The Men Who Stare at Goats [antikvár]

I. THE GENERAL This is a true story. It is the summer of 1983. Major General Albert Stubblebine III is sitting behind his desk in Arlington, Virginia, and he is staring at his wall, upon which hang his numerous military awards. They detail a long and distinguished career. He is the US army's chief of intelligence, with 16,000 soldiers under his command. He controls the army's signals intelligence, their photographic and technical intelligence, their numerous covert counter-intelligence units and their secret military spying units, scattered throughout the world. He would be in charge of the prisoner-of-war interrogations too, except this is 1983, and the war is cold, not hot. He looks past his awards to the wall itself. There is something he feels he needs to do even though the thought of it frightens him. He thinks about the choice he has to make. He can stay in his office or he can go into the next office. That is his choice. And he has made it. He is going into the next office.