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datasets.iitb.crawledDocs.yn_08Oct08_file_129 Maven / Gradle / Ivy

    Article:Q&A with author of 'The Forever War':/c/a/2008/10/06/DDOK139KFL.DTL Article:Q&A with author of 'The Forever War':/c/a/2008/10/06/DDOK139KFL.DTL Home of the | | Quick links to the best of SFGate | Still can't find it? see Today Sections More Features Q&A with author of 'The Forever War' Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Georgia (default) Verdana Times New Roman Arial | Size: Images New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins is considered by many to be the nation's premiere war correspondent. His new book, "The Forever War" (Alfred A. Knopf, $25), recounts his experiences covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the terrorist attacks in New York City. Writing in blunt prose, rich with details both grotesque and sublime, Filkins illuminates a dark face of a conflict rarely seen save by the combatants themselves. Yet Filkins never forces his perspective or conclusions upon the reader. "The Forever War" is a masterpiece of nuance, reflecting the muddled confusion of the conflict. Filkins sat down for a conversation with The Chronicle in late September on a Bay Area stop of his book tour. Excerpts of that interview follow. Q: People have compared (your book) to a lot of different books. But the one that sprang to my mind is John Hersey's "Hiroshima," in that you paint a series of pictures without drawing a specific conclusion. Was that what you were seeking to do? Or how did you approach it? A: There have been a lot of great books about Iraq, but most of them have been written from 10,000 feet up. Decisions that were made in Washington or the overall direction of the war, stuff like that. I felt like what I could do was show people what it was like on the ground, when you're 6 inches away from this stuff. ... I wanted to show people what it feels like to be at a car bombing, to sit across the table from a Sunni sheikh who is lying to you. To be shot at, or to be in the middle of combat. ... When you're on the ground in these places, most things feel pretty ambiguous. They're very confused. And I wanted to convey that overwhelming sense of ambiguity - moral and otherwise - that I often felt when I was there. Q: Even in the afterword, there's not a point where you say, "and here's what it all means and here's what I think about it." Why not? A: I'd be in a place like Iraq where it was so complicated, so ambiguous, changing all the time, unbelievably violent, terribly confusing, and I'd get on an airplane and I'd land in New York and there would be some retired lieutenant colonel sitting in a TV studio telling everybody exactly what it all means. And I could do nothing but laugh. ... The reality there, it's a kaleidoscope. So in that sense, I wanted to present the kaleidoscope. Q: You recently wrote an update from Iraq, which I think could be reasonably described as somewhat optimistic, seeing things going better than you expected. And you had a story in the New York Times Magazine called "Talibanistan," which I think could be reasonably described as at least a little pessimistic, in that it described a Pakistan that is essentially playing an ongoing game for U.S. funds by keeping the Taliban on the hook in a way that could last forever. Are you optimistic or pessimistic? A: The remarkable thing for me in this past couple of months has been to see the war that has caused so much polarization in this country, Iraq, and so much divisiveness at home finally - if only for the moment - calm down. The violence is down 80 percent; in places like Anbar province, the cradle of the insurgency, it's down 90 percent. ... And yet, on the other hand, Afghanistan, the good war, the war everybody agreed on, the war that was necessary, has gone bad. And it's gone bad in a pretty serious way. ... I don't think either one of them is going to end in a long time. Whether we're there or not - that's a decision that's probably going to be made independent of conditions on the ground at some point. Q: There's a lot of interest right now in reporters being more opinionated, and certainly there are people who think that that's the way we should be, but you seem to resist that. A: I find a lot of the argument in this country about the war self-indulgent. Most of the arguments about Iraq are about America - I was right, you were wrong, you're bad and I'm good. When the real reality, where all the trauma and the dying is being done, is 12,000 miles away from here. So I don't care about the arguments, I guess, at the end of the day. Q: For four years, people cited Iraq as the No. 1 issue that would help them decide who they're voting for for president. Now it's the economy. Is that frustrating? A: No. I think people are exhausted by the wars. And I think at the moment, the situation in Iraq is quiet, and surely at some level that must be a relief not to flip on the TV or look at the paper every day and just see more death and dying and more soldiers being killed. But, no, I don't blame people for being exhausted by all this. Q: There are not a lot of people like you anymore. War correspondents. We're moving toward a point where it's going to be the New York Times, the Washington Post and maybe one or two others even doing significant foreign correspondence. Can you cover it all? Or is that a problem? A: No, it's terrible. There have been more reporters killed in Iraq than any conflict in recent memory. I think well over 150 reporters have been killed. But that's not the main reason why people don't cover it. The reason why people don't cover it is the expense. ... I think we spend 2 or 3 million dollars a year just to cover Iraq. It's crazy. The insurance premiums, when I go in the country, are $15,000 a month. And if you have five or six reporters in the country as we usually do, and a couple of photographers - I mean, just think about that. That's a lot of ads to sell. Q: But it's not just Iraq. All foreign correspondence is rolling up to a degree. A: Absolutely. And I think it's nothing short of a national tragedy. I don't know how - the world cannot be covered from your living room, no matter how savvy you are on the Internet. If my book conveys anything, it's that - it's that God is in the details, and details can only be known from up close and in person. Q: If you didn't do this, if you didn't cover what you cover or if you didn't do journalism, what would you do? A: I don't know. I mean, fortunately, I haven't had to think about it. I've been doing something that I really, really cared about, and I really loved, and I was very passionate about, and which I thought was very important. And so I'm very fortunate, I've been very fortunate in that respect. So I've been happy to be lost in that for a decade. Q: Where's the next trip? A: It really might be a sports story - one of our sports editors called me and asked if I wanted to do something. We didn't get specific, but I was very intrigued. A lot of contact, but no violence. To read an excerpt of "The Forever War" and to see photos and more information about Dexter Filkins, go to . E-mail Matthew B. Stannard at . This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle Comments Most Recommended Comments Report item as: (required) Comment: (optional) Director discusses the rebirth of Hong Kong cinema. Hef's harem shrinks; Nicole: 'No regrets' about Tom years. What would happen if the entire world could vote in our election? Morford. It's Halle Berry, says Esquire. Buffy died while fending off a gunman robbing her owner in E. Oakland. Local S&L tycoons cry foul after comedy show mocks them. Bottom Line. Coach Nolan thinks the 49ers should be better than this. Is he right? Antiquity's most famous monarch heads to the De Young next year. A gallery of pics from the joyous Hardly Strictly Fest. Special Education Teachers Needed! A Noble Cause. Epic in Scope! Let's Move Forward Together!!!! Regional Sales Manager Nat All Levels of Experience... SAFETY: Control Room Operator With last month's opening of the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco's crash course in 21st century architecture... Susan Gartner, a high-tech software sales professional for 24 years and grandmother of two... "Waste not life," wrote Benjamin Franklin, patron saint of American entrepreneurs... Advertisers Advertising Services: Reader Services: Company Info: Be the first to share your thoughts on this story. Share your thoughts on this story. - be the first to share your thoughts on this question. - Sorry, comments are closed for this story. Q&A with author of 'The Forever War' DD