This is the reason interview with Nick Gillespie.

Lasting 20 years, the war in Afghanistan was not only the longest conflict in American history,

it was a near total failure from virtually any perspective.

My guest today is filmmaker Dan Krause, whose documentary Bodyguard of Lies is an unflinching look at U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and the lessons we desperately need to learn.

Krauss shows how from the very beginning, officials like Donald Rumsfeld admitted they weren't going to be honest with the American people.

We're reminded that within six months of 9-11, the U.S. had essentially destroyed al-Qaeda's capacity to attack us,

but instead of leaving, Washington chose two more decades of occupation, nation-building,

strategic confusion, and widespread corruption.

We get into how President Bush and Obama kept doubling down, how trillions of dollars and thousands of lives were wasted and how a

compliant press in Congress let it all happen. Bodyguard of lies is a chilling case study in

hubris deceit and blowback. Here is the Reason interview with Dan Krause. Dan Krauss, thanks for talking to Reason.

Thanks for having me.

So the documentary is about the Afghanistan War, America's longest war, and it's already

one of America's most forgotten wars.

I want to start with the question because this leads to a discussion of a very particular

person who is front and center throughout the Afghanistan War, who is Donald Rumsfeld.

But the title is called Bodyguard of Lies.

Can you explain where that phrase comes from and why it is the controlling metaphor and title of the documentary?

Yeah, sure. Bodyguard of Lies comes from a Winston Churchill quote, and Churchill said,

you know, back in World War II, he said that the truth must always be attended by Bodyguard

of Lies with, you know, the intention of communicating to the American public that sometimes the U.S.

military can't be as forthright as perhaps they should be in times of war because they need

...