War Machine Page #3

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but money keeps the people happy,

so we're rolling with that.

Can't they grow something else?

Mmm-hmm. Yeah, they could grow cotton.

Cotton would grow here.

- Why don't they grow cotton, then?

- Because the United States Congress

will not allow any United States aid

and development funds

to be directed

towards the cultivation of a crop

that will end up on the world market

in competition with US farmers.

Oh.

- Which pretty much rules out cotton.

- Sure.

- So we're growing heroin instead.

- Right.

I think we're doing

a pretty good job here, sir.

You build infrastructure.

Roads, schools, stuff like that.

What kind of presence

does the Taliban have here?

- Who?

- The Taliban.

In short, you get off your bases

and you go make friends with the people.

Killing insurgents all the while,

of course.

Nation building. Hearts and minds.

Hello! Hello, all.

Let me break it down

this way, General.

We've been in Helmand province

for five years now,

and in all that time, all we've

really managed to secure is this base.

Now, you go out there, you go into Marjah,

you go into Lashkar Gah,

it's all Pashtun, as you know.

This is the Taliban.

We're not winning any hearts

and minds there, I can tell you that.

I'm not sure we ever will.

Kandahar's the same, of course.

Can I be completely frank with you, sir?

If I was you, I'd cut Helmand loose.

I'd concentrate

on those parts of the country

that are at least, in some way,

sympathetic to the mission,

and I'd cut it loose.

It's a lost cause.

This whole province constitutes

just 4% of the population of the country.

It's strategically meaningless.

I'd cut Helmand loose, sir.

The thing about counterinsurgency

is that it doesn't really work.

We tried it in Vietnam. That went well.

The British and the French gave it a shot,

trying to hang on

to their crumbling empires.

It just hasn't worked.

To me, it would seem kind of simple why.

You can't win the trust of a country

by invading it.

You can't build a nation at gunpoint.

For guys like Glen, however,

counterinsurgency hasn't worked

for one simple reason.

You ready, boss?

Nobody's ever done it right.

Yes, I am, Pete. I sure as hell am.

- Andy?

- Yes, sir.

- Good job.

- Thank you.

Let's lose Fox News.

Won't do us any good to have a bunch

of angry perverts yelling at us all day.

- Yes, sir.

- So...

we probably need

to get to work on this assessment.

- Already written it.

- When?

It's already written. Did it last night.

Needs a little flesh on the bone,

but, basically, it's written.

All right, what's it say?

Greg...

I wanna take Helmand province.

I wanna take Helmand province

precisely because everyone else

seems to think we can't have it.

If we're gonna win

the trust of this country,

we can't be seen to accept that there's

a whole chunk of it we can't handle.

We're here to provide security.

I say the first order of business

is we secure that corner of the country

everyone else seems to think

we can't control.

Okay.

I didn't come here to manage this war,

and I sure as sh*t didn't come here

to close it out.

Came here to win.

I'm taking Helmand...

then I'm taking Kandahar.

What do you say to that?

All right, and another thing.

Being that this is

a nation-building exercise and all,

seems to me it'd behoove us

to have someone in the room

who's actually from the nation

we're building. Don't you think?

Copy.

We are here to build, to protect.

We are not here to harass, to intimidate.

We're not here to shoot first

and ask questions later.

We must not be driven

by fear and suspicion.

We are here, above all else...

to support the civilian population.

And to that end,

we must avoid killing it at all cost.

Civilian casualties cannot be seen

as an unfortunate byproduct of conflict.

They must be treated as errors

of the greatest consequence.

This is the war we are fighting.

It's a complex war,

but it's a war nonetheless.

Let me reaffirmate that

right from the get-go.

This is a war.

But it's a war that cannot be won

by the virtues of our unassailable

military might and power alone.

This war will be won primarily

with the unassailable might

and power of our ideals.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- Forty thousand?

- I'm afraid so.

God damn it. What did we tell you?

No more troops.

Don't ask for more troops. What do you do?

You ask for 40,000 more troops.

Well, Dick, Helmand province

ain't exactly about to secure itself.

Probably should've asked for a lot more.

I just thought 40,000 sounded

like a reasonable number.

There's no reasonable number, Glen,

except perhaps zero.

That's a reasonable number. Zero.

I thought you understood that.

Yeah, this "no more troops" thing,

is that coming from the president,

or coming from you?

- Of course it's coming from the president.

- Ah.

Why would it be coming from me?

Why do I care if we send more troops

over there or we don't?

I don't know, Dick.

I'm just trying to work this thing out.

The president gave me a job to do.

- This is what I need to get it done.

- God damn it.

I'll be there day after tomorrow

with the secretary of state.

We'll figure this nonsense out then.

- Roger that.

- God damn it.

God damn it.

There it is.

What did I tell you?

He's on retired-general time.

His mind's on a golf cart somewhere,

halfway down the fairway.

He doesn't have the constitution

for the hard stuff anymore.

He's obviously in the wrong f***ing job!

That thing's off, right?

I'm sorry to have to tell

you this, General,

but we're gonna sit on your report

until after the Afghan elections.

With all due respect, Madam Secretary,

uh, the election is a month away.

I know it is, but, as I'm sure you know,

an election here is a fragile thing.

It's a very delicate thing,

and nobody wants its smooth running to be

muddied by a big new American offensive.

No, I told you no more troops, Glen.

Now we're gonna have to

rethink the game plan.

Well, Dick, with all due respect,

you told me you didn't care

if I got more troops or I didn't,

so I'm trying to work out

how to get the job done.

No, I did not say I didn't care.

- I believe you did.

- I did not say that.

- I believe you did.

- No. No, I didn't. I...

- You did, Dick.

- Whoever said what,

a troop surge and an election

don't sit well together,

so this is the way it's gotta be.

I'm sorry.

I don't know what I'm supposed

to be doing in the meantime.

I have a strategy. I'm ready to execute.

The suggestion now

seems to be that I thumb twiddle.

Uh, with all due respect,

Madam Secretary-

General, please spare me

the "all due respect" stuff.

It's really giving me the f***ing creeps.

I think... I think we all understand

your frustration, Glen,

but these elections have to run smoothly.

We need a legitimate partner

in power here.

You need a legitimate partner here.

So... we just have to sit tight.

Why don't you do that SNORPP thing

you did in Iraq?

You know, get your systems in place,

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