Newton, MA
Panel discussion with Tim McLaughlin and Gary Knight about our joint exhibit, “Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq,” which will be on display at Boston College from October 28-November 20. Panel starts at 6:30 in East Wing Room 120 at the law school, 885 Centre ...
Category: War Diaries
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA
Panel discussion with Gary Knight and Tim McLaughlin about our exhibit, Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq, which will be on display at Drexel University’s College of Media Arts & Design. Discussion in the URBN Center Annex at 6 pm, followed by a reception ...
A Diarist At War
The New York Times
March 14, 2013
(The following story ran on the NYT’s At War blog)
With the invasion of Iraq just weeks away, Lt. Tim McLaughlin began a military ritual that dates back to Homer. He started a war diary. It was not a blog or e-mails sent from his waiting-to-invade base in the Kuwaiti ...
Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq
The exhibit I have been working on, Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq, opened last week at the Bronx Documentary Center in New York City. It features the remarkable war diaries of Marine Lt. Tim McLaughlin, excerpts of stories I wrote about the invasion, and photos by Gary Knight. ...
A Private Battle for Baghdad
Sunday Times Magazine (London)
March 3, 2013
A few years ago, a former marine named Tim McLaughlin drove to New Hampshire in his red pickup to visit his parents’ farmhouse, which is where he stored his gear from Iraq, among which were his war diaries. A marine decal was on one ...
Invasion, the Kickstarter
Nearly ten years ago, I drove into Iraq in a rented SUV to cover the invasion. Three weeks later, I was in Baghdad, watching the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square. In March, on the tenth anniversary of the invasion, an exhibit I am co-organizing will open at the Bronx ...
The Toppling: How the Media Inflated a Minor Moment in a Long War
The New Yorker
January 3, 2011
On April 9, 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan McCoy, commander of the 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, awoke at a military base captured from the Iraqis a few miles from the center of Baghdad, which was still held by the enemy. It had been twenty days since the ...
The Toppling
On April 9, 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan McCoy, commander of the 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, awoke at a military base captured from the Iraqis a few miles from the center of Baghdad, which was still held by the enemy. It had been twenty days since the invasion of Iraq began, and McCoy had some personal chores to take care of—washing his socks, for one. Afterward, he walked over to a group of marines under his command who were defacing a mural of Saddam Hussein. As I watched, he picked up a sledgehammer and struck a few blows himself. The men cheered. Then he began preparing for the serious business of the day: leading the battalion into the heart of the city. He expected a house-to-house brawl that would last several days.
On April 9, 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan McCoy, commander of the 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, awoke at a military base captured from the Iraqis a few miles from the center of Baghdad, which was still held by the enemy. It had been twenty days since the invasion of Iraq began, and McCoy had some personal chores to take care of—washing his socks, for one. Afterward, he walked over to a group of marines under his command who were defacing a mural of Saddam Hussein. As I watched, he picked up a sledgehammer and struck a few blows himself. The men cheered. Then he began preparing for the serious business of the day: leading the battalion into the heart of the city. He expected a house-to-house brawl that would last several days.