The Mirror Test

By summer 2003, massive and ongoing troop movements had outstripped the Pentagon s ability to fly U.S. service members to Iraq using only military aircraft. Lucrative contracts were awarded for commercial and charter airlines to fill the gap. Soon Boeing 757s helped transport battalions of Marines and soldiers to Kuwait. From there the Pentagon s workhorse C-130 flown by uniformed pilots many National Guard units in effect federalized made the final, corkscrew landing into Baghdad.

I was age thirty-one and headed to Iraq, to war, for the first time not as a soldier but on behalf of the State Department. I had left the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York after diplomacy there failed, by design. The unnecessary war a commander in chief and the neoconservatives in Washington wanted, Iraqis got . . . and would keep getting for years to come. So did all of us who went over there, year after year after year.

Hearing that I worked for the State Department, the pilot guiding our flight invited me into the back part of the cockpit to observe our descent into the Middle East. The deserts below were dark, as was the sky. I did not see any stars. It was as if we were flying into a void, somewhere above us was Mars, the Red Planet, named, of course, after the Roman god of war. Compact, calm, and yet talkative, the pilot noted he was nearing retirement, but had volunteered for these special flights because he considered it to be an honor to fly troops to their last point before continuing into Baghdad, into the war. He said he was certain the U.S. needed to invade Iraq. The pilot believed Saddam Hussein was a threat and had hidden weapons of mass destruction.

Toward the end of our time in the air, with the copilot now flying the plane, the chief pilot gave me one of his business cards, embossed with his special designation as American Airlines senior pilot. I had no idea airlines had Number One pilots, rank ordered in seniority, but what an American notion:

JOHN KAEL WESTON represented the United States for more than a decade as a State Department official. Washington acknowledged his multi-year work in Fallujah with Marines by awarding him one of its highest honors, the Secretary of State's Medal for Heroism.

www.jkweston.com

Praise for J. Kael Weston s The Mirror Test:
 
Closely observed and illuminating. . . . Weston s reportage recalls the finest foreign correspondence of the Iraq and Afghan wars.   The New York Review of Books

Weston is. . . a diplomat of great bravery, erudition and heart who befriended Afghans and stood up to his superiors. . . . The emotional core of The Mirror Test is Weston s profound love for the Marines. . . . Weston is [a] civilian hero. The New York Times Book Review

Weston, who worked as a State Department official for more than a decade, brings balance and cultural perspective different from the previous war books. . . . Along the way, he heralds humanitarian efforts and describes a fascinating dynamic of American dollars simultaneously rolling out to fund the allied war effort and the Afghan infrastructure. The Desert News
 
This book shines when it recounts Weston s day-to-day dealings with Marines (and Iraqis and Afghans). . . . [The Mirror Test] deserves a salute. St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Weston, a former State Department official, spent seven courageous and harrowing years on the front lines as a political adviser to American troops. His memoir offers a serious examination of the effects of terrorism from a personal and emotional perspective. The New York Times (Editors Choice)

As a former Foreign Service officer, Weston is perfectly positioned to provide a different perspective on these wars sometimes-particular complexities. . . . The Mirror Test offers insights into tribal, cultural and religious dynamics; the limits of military power as a political instrument; the use of drones; the heavy reliance on special operators; cooperation and failed cooperation among military services, agencies and allies. The Washington Post