados desalojaran del poder a los talibanes, la mision se desvio del rumbo original y los funcionarios estadounidenses perdieron de vista sus objetivos originales.El ejercito estadounidense se vio envuelto en un conflicto guerrillero imposible de ganar en un pais que no entendian. Pero ningun presidente quiso admitir el fracaso, especialmente en una guerra que comenzo como una causa justa, y las administraciones de Bush, Obama y Trump enviaron mas y mas tropas a Afganistan y dijeron repetidamente que estaban progresando, aunque sabian que no habia perspectivas realistas de una victoria absoluta.Asi como los Papeles del Pentagono cambiaron la comprension del publico de Vietnam, Los Papeles de Afganistan contienen revelaciones sorprendentes de personas que jugaron un papel directo en la guerra, desde lideres en la Casa Blanca y el Pentagono hasta soldados y trabajadores humanitarios en el frente. En un lenguaje sencillo, admiten que las estrategias del gobierno de Estados Unidos fueron un desastre, que el proyecto de construccion de la nacion fue un fracaso colosal y que las drogas y la corrupcion obtuvieron un dominio absoluto sobre sus aliados en el gobierno afgano.Los papeles de Afganistan es un relato impactante que cambiara para siempre la forma en que se recuerda el conflicto.