Quotes from Ralph Pezzullo

Some of the attendees protested. One guy said, "We have jobs. We can't keep making up excuses to miss work." "If you can't lie to your boss, how are going to succeed at this?" the presenter responded.

severe depression as well as depersonalization disorder, which is to say he no longer felt in control of his feelings, emotions, or behaviors. He was aware of his actions, but felt he was watching them from a third-person perspective. I recommended he take corrective action to reduce the depression and anxiety he was experiencing.

The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan. —CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ

happening in my highly distressed state of mind. A psychiatrist later explained that in order for someone to perform sexually, their sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems have to be operating at the same time, which isn't possible when your brain is on operational overdrive.

In terms of religious beliefs, Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims and follow a nonwritten ethical code called Pashtunwali. Its main principles include Melmastia (hospitality and respect for all visitors regardless of race, religion, nationality, or financial status), Nanawatai (offering asylum or protection from one's enemies), Badal (the practice of taking revenge against a wrongdoer), and Turah (bravery).

They were hard and fearless, and had to be enterprising and manipulative in order to survive. Espionage to them was a means to a better life. There was no ideology, morality, or religious belief involved.

Afghanistan is more than the "graveyard of empires." It's the mother of vicious circles. —MAUREEN DOWD

We are content with discord; we are content with alarms; we are content with blood; but we will never be content with a master. —A PASHTUN LEADER TO BRITISH MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM EPHINSTONE

GB officers constituted the main force at Stone and were selected from among the baddest-ass military units—SEALs, Marine Force Recon, Air Force Parajumpers, and the Army's Combat Applications Group (formerly know as Delta Force). They wore civilian clothes and were equipped with the most advanced light weaponry on the planet.3

They exit the womb in survival mode and continue to struggle that way until they die.

We haven't been in Afghanistan for ten years. We've been in Afghanistan one year, ten times.

Never underestimate the power of the State to act out its own massive fantasies. —DON DELILLO

The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, Now, Voyager, sail thou forth to seek and find. —WALT WHITMAN

she had lived through wars, death, marriages, and every other human travail and