Trying to Rebuild Iraq, While Watching Their Backs

The New York Times
May 11, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The news conference was held in splendid isolation. Splendid, that is, if you enjoy being walled off from the rest of Baghdad by tanks, armored Humvees, barbed wire and a small army of soldiers bearing M-16 assault rifles and .50-caliber machine guns.

The ...  (Read more)

Back-Room Theocrat: Moqtadah al-Sadr Has to Outsmart His Rivals and Outmaneuver the Americans

The New York Times Magazine
May 11, 2003

Najaf is one of the great spiritual centers of the world’s 120 million Shiites because it is home to the tomb of Imam Ali, founder of the Shiite faith and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. But the true heart of Najaf today, and the place where the political ...  (Read more)

“Good Kills”: The Marines of the Third Battalion Fought the Old-Fashioned Way. Their Victims Weren’t All Soldiers.

The New York Times Magazine
April 20, 2003

As the war in Iraq is debated and turned into history, the emphasis will be on the role of technology–precision bombing, cruise missiles, decapitation strikes. That was what was new. But there was another side to the war, and it was the one that most ...  (Read more)