Holbrooke in His Own Words

The sweep of 20th-century foreign policy, seen through the eyes of its most avid participant.

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

  "The Machine that Fails," Foreign Policy 1970-1971

"As a member of the bureaucracy myself, I feel its shortcomings with a special keenness. It is hard to decide whether to play the drama as tragedy, comedy, or simply theater of the absurd."

Above,  Amb. Richard Holbrooke testifies regarding Afghanistan and Pakistan before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July, 2010.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

 

Excerpts from the forthcoming collection The Unquiet American.

 

BENN3012

4:22 PM ET

November 2, 2011

Everything is relative

Strange how one can say "But then finally it all seemed to come down to one simple, horrible truth: we didn't belong there, we had no business doing what we were doing, even the good parts of it." about a conflict in Southeast Asia and then endorse another in the Balkans. Glad to read that he was willing to live in luxury in the US and still deign to try to solve the world's problems. Can we now have some commensurate press on the USAID workers and Special Forces soldiers who live for months in the most abject poverty trying to make a difference in people's lives?

 

HANS HOWARD

2:38 AM ET

November 13, 2011

Relative, it is.

The tension in Afghanistan and Pakistan should end. I was checking online for electric paper cutter when I found this site. The countries mentioned in this comment also deserve the peace that they want. I'm sure that the war that America pushed made a great impact in the economy right now. Why are we fighting?

 

ELI

2:23 AM ET

December 2, 2011

As a member of the

As a member of the bureaucracy myself, I feel its shortcomings with a special keenness. It is hard to decide whether to play the drama as tragedy, comedy, or simply theater of the absurd." Above, Amb. Richard Holbrooke testifies regarding Afghanistan and Pakistan before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July, 2010. Search for best local deals.