Missionaries by Phil Klay

Let me just say that if you have any illusions that wars have winners and losers, then this book, written by a combat veteran, will set you straight. I read it because it is on Obama's 2020 reading list and while I do not love every book I read that he recommends, I am not sorry I read it. A journalist, Lisette, is suffering from trauma, boredom and shame from covering over-hyped and excessively optimistic US military involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq. She is searching for something to rejuvenate her and she types into a search engine: “Are there any wars right now that we’re not losing?” The algorithm claims the answer to be “Colombia”, where, in 2015, US troops are supporting a national rebuilding and peace process after half a century of intersecting civil wars between government forces, terrorists, revolutionaries and drug barons. Let's just say that while we meet a number of compelling and believable characters, at no point are we convinced that this is indeed a war that anyone is winning. The money in the whole operation leaves winners and losers, but there are no heroes.