Elizabeth Gould - The Valediction: Three Nights of Desmond

THE

VALEDICTION

THREE NIGHTS OF DESMOND

Paul Fitzgerald

Elizabeth Gould

VALEDICTION THREE NIGHTS OF DESMOND

Copyright 2021 Paul Fitzgerald & Elizabeth Gould. All Rights Reserved

This is a memoir; it is sourced from memories and recollections. Dialogue is reconstructed, and some names and identifying features have been changed to provide anonymity. The underlying story is based on actual happenings and historical personages.

Backcover photo credit: Laurel Denison

Published by:

Trine Day LLC

PO Box 577

Walterville, OR 97489

1-800-556-2012

www.TrineDay.com

trineday@icloud.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021943881

Fitzgerald, Paul & Gould, Elizabeth,

VALEDICTION1st ed.

p. cm.

Epub (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-395-7

Trade Paper (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-394-0

Cloth: (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-393-3

1. Memoir -- Fitzgerald, Paul -- 1951- . 2. Memoir -- Gould, Elizabeth -- 1948. 3. Afghan Wars. 4. Civil-military relations -- Afghanistan.. 5. World politics. 6. Fitzgerald family history. I. Title

FIRST EDITION

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the USA

Distribution to the Trade by:

Independent Publishers Group (IPG)

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

312.337.0747

www.ipgbook.com

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?

Ive been to London to visit the Queen.

Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you do there?

I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

Songs for the Nursery (1805)

The wheel of the world swings through the same phases again and again.

Rudyard Kipling, The Man Who Would Be King (1888)

Somehow it was not the fault of the born adventurers, of those who by their very nature dwelt outside society and outside all political bodies, that they found in imperialism a political game that was endless by definition; they were not supposed to know that in politics an endless game can end only in catastrophe and that political secrecy hardly ever ends in anything nobler than the vulgar duplicity of a spy. The joke on these players of the Great Game was that their employers knew what they wanted and used their passion for anonymity for ordinary spying. But this triumph of the profit-hungry investors was temporary, and they were duly cheated when a few decades later they met the player of the game of totalitarianism, a game played without ulterior motives like profit and therefore played with such murderous efficiency that it devoured even those who financed it.

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1967)

According to the latest research, time flows differently atop mountains than at sea level. Scientists installed two extremely precise atomic clocks, one placed 33 centimeters higher than the other time moved slower for the clock closer to Earth. Not a huge difference, but measurable. All relative, correct? Does it matter?

Mountains are autonomous zones, you can pretty much do what you want there until someone with a gun, comes up and says not to. Afghanistan is most definitely a mountainous area. It comprises most of the Hindu Kush mountain range, and more than 50% of the land area is above 6,500 feet, with the highest peak over 25,000 feet. Remote tribal populations overlain with centuries of international imperialist intrigues.

In 2017, Rod Norland noted in the New York Times: Afghanistan has long been called the graveyard of empires for so long that it is unclear who coined that disputable term. In truth, no great empires perished solely because of Afghanistan. Perhaps a better way to put it is that Afghanistan is the battleground of empires.

As an American Empire departs Afghanistan, Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Goulds timely memoir, Valediction Three Nights of Desmond gives us a different perspective: a viewpoint developed through deep research, critical analysis, and years of actually living history a more proper narrative.

Valediction explores the real, behind-the-scenes reasons of the American foray, and how events and people were set on a course of inevitability. How journalism is twisted in service of goals hidden from the American people, and stilted information is then used to push political agendas, pecuniary profits and pernicious outcomes.

Paul and Liz worked hard to tell the American people of their shocking finds. They are published authors, have written screen plays, produced documentary films, gathered news and appeared on national TV in the effort. Valediction shows how the mainstream media shunts aside authentic reportage for prepackaged rhetoric leaving our nation beggared in spirit, prestige and honor. Does Empire checkmate the shining city on a hill?

But there is more to this tale than meets the eye, Paul traces his Fitzgerald line back to the 11th century, they helped the Normans subdue Ireland, later becoming enemies of the Monarchy. He began having dreams of his ancestors, of knights and castles. They were talking to him!

Somethings afoot! Paul is related to Honey Fitz, JFKs grandfather, who was a mayor of Boston. In the early 1970s Paul was in the Boston production of Hair, and later, Jesus, Christ Superstar he played Jesus. Will the hopes of generations for a better world come forth?

Time will tell.

Let The sunshine in!

Onward to the Utmosts of Futures,

Peace,

R.A. Kris Millegan

Publisher

TrineDay

August 22, 2021

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Hamlet, William Shaespeare

Now listen to me, you benighted muckers! Were going to teach you soldiering, The worlds noblest profession! When were done with you, youll be able to stand up and slaughter your foes like civilized men! But first, you will have to learn to march in step. And do the manual of arms without even having to think! Good soldiers dont think, they just obey! Do you suppose that if a man thought twice, hed give his life for Queen and Country? Not bloody likely! He wouldnt go near the battlefield!

Sean Connery as Daniel Dravot, The Man Who Would Be King

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats

Readers with a serious interest in U.S. foreign policy or military strategy will find it helpful Bob Woodwards recent Obamas War focuses on the administrations AfPak deliberations, but this book provides a wider perspective.

Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., NY Library Journal

Journalists Fitzgerald and Gould do yeomans labor in clearing the fog and laying bare American failures in Afghanistan in this deeply researched, cogently argued and enormously important book.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)