If you’ve ever read Charlie Wilson’s War, you probably have an indelible impression of Michael G. Vickers in your mind. As soon as I read that book back in 2003, I thought that Vickers had to be brought out of retirement to talk some sense into the folks who were trying to craft the “War on Terror.” I was relieved when I realized that he had been called after 9/11 and given a position of real authority. If anyone could figure out what would work and what wouldn’t, I thought it would be Vickers.
Whatever he’s been doing and whatever counsel he’s been giving is all classified, so I don’t know how to assess what he did in his second career. I do know that I would never, ever, want him as an adversary. More than any other single individual, he was responsible for helping the mujahideen run the Soviets out of Afghanistan, and I’m sure he’ll go into retirement with an impressive record of holding the people who worked on the 9/11 attacks responsible.
In the end, though, he was also responsible for helping to create the blowback from the Soviet-Afghan War that we’ve seen both here at home and throughout Europe and the Middle East. And I don’t think he had the right kind of imagination to solve the riddle he brought to life.
Maybe someone will write another book about Vickers, perhaps on his role in the drone wars and other counterterrorism measures. Only then will we be able to make a fair assessment of his performance. Did he think the War in Iraq was idiotic? Was his counsel ignored? How influential was he, really?
