Well now. This isn’t good. The Karzai Administration is taking in more than $1 million a year off the books from Iran’s government to pay for presidential expenses. The Chief of Staff is taking in the cash, no doubt helping Mr. Karzai pay for his lavishly, handsomely decorated, pain-stakingly made shawls. Some of it goes […]
Dexter Filkins’ recent NYTimes magazine piece is lengthy but worth reading. Filkins, a veteran war correspondent for the NYTimes, is adept at story-telling and doesn’t disappoint in this article. With his familiar, almost folksy, tone of writing, Filkins draws a vivid picture of the American war in Afghanistan: “The Marines around McChrystal, including the local […]
“For all the dangers of the place, it’s an incredible story. It’s one of the biggest stories of our lives. Leaving the violence aside, it was a chance to see history being made and to see history unfold—really, really big history, and extraordinary human drama. That’s a rare thing. It’s pretty wonderful to be able to see it, even for all of the violence and the horror that I witnessed. It was endlessly interesting and thrilling, even as it was depressing at the same time.” –Dexter Filkins on why he stayed in Iraq for 3 years reporting for The New York Times
If you read only one book about Iraq and Afghanistan this year, make it “The Forever War”, by New York Times foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins. It is full of insightful, lyrical vignettes about the war in Iraq from 2003 to 2006, when Filkins was living there and reporting for the Times. It also includes about forty pages about Afghanistan just prior to the beginning of the war in Iraq.
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