Can't Give This War Away

Book Review: "You Know When the Men are Gone," by Siobhan Fallon

Full review on Amazon

This collection of connected short stories is a real tour-de-force. Each of them capture some element of military family life (and some deployed life) that rings true and accurate, even from my distant 20-year-old Army memories.

Some of the book's (very few) negative reviews mention the "MFA feel," which I understand - since I have a Masters of Fine Arts in Writing as well - but that degree represents training and education, which I think is always a good thing, right?

Fictional stories about Iraq seem to be moving into the forefront, with "Fobbit," and Phil Klay's upcoming short stories, and the "Fire and Forget," anthology, and "Yellow Birds" by Kevin Young.

With this anthology, Fallon brings readers accurately, expertly and with heartbreaking focus to the homefront that often gets forgotten.

My 'creative nonfiction' take on John D'Agata and Jim Fingal's "Lifespan of a Fact"

Many of these comments also appear on my Amazon review of "Lifespan of a Fact."

John D'Agata and Jim Fingal have put together an interesting examination on the value of "truth" in the essay - which D'Agata makes clear he considers a vastly different artistic form than conventional creative nonfiction - and especially different from factual reportage, creative or otherwise.

There are two ways to approach this book: first, at face value, taking the book at its word; or once you know the entire backstory.

Geraldo Rivera admits he should have been shot by US soldiers in Iraq as a spy and terrorist

Well, not exactly. But by his own standard, that does seem to be what Rivera is suggesting SHOULD have happened.

Rivera made this recent Twitter comment about the Trayvon Martin shooting (we would call it "murder" in New Hampshire):

"Its not blaming the victim Its common sense-look like a gangsta&some armed schmuck will take you at your word"

Rivera was "asked to leave" or "expelled" or "chose to depart" his 2003 embed with the 101st Airborne. The specifics depend on who you ask, which story you read, and what the source's motivations are.

Here is one story about those 2003 event: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/31/sprj.irq.geraldo/

It is worth noting that the video of Rivera's 2003 antics are not available on Youtube - which means Fox News probably exerted a copyright claim to avoid further embarrasment.

So Rivera's 2012 own standard is, "if you look like a gangster, some armed schmuck might take you at your word."

Using that standard in 2003, Rivera looked like a spy and looked like a terrorist - after all, he was on live TV talking about classified troop movements. Isn't that what a spy would do? Isn't that what a terrorist would do?

So Geraldo Rivera - by his own standard - would have had no problem if soldiers of the 101st Airborne had shot him down in mid-sentence. 

Pre-Review: "Fobbit" by David Abrams

Preorder "Fobbit."

I recently read an early galley copy of David Abrams' "Fobbit," a bitterly cynical, and bitterly funny fictional take of Iraq, circa the 2005 era when things really began to fall apart.

I'm not sure how close this galley version will be to the final publication, but with a September publication date, it should be pretty close. Some of this review is taken from my previous thoughts about "Fobbit," when I'd read a first few excerpts. 

Abrams is a retired "46Q" Army journalist, my same job when I was active duty many years ago. Since Army journalists often were command's mouthpieces, we were usually treated a little better, with - not more respect - but a slight deference, since it was up to us to get the 'good news' out. They had to butter us up a little, just to make sure we all stayed on the same team. And, the job also meant we saw everything at a higher level than most of the soldiers. Sometimes that's good, but often it can be frustrating. That perspective has successfully found its way into the pages of "Fobbit."

There are two nonfiction accounts by Army journalists - which I won't mention, because I didn't like them. They failed, I think, because the honesty was compromised by wishing their story was something it could never be - sorry guys, you weren't Audie Murphy.

Iraq, especially from the military Public Affairs perspective, begs for the "Catch-22" approach, so the true absurdity of so much of it can come through loud and clear, without the justifications, self-editing, wishful thinking and rose-colored memories that most wartime nonfiction memoirs often fall victim.

"Fobbit" tackles many of the Iraq War's absurd contradictions. While Vietnam had Saigon, and I suppose WWII had England, I'm not sure any previous US conflicts ever had something as absurd as the "FOBs" - the cities-within-cities populated by the headquarters elements.That's not to say those soldiers (and many highly-paid US civilians, and very low-paid third-country nationals) didn't have important jobs to do. But there's no question that a year's deployment at a base where you could play basketball tournaments, watch big-screen movies and eat pecan pie every night would seem an odd switch from the violence and death happening right outside the well-protected gates.

"Fobbit" follows a half-dozen characters that represent a solid cross-section of Army soldiers, including a battalion commander, company commander, squad leader, public affairs officer, and public affairs NCO. Each meet different fates, both figurative and literal.

Abrams uses multiple points-of-view, and it's impressive how the 'voice' of each character feels unique and individual. He perfectly captures a wartime soldier's enthusiastic cynicism and gleeful bitterness. 

The story, I think, is less important than these characters. There's a plot, but from my perspective, the most interesting aspect is this unrelenting grind that Abrams' characters experience. As I read, I didn't care what they were doing, as much as what they were thinking, fictionally, on the page. A reader should get at least a small appreciation for how unrewarding and depressing an Iraq deployment could be, when nothing seemed to matter, and it all just seemed a way to kill the time until another a day came and went.

Because the characters are SO important, and SO vital, it makes the last 50 or so pages the weakest part. The story wraps up in a way that puts plot to the forefront, and I cared a lot more about the characters then the plot. Plus, there's a couple parts that strain believability a little bit, and since the first 300 pages were completely spot-on accurate, it was a bit jarring.

Bottom line, this is the kind of story that didn't need to be "concluded" with any sort of conventional ending. The situation alone gave it plenty of emotional weight, and after that, it was Abrams hysterical character development that carried the narrative along. If you're like me, you will really like the vast majority of the book, and some flaws at the end will not take away from the very positive overall impression.

Hopefully, there will be a group of readers who are offended, and who complain about Abrams obvious lack of patriotism, his attack on our beloved soldiers, and his mockery of our national war effort - if that happens, then he has succeeded. A book like this proves its value in the irrational criticism that it generates. Anyone who gets angry and says Abrams got it wrong either wasn't there, didn't serve, doesn't know - or maybe Abrams' characters hit way too close to home.

Like the line from Mel Brooks' "The Producers" goes, "It was shocking, outrageous, insulting...and I loved every minute of it!"

At $8 on Amazon (as of March 21), it's a bargain for the hours/days of entertainment - and cynical nostalgia - it will provide.

My take on "Afghanistan - A Gathering Menace," by Neil Shea, with some corresponding observations

Originally posted on March 22, and UPDATED on May 14: It took them awhile, but the guys at Blackfive finally noticed tbis story, and they made some good points I note below.

This recent article comes on the heels of the recent war crime allegedly committed by a US soldier.

The American Scholar: "Afghanistan - A Gathering Menace"

The "menace" in the title are the American soldiers that author and embedded journalist Neil Shea lacerates with a harsh tone, describing a 2011 patrol. By his account they behave badly at best, displaying behavior that he alleges - with a push - could end up crossing the line into criminality.

(Shea has earlier reporting from Afghanistan as well)

(And from Iraq - with this story, "Ramadi Nights")

Shea and his editors at the Scholar made some choices that take away from the "Menace" story's impact.

Robert Bales is Not the Victim, by Jason Fritz

Since I can't say it better, this column by Jason Fritz sums up the US media's apparent rush to excuse or rationalize Robert Bales' alleged massacre of civilians.

http://tachesdhuile.blogspot.com/2012/03/robert-bales-is-not-victim.html

Bales has yet to be tried, and his guilt is not established. One fact is still reality:

If you excuse, justify or rationalize this act of terrorism by any US soldier, for PTSD, or TBI, or money woes, or family woes, or being in a war zone four times in 10 years...than you also excuse any action by any member of the Taliban or Al Qaeda who have ALSO been fighting those wars for 10 years. I'm sure a few of them have suffered a TBI along the way - so does that justify their acts of terror against helpless civilian targets? Against women and small children? Obviously not.

In fact, by the US media's absurd standard, since Bin Laden fought the Russians for a few years in Afghanistan, maybe he just "snapped" himself. So what right do we have to judge? Maybe Bin Laden bumped his head when he was working construction with his father. Poor little tucky bear; maybe it wasn't his fault.

Or maybe Bin Laden was just a piece of shit terrorist who needed to be put down like a mad dog. So fuck Bin Laden, and fuck those who choose his path of terror and evil, no matter what their nationality, or the life they lived the day before.

Rabies + Chernobyl = Iraq: My Pre-Publication Take on Two Upcoming Books: "Rabid" by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy, and "Visit Sunny Chernobyl" by Andrew Blackwell

"Rabid," by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy.

"Visit Sunny Chernobyl," by Andrew Blackwell.

Both these books are available for pre-order, and my thoughts are based on complimentary advance galley editions. I am not quoting directly from the text because these are unpublished editions subject to change.

Dusk set in at Camp Taji, a few miles north of Baghdad, with the nightly arrival of the bats, first in ones and twos, then in 10s, then dozens and dozens. Then the sun went down and their little forms weren't visible anymore; always high enough to avoid running into me, but they were on my mind on late night strolls to the latrine trailers.

On the streets, hiding in the alleys, rooting through the garbage, were the stray dogs that also seemed to show up everywhere. The 25th Infantry soldiers in Tarmiyah's Joint Security Station had "adopted" a pair of puppies, and their commander was willing to allow it, as long as the playful dogs kept out of his way, and didn't cavort into the tactical operations center.

For all the threats the soldiers were constantly aware of - the mortars, the snipers, the suicide bombs, the kids throwing rocks, the scheming of tribal leaders - nobody ever mentioned the threats posed by the bats and stray dogs, two of the biggest "vectors" of the fatal rabies virus.

My interview with Phil Klay, part of the upcoming anthology "Fire and Forget," and author of "Redeployment" and an upcoming book of his own Iraq-related short stories.

Phil Klay is the author of the short stories "Redeployment" and "OIF," both originally published in the journal Granta. 

"Redeployment" will appear in the anthology "Fire and Forget," upcoming from Da Capo Press, which Klay helped edit along with Matt Gallagher, Roy Scranton, Jake Siegel and Perry O'Brien. 

His essay "Death and Memory" was published in the New York Times. 

Klay himself will have a book of Iraq-related short stories coming out from Penguin, with an expected publication date in 2013. 

Klay, a four-year Marine veteran, served as a Public Affairs Officer in Iraq' Anbar Province Iraq. He graduated from Dartmouth College and earned his Masters of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Hunter College. 

While his story "OIF" is free to read, "Redeployment" requires a purchase of Granta, volume 116. While it would be possible to create a free link to the story, that would defeat the purpose of financially supporting this kind of writing. You're spending $20 for the issue because you want Granta and journals like it to be able to continue finding and supporting writers like Phil Klay, and many others.

Klay spent some time via email discussing his work with me, both current and upcoming.

Some of my questions assume a reader's knowledge of "Redeployment," but also try to avoid spoiling it in any significant way; hopefully the focus remains on writing decisions that don't require specific knowledge of plot points. The story is worth the purchase, or at least finding it at a library.

You can, however, hear "Redeployment" being read here. And it was discussed by Carl Prine here.

Questions follow:

Available for Pre-Order, "Fobbit" by David Abrams

I have already read an advance galley of "Fobbit" by David Abrams, and I can say it's well-worth the $15 pricetag. I will offer my thoughts in the near-future, but it's already available for purchase.

In an interesting post here, author Abrams noted that pre-orders affect a book's print runs, and its subsequent chance for real success on the open market. I had no idea!

"Fobbit" is, to use a favorite phrase of mine to describe US soldiers, "enthusiastically cynical and gleefully bitter." It is relentless and uncompromising, bleak and often negative; but it's equally honest and hysterical - a fictional story, but one with deep roots of truth.

It's not perfect, but no book is. It should be entertaining to see the angry one-star Amazon reviews, and I expect it will get a few. But that's a good thing. Any story that's worthwhile will weather some criticism; it's the ones that don't ask anything of their readers that are forgotten in five minutes.

So, if pre-orders help the book, then it's worth the boost.

(I had offered some previous thoughts here, and I've since read the whole book - or at least an advance version of it)

Book Review: "House of Stone," by Anthony Shadid

Full Review: House of Stone, by Anthony Shadid

I doubt I would have read this book except for Shadid's recent passing in Syria. By itself, the Mid-East and family history his narrative was set to explore did not connect with me.

But - this is a magnificently written and reported story. Shadid brings the Lebanon of his ancestors, and his own present-day Lebanon, to life. The people of his village are fully-drawn human portraits; it should make readers appreciate the real lives that we so casually ignore, especially in stories like "Afghanis protest Koran burning," as though the Afghan people are one solid mass of action and belief.

It's rare that people get to write their own memorial, and rarer still when they do it so well. Obviously that was not Shadid's attention, and it's a tragedy that can't be measured.

I don't mean that with overstatement - it really can't be measured. His loss is more than one reporter, but years of knowledge with the culture and the language, and an ability to appreciate all sides of the various Mid-East conflicts. We might not notice his byline's absence, but it will reduce our future awareness in ways I doubt we'll ever appreciate.

The book foreshadows in tragic ways - from mentions of his children, to the book's last word - "home," which now takes on an entirely different meaning. He did a good job with the time he had, and in the end that's the best anyone can hope for.

Book Review: "Renegades" by Robert Ward - and its connection to reporting today

Full Review: Renegades, by Robert Ward

Before he became a television producer, Ward was a literary journalist in the 1970s-80s "new journalism" style.

While this book does read rather dated, with stories of celebrities and athletes from a distant era, it's still an interesting look at the reportage of that era. His first-person style really was "new" at the time, where the reporter was as much part of the story as the subject.

His interview of New York Yankees superstar Reggie Jackson is still memorable today, with the quote "I'm the straw that stirs the drink" apparently stirring up some controversey at the time. It's notable also because of how mundane a lot of the supposedly controversial quotes are in the present day. Athletes took themselves a lot less seriously back then, so when someone like Jackson actually acted like a superstar I guess it rubbed everybody the wrong way.

Mostly, it's the access that's much different. Ward interviewed Jackson in a bar, and I can't imagine similar access being given by Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter.

But - Ward's work connects with 2012 era reporting in a couple vital ways.

First, Ward interviewed Jackson, Larry Flynt, Pete Marachich, LeRoy Neiman, Lee Marvin and many others. Some, like Marvin and Robert Mitchum, came across very well - others, like artist Neiman and Flynt, came across a little more roughly. But, it certainly never cost Ward access - he could always find new celebrity subjects willing to talk, probably because of the attention his previous profiles had earned.

But more importantly, he reported what people said and did around him. I think Reggie Jackson came across really well - exactly like a superstar should come across.

It was new at the time, but by 2012, it's not really new at all. If a source is surprised to see his or her actual quotes printed on a page, especially when it's a profile written by a celebrity journalist, then they apparently haven't been paying attention for the past 40 years - this is how a lot of journalism is conducted now, for good and ill.

A lot of the criticism about Michael Hastings' The Operators was that he reported and wrote about conversations that he should have kept hidden in his notebook.

It can be argued about the newsworthiness of the 'money quotes' in his Rolling Stone article that eventually got Gen. Stanley McChrystal fired - but nobody is claiming that those quoted in the story didn't say the words that were printed.

Nobody in a position of fame or authority - least of all four-star generals - should need their hand held when a reporter is around. Especially a celebrity reporter like Hastings.

Ward's stories are well-written, and while they don't exactly fit in 2012, they still give a good look back at the beginnings of that style of reportage. It's had its ups and downs, but it's not "new journalism" anymore, and complaints about Hastings' treatment of McChrystal's team - or any similar reporter-subject dust-up - are simply not paying attention to history.

Getting back to the first point, Hastings' follow-up interview in the days after The Operators publication was with Wikileaks notorious Julian Assange. So, even though a previous story had gotten a top general fired, Assange was happy to talk with Hastings. If a journalist can tell a story that people care about, good or bad, there will always be another subject lined up to take a seat in the interview chair.

"Can't Give This War Away," endorsed by Michael Anthony, author of "Mass Casualties"

Michael Anthony is the author of the bitter - and often bitterly funny - Iraq War memoir, "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq."

His memoir is uncompromising and brutal, not from bloody wartime conflict, but from his relentless depiction of a poorly-led hospital unit, but one still able to do the job. It's a reminder that for every high-speed unit of elite infantrymen, there were often small units and detachments like Anthony's hospital team, where things simply didn't come together.

He does not let up with his depictions of his leaders and fellow soldiers. His book stands apart because he breaks out of the "rah-rah, wave the flag" patriotism that often makes memoirs exercises in self-justification. He could have been a little harder on himself at times, but within the pages, he's not perfect either.

David Bellavia's "House to House" is the same kind of book - except from the infantrymen's side of things. Bellavia succeeds because he doesn't try to sugarcoat anything. His book is a brutal story of men fighting and killing, while Anthony's is brutal from behind the scenes of petty grievances and leaders who fail. Bellavia's book is superior - but he also had professional John Bruning helping out with the writing, so I'm sure that made a big difference.

Anthony recently read "Can't Give This War Away," and offered this much-appreciated endorsement:

“If you want to learn about dirt do you ask an ant or an eagle?  An eagle can see far and wide and see dirt for miles, but it’s the ant that lives in the dirt, eats it, and sleeps in it.  It’s the same thing with war.  Most journalists see the war from a perched perspective.  They don’t know what the dirt’s really like. But, luckily, Nathan isn’t just a journalist; he’s also an Army vet, able to see both perspectives.  What he gives is a book that’s an inside-outside, outside-inside, perspective of three different trips to Iraq.” 

-- Michael Anthony, Iraq War Veteran and author of: "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq."

Book Review: "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" by Ashley Gilbertson (and about "Bedrooms of the Fallen")

An accurate measure of Iraq-related photojournalism books should start with Ashley Gilbertson's "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," which recaptures aspects of the war that already seem so distant.

The title is the radio call sign usually used as "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?" Which if it's not obvious, means "what the fuck, over?" which, if it's not obvious, is a perfect statement to sum up Iraq, circa 2003-04, which is what Ashley Gilbertson deals with here.

Gilbertson remains a working, preeminent photojournalist, (here at Occupy Wall Street) and "WTF" is not some museum piece devoted to a career that's concluded its usefulness.

People You Meet: Larry "Gunny" Sizemore

Along the way of any embedded experience, all sorts of people get met along the way, and plenty of them don't have much to do with the story. They are briefly important, but as time goes along, their significance fades, except as a memory.

I met Larry "Gunny" Sizemore in the Stryker Stables at Camp Striker near Victory Base in 2007 and 2009. I was probably one of thousands of soldiers, civilians and other transients who had at least a brief interaction with him. He had been managing the stop-over billeting since 2004, and was still there five years later.

Book Review: "Beautiful Souls" by Eyal Press

Full Review: Eyal Press: Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times

I had read Eyal Press' recent book, "Beautiful Souls" a few months back, and more recently, I read Gary Krist's upcoming history of Chicago, "City of Scoundrels," an impressive presentation of 1919-era America, with blimp crashes, child murders, political corruption, and a large-scale race riot that destroyed lives and property.

At first, they have no clear connection. But, it's there.

A 2012 complaint about race relations in the US is "oh, people should stop complaining, because we're all set, and we elected a black president, and everything's great, and we can feel good about ourselves! Hooray!" Which is of course a denial of our past history.

The race riots of the early 1920s, like that described in "Scoundrels," affected cities across the country - East St. Louis, Chicago, Tulsa, etc.

They certainly didn't improve things. Things got worse, not better. From 1920-1940 was probably the most racist time in US history, with things going progressively backwards. While there are plenty of individual heroes, there was little/no true government help to solve the problem. This was a time when US Senators like Theodore Bilbo were the most virulent racists.

The death toll of the riots were sometimes high and sometimes low. But the loss to home, property and self-determination were probably worse.

I have no doubt that if I'd grown up in the 1920s I would have taken the easy path, and joined the mobs. It would have been the simple, acceptable thing to do. I'd like to believe I would have stood up for the right thing, but let's not kid ourselves.

If it was true that the majority of people living today would have stood up for justice back then - then people would have stood up for justice back then. And they didn't.

It's not just the US of course. We see it happening today in Iraq, where even when given "freedom" after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, old grudges are more important than moving forward as one nation of people. One person can save a few lives, but it takes a government of conscience to move an entire society forward - and those are few and far between.

Eyal Press' "Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding Conscience in Dark Times," is a brief, but very compelling book about people who did stand up for the right side, when they didn't have to, when they actually risked lives and futures.

Like the last veterans of World War I (including the nation's many black veterans who were betrayed almost immediately upon their return to the US), all the worst racists of the 1920s, north and south, are mostly dead.

I wonder if they had a good answer for their choices, when they faced the judgement of their lives.

Book Review: "City of Scoundrels," by Gary Krist.

Obviously not Iraq related, but "City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago" presents an always-relevant story of early-1900s US history.

It describes a 1919 race riot that, while not "worse" than other riots of the era should depress readers all the same.

For all our 2012 confusion about why Sunni and Shia tribal groups in Iraq can't "get along," it's worth noting that the US has been no stranger to ethnic cleansing and massacres - forget the discrimination, it was often much worse than that. It may not be happening in 2012, but the fact that the African-American community was kept down so long from 1870-1960, and was often unable to put down roots in neighborhoods, towns and cities (except for the slums), is what has required affirmative action in more modern times. 

Krist's narrative deals only with Chicago's "present" of 1919, not the future results. But to appreciate where the US has arrived as of 2012, readers should spend some time with these past accounts.

It's a good job. It doesn't always have the storytelling panache of Erik Larson's well-known "Devil in the White City," but fits into the timeline all the same.

From The Guardian: "The Shot That Nearly Killed Me: War Photographers"

From the UK's Guardian newspaper comes this powerful, graphic and harsh retrospective on the moments that, for a series of top-flight war photographers, almost went the wrong way.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/18/war-photographers-special-report?fb=native

It includes the work of Ashley Gilbertson, Joao Silva, and my too-brief friend at Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, John D. McHugh. As well as many others.

The last couple weeks have seen the tragic deaths of journalists Marie Colvin, Remi Ochlik, and Anthony Shadid in Syria. Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington died in Libya before that. 

Joao Silva lost his legs in a mine explosion, McHugh was shot, and a mission organized so Gilbertson could take pictures of a dead insurgent directly led to the death of a soldier he was accompanying. Death waits everywhere.

There was no shot that nearly killed me, but a mortar shell landed a T-Wall's distance away, the difference between putting the firing plate here, instead of there. But everything's all a little bit of this, or a little bit of that.

Like one of the soldiers laughed to me afterwards, "It's good to have a close call. It will make your stories more interesting."

Coming Soon - "Fobbit" by David Abrams...the truest war stories are the ones they call 'fiction'

"Naked and the Dead" by Normal Mailer appeared in 1948, and is regarded as one of the classic works of World War II fiction, maybe the top book of all. Tim O'Brien's "Going After Cacciato" was published in 1979, and while it's not a classic on everyone's tongue, it's certainly a well-regarded, award-winning fictional take on Vietnam.

Who knows where David Abrams' upcoming "Fobbit" will fit in. Time will tell. It's scheduled for a September, 2012 release, and I can't wait. 

From just short excerpts and some personal perspective of the topic and writer's background, I have high hopes.

Conflict Zone in New York City - a gallery of a gallery of images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48b25xeT2A&feature=youtu.be

This video presents a compelling gallery of the gallery of images that made up the recent Conflict Zone exhibition in New York City at the NY Fire Department Museum.

There is one image of me looking especially bald/absurd at the 1:10 mark, which can probably be avoided...but also a good shot of my image of Sgt. Kent Dell at the 1:22 mark that brings out the color and the setting.

All in all, a great event and a proud home for my image of Iraq, circa 2009. The soldier in the image is currently in his second 4.0 year at Michigan State, where he is an undergrad research assistant, president of two student orgs, and reads to blind students in his off-time.

So keep that story in mind, and many others just like it, hidden among the media-driven "support the troops = pity/fear the troops" narratives that seem to be the 2012 media mindset.

Conflict Zone in New York City - an impressive turnout, and great display

"Conflict Zone," a travelling exhibition featuring some of the best work of war photographers (including mine) opened for a week's display at the New York City Fire Department Museum, and was featured on the influential "At Lens" blog of the New York Times.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/two-wars-seen-many-ways/

Image #15 features Sgt. Kent Dell, a squad leader with Charlie Company, 1/505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, as he takes a break in his bunkroom at Combat Outpost Cahill near Salman Pak.

Turnout was large at the exhibition opening, which also featured the work of Chris Hondros, Andrea Bruce, Jackie Spinner, and many others.

Other photos of the display can be found at my Facebook page.

My trip to New York also let me pay respects to my one - small - connection to the fallen at the World Trade Towers.

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis - smeared by who? No idea - since they didn't give their names

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis recently wrote a harsh critique on US Afghanistan policy.

http://armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030

It's a blistering attack. Is it totally true? Don't know. Is Davis completely right? No idea. Is Davis wrong and way off base? Couldn't say.

But - I do know who wrote it. Lt. Col. Daniel Davis - since, you know, he put his name on it.

Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent, posted this story about the investigation into Davis' remarks:

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/08/10355394-pentagon-investigates-colonel-over-critical-report-on-us-progress-in-afghanistan

In the story, Miklaszewski provides us the quotes of: "military officials," "Senior military officials," and "Pentagon and military officials."

He does offer one quote from Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparotti, the "No. 2 U.S. commander in Afghanistan," though it's unclear if the quote is in response to this Daniels' story or not.

Bottom line - we have Jim Mikaszewski reporting about an investigation, where his 'sources' are at some "senior" level in the military, but neither NBC News or the Pentagon are comfortable providing their audience with any names of those officials.

If I have to choose a side between anonymous "sources," or a guy with an actual real name, like Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, I'm not saying I take Davis 100 percent at his word, but I take it a lot more than someone hiding in the background, sniping from the darkness.

Davis may completely deserve to be punished, or otherwise investigated. I have no idea about the particulars. But this gutless "reporting" and "sourcing" is slimy. It's not new, and it's been done 1000 times, and it's painfully predictable.

If we have a media that reports accusations and allegations from "sources," without names or accountability, then - like the saying goes - we don't have a media, just stenographers. 

UPDATE: This response to Davis column is fairly harsh and unimpressed.

I haven't read Davis' full 84-page report, but I do respect Foreign Policy columnists.

But, whether one agrees with this author - Joseph Collins, a retired colonel - at least he put his name on it.

 

Larry Burrows classic photo essay from Vietnam - unparalleled in recent memory

This brutal and uncompromising photo essay by Larry Burrows is 47 years old, taken during the beginning of the Vietnam War in 1965.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096328/Tragedy-air-Stunning-black-white-pictures-board-Yankee-Papa-13-capture-ill-fated-mission-violent-throws-Vietnam-War.html

47 years later, and after 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm not sure if any photojournalist has brought the war to an audience in as unflinching a way.

Burrows did it with a manual 35mm camera, carrying individual rolls of film, developing the film, and manually creating each printed image. It's a good debate if any photojournalist today could successfully work under those conditions. 

Paula Broadwell on Michael Hastings - a certain quality of disingenuous

I have not yet read Paula Broadwell's recent biography, "All In," of Gen. David Petraeus, but I've done some skimming. Her book seems interesting, and a worthwhile read, especially considering Petraeus' impact on the last 10 years of US history.

Michael Hastings, author of The Operators, (and The Operators got a few bad notices by establishment reviewers) reviewed it recently. It's a harsh takedown, and by itself, entertaining:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/the-legend-of-david-petraeus-20120131

Starting at the 11:38 mark of this recent interview of Broadwell by Leonard Lopate:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2012/jan/25/education-general-david-petraeus/

...Paula Broadwell offers a few negative comments of her own about Hastings reporting.

Within that few minute span, Broadwell does admit - or claim - to having only skimmed "The Operators" and/or "The Runaway General" article.

Lopate says at one point, "You haven't read the piece, obviously," to which Broadwell responds, "I've skimmed it [the article, apparently, but maybe the book], yes. I know what [Hastings] said. I have a different perspective, obviously."

Broadwell's disingenuous statement doesn't make much sense.

Broadwell has obviously read "The Runaway General" article. The article is referenced in the first paragraph of "All In," on the first page, of the first chapter.

In "All In," the article is mentioned at least five times in various contexts, but for Broadwell to have made any reference means she must have read it, or she would not have understood the context enough to refer to the article at all. Make sense?

For whatever reason, Broadwell chose in her interview to dismiss and deny any deep knowledge of the article, or the specifics of what Hastings wrote and reported. 

I could speculate that by dismissing it, and saying she only "skimmed" it, even though she knows "what [Hastings] said," she is hoping to make the article, and Hastings, seem unimportant and irrelevant.

Broadwell said she had a different perspective than Hastings - and that's fine and expected. And, clearly, true. She is a former Army officer and ally of Petraeus, after all, not an impartial journalist.

But in 2012, it shouldn't be somehow shameful to deny reading things or gaining information.

If Broadwell had simply said, "I read Hastings' article, and he lacked perspective and honesty, and chose the easy quotes instead of trying to have any honest understanding about what he was witnessing," then she makes her point while coming to the discussion from a position of knowledge. 

She either only skimmed Hastings' article - which is, at best, unlikely, and would be willful (and strange) ignorance on her part, or she's being dishonest about reading the article, which makes no sense.

Again, the article is referenced in the first paragraph, on the first page of her first chapter - she had to have read it. And why wouldn't she? 

You don't "skim" an article that had such an impact on the military leaders that your book is focusing on - it doesn't matter whether you shared another writer's "perspective" or not. In fact, she should want to read as many critical articles as she could (even though Hastings isn't dealing with Petraeus specifically), so her account would be as complete and full as possible.

It's a minor point, maybe, but to me it's either dishonesty or willful ignorance.

I could be missing something...but as far as I can tell, it's one or the other. Not to be snarky, but that's what I got from her book by "skimming."

She may very well have been more specific in other interviews, but I haven't heard or read any other reference to Hastings, so I don't know. But that's what she said in this one interview.

Book Review: "The Mirage" by Matt Ruff

The Mirage, by Matt Ruff

In "The Mirage," Matt Ruff presents a creative look through the looking glass of 9/11, in an alternate history where the attacks happened on Nov. 9, and the Twin Towers were in Baghdad.

The United States as we know it is no more, replaced by a handful of separate and despotic religious-based nations.

Not much can be said without giving away plot points. It's not for everyone, and it does try to do a little too much, but for the creativity and audacity of plot, it deserves a look.

As I say in my full review at Amazon - if you remember the legendary Star Trek episode, "Mirror, Mirror," with the evil Spock in a goatee, that's the America of this book. A few creepy names from our recent past show up in unexpected and creative ways.

Maybe not a plot or premise for everyone, but it's worth a look.

Michael Hastings tears apart Paula Broadwell's Petraeus bio, "All In" - and a second-hand Petraeus ancecdote of my own

I have not read Paula Broadwell's recent biography, "All In," of Gen. David Petraeus, though eventually I will.

I have no idea if this review by Michael Hastings, author of The Operators, is accurate or not. But, it's certainly an interesting - and I have to say, entertaining - read. If you're going to write a negative review (and The Operators got a few bad ones by establishment reviewers), you might as well make sure that any future handshakes will be conducted with both parties carrying knives in the other hand.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/the-legend-of-david-petraeus-20120131

The feeling between these two writers seem a little mutual. At the 11:38 mark of this interview:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2012/jan/25/education-general-david-petraeus/

...Paula Broadwell offers a few negative comments of her own about Hastings reporting.

She does admit to having only skimmed "The Operators" and/or "The Runaway General" article. Lopate says at one point, "You haven't read the piece, obviously," to which Broadwell responds, "I've skimmed it [the article, apparently], yes. I know what [Hastings] said. I have a different perspective, obviously."

I've never met Gen. Petraeus, but one of the soldiers I was embedded with did meet him, briefly. The soldier and his brothers were all deployed to Iraq at the same time, and the curiosity of the entire family being there earned them all a quick sit-down with the General, that one related to me, as I wrote in my own book:

"The curiosity factor of three simultaneous deployments earned the three brothers a quick meeting with General David Petraeus a few months back.

The General told the three brothers what a good job they were all doing, and wondered why none of them had ever served in Petraeus’ beloved 101st Airborne Division – beloved so much so that one of the General’s assistants whispered to the men that Petraeus posed for pictures in ways to ensure his right shoulder appeared in any photo, always displaying his 101st Airborne combat patch, the division that Petraeus had commanded during the 2003 invasion.

“We prefer airborne units, sir,” one brother explained to the General, a deliberate dig against the 101st. While still tagged ‘airborne,’the 101st no longer has true paratroopers like the 82nd, or the 25th Infantry brigade where two of the brothers were assigned.

It’s an Army joke and deep rivalry, with the world made up of paratroopers who jump out of planes – like those in the 82nd - and “legs,” who don’t, and that’s pretty much everybody else. Petraeus’ soldiers in the 101st rappel down ropes out of helicopters, instead of jumping out of them. To the three paratrooping brothers, that’s not ‘airborne’ at all.

“Petraeus was pissed,” [redacted] laughed, when he told the story. “He tried to play it off, laughing a little bit, but he kind of hustled us out of there after that.”

 

Q+A with Michael Hastings and Robert Greenwald, about The Operators

As Michael Hastings, author of The Operators, continues his book promotion, he's conducted a few interviews that offer some interesting observations to complement the excellent book.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153890/robert_greenwald_and_reporter_michael_hastings_take_on_the_wild_and_terrifying_inside_story_of_america%27s_war_machine?page=entire

I think some of these recent interviewers (Harpers did a decent one, too) could challenge Hastings a bit more, but they are informative all the same.

It's good to see any book that challenges the establishment, and especially the status quo. While I've enjoyed a lot of the embedded literature (and wrote my own), Hastings is a new, and generally untold story - because reporters try to protect their access, and rarely scorch the earth as Hastings did here.

I am pleased to say that my review of The Operators remains the 'most helpful' on Amazon:

http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/cgtwa/2012/01/book-review-the-operators-by-michael-hastings-.html 

Some of my other observations about Hastings recent work are here:

http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/cgtwa/2012/01/so-julian-assange-thinks-embedded-reporters-are-compromised.html

http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/cgtwa/2012/01/julian-assanges-reference-to-david-finkel-author-of-the-good-soldiers.html

http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/cgtwa/2012/01/matt-gallagher-kaboom-author-on-michael-hastings-the-operators.html

http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/cgtwa/2012/01/michael-hastings-interview-with-julian-assange-upcoming-in-rolling-stone.html

http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/cgtwa/2012/01/book-review-the-operators-by-michael-hastings-if-you-want-to-go-war-you-scorch-the-earth.html

Book Review: "Kaboom" by Matt Gallagher

"Kaboom" by Matt Gallagher

For the full review, check the Amazon link above.

I read (and reviewed) this book in 2010 when it first came out, and I was only moderately impressed - but I think I was too close to the subject matter at that time, having recently returned from Iraq myself, and so didn't give enough credit to the information that Matt Gallagher presents.

Reading it again in January, 2012, I found that "Kaboom" holds up impressively well about two years after its initial release; in fact, it feels even more current today, with the Iraq situation very much unsettled despite the US departure. Re-reading it this second time, I now see that this story's wry, funny and detailed style deftly explains one of the least understood aspects of the Iraq War.

I thought the first time I read it, and still think, that "Kaboom's" biggest value is the additional context it might add to a broader book like Tom Ricks' "The Gamble." Since Ricks covers a much broader scope, sometimes the human story gets a little lost. Gallagher gives an on-the-ground look at this often ignored or misunderstood aspect of the war.

Many of the more conventional 'combat' narratives are also well written, but all sort of run together in the growing library of Iraq War books. 

Gallagher takes a more unique approach and now stands apart, even more so with some distance and time. "Kaboom" is one of the rare books that's actually better with age. 

So Julian Assange thinks embedded reporters are compromised?

Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame said this to interviewer Michael Hastings, about Pulitzer Prize winner David Finkel, author of "The Good Soldiers." In the interview, he criticised Finkel for covering up/exusing the helicopter gunship video that Wikileaks released as "Collateral Damage."

"He had been embedded with ground troops in that area for some nine months on the ground. He had clearly developed too close an affinity for the people he was embedded with and came out essentially campaigning on their behalf after the release of the video."

"The Good Soldiers" is one of the best and most even-handed embedded accounts from the Iraq War, and while empathetic to the soldiers that Finkel was with, it was hardly one-sided to their exclusive benefit.

The sports site Deadspin posted a series of emails between Auburn University's PR people and a variety of TV and print journalists.

You want to see what "affinity" and "campaigning on their behalf" really looks like, go there:

http://deadspin.com/5855433/am-i-sick-are-we-all-sick-overwrought-things-the-media-wrote-to-auburns-pr-guy-during-cam-newtons-wild-2010-season

It's long, but very compelling in a behind-the-curtain way.

The "journalism" represented in the emails that the article collects are everything Michael Hastings avoided in The Operators. Everything written to Auburn's PA staff is designed to protect access at all costs, and dance slightly around any controversey. The reporters aren't burning the bridges - they are providing the bricks and mortars to Auburn's staff.

I have no opinion on whether it was fair or unfair to harange Cam Newton about incidents from his past, or scandals of the recent present. But it's clear that for most of the sports reporters that was much less important than protecting their access down the road. Of course, other than reputation, the stakes of sports journalism aren't very high at all.

Julian Assange's Rolling Stone reference to David Finkel, author of "The Good Soldiers," and another perspective

Michael Hastings, author of The Operators, interviewed Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame in this week's Rolling Stone.

It proves one thing - the more "notorious" a journalist, the better chance they'll have of landing interviews with higher-level sources. The fact that Hastings supposedly brought down Gen. Stanley McChrystal didn't stop Assange from talking with Hastings - maybe he thought Hastings would be a sympathetic ear, maybe he saw them both as enemies of the establishment. Doesn't really matter...Hastings was the one sitting across the table from him, not Brian Williams or Bill Keller.

Matt Gallagher, "Kaboom" author, on Michael Hastings' "The Operators."

Matt Gallagher, author of the well-done Iraq War civic lesson/memoir "Kaboom," has an insightful review of Michael Hastings' The Operators.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/17/the-operators-by-michael-hastings-review.html

Gallagher makes a especially accurate observation:

“The guilt that many felt for not serving was covered up by an uncritical attitude toward those who did,” writes Hastings, both about the disconnect at the highest levels of power and what he coins the media-military industrial complex. As embarrassing as some scenes are for McChrystal and his subordinates, it’s really some of Hastings’s comrades in journalism (I couldn’t help but think of Thomas Friedman’s infamous “Suck on this” clip) whom he most takes to task, lambasting their lack of critical thinking and hard questions in exchange for continued access to the movers and shakers of the war effort.

While Gallagher can't speak for all officers or soldiers, he's a representative voice of the younger generation of military leaders - too many of which have chosen to return to the civilian life that often doesn't understand them or care to, and leaving the military bereft of a lot of hard-won experience.

(The Thomas Friedman video clip is one of the most deluded, proven-wrong-by-history, screeds I've seen in quite some time).