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And there isn't much connecting the sections on Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course they lied. In Iraq, soldiers in the battle for Falluja are gunned down and die in front of him. As important as the subject is, I'd actually suggest NOT trying to read too much of this book at once. Perhaps they should have been separate books. War in Afghanistan often seemed like a game of pickup basketball, a contest among friends, a tournament where you never knew which team you'd be on when the next game got under way.
We should be grateful for reporters like Dexter Filkins. While many find these wars hard to fathom, Filkins' reporting leads to key insights. It was a job. They had their children to consider. The Iraqis had to survive. In Afghanistan, for instance, he notes that the loyalties of fighters could be quickly switched."Men fought, men switched sides, men lined up and fought again. In order to tell us what was happening in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he ventured into battle zones, waded into angry mobs, and met face to face with men who wanted to see Americans die. Frankly, he's fortunate to be alive.It's gritty, first-hand reporting, and much of it is grim.
Many of the chapters could be read in any order. It was that they had more to consider than the Americans were ever will to give them credit for. Only the civilians seemed to lose."On trying to find the truth in Iraq:"It wasn't just that the Iraqis lied. For the Iraqis, life among the American often meant living a double life, the one they thought the Americans wanted to see, and the real one they lived when the Americans went home." "The Forever War" gives you an up-close look at the wars that I doubt you'll find matched in any other book. War was serious in Afghanistan, but not that serious.
As good as the stories are in the book, there isn't much of a continuing thread to tie them together. Still, this book doesn't quite reach five stars for me. In Afghanistan, he watches a beheading. The Iraqis had to live in their neighborhoods, after the American soldiers had gone home.
It was part of everyday life. It can be too depressing. Shirts today, skins tomorrow.
:)) 5 stars I really enjoyed this book,the first i have read on the subject, and it gave me a much better idea of what is going on in those countries.Its a very easy read, and i have a much greater respect for the troops and civilians their.The only thing i couldnt really understand was why the author had to keep doing his daily runs, knowing what the results could have been, but i guess you really would have to be there to fully understand.
There is one particular encounter I still can't get out of my mind. If you have, this simply will add more depth and knowledge to your understanding of this complex and depressing uphill struggle we face. There are moments when reading a reporters war "diary" that you recognize the importance and longevity the book will have and that it is destined to be a classic. And it is also the case with Dexter Filkins "The Forever War" and Iraq. If you haven't read a book on Iraq, this would be a great start. Having read quite a few books on Iraq and the war in Iraq, I believe this is the least political of any of them. These scenes capture the hell of war with a precision and realism that is frankly amazing for a book.
Filkins captures the courage and bravery shown by our men and women, many not yet 20, with respect and admiration --making the reader appreciate how our country's precious youth and innocence are being lost every day. Throughout this book, I was amazed that Filkins actually survived his time in Iraq and his close brushes with death.
Certainly, there will be people on both sides of the fence that find reason to criticize Filkins and find political motivation with this book. While I won't reveal, and certainly couldn't do justice to the scene, its graphic realism and tragic outcome are indescribably moving.
This was definitely the case with David Halberstam's "Making of a Quagmire" and Vietnam. Filkin and his photographer are taken to a mosque by an American soldier to capture a picture of a dead insurgent.
Regardless, this is a book that deserves to be read and should be on the reading list of anyone with an interest in Iraq, Afghanistan or the war on terror. Filkin's delivers an amazing bit of reportage that makes you ride a roller-coaster of emotions, most of them bad, but every so often even a positive one.Filkins accomplishes something pretty difficult concerning the topic of Iraq -- "The Forever War" is essentially an apolitical book about the most political of subjects.
The most compelling and harrowing parts of the book are the combat scenes.
I am guessing the woman is Ana Menendez, who was his wife. But Filkins left out what must be a big part of war--love and sex, except for the last line where he says the war cost him what he cared for most--a woman. It recounts war in all its brutality, ruthlessness, horror, and terror. Maybe, the story would have been better told as a novel. Filkins is a foreign war correspondent for the NY Times.
Filkins recalls one head with the face showing surprise--eyes wide, eyebrows raised, and mouth open in an O. This book is most like a blog, except it has been edited, i.e. The question is: Will it ever stop, or is war forever. The Sergeant shrugs, "It's a war. In Jon Krakauer book (Where Men Meet Glory) he tells the story of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, killed by friendly fire, also in Afghanistan, and the subsequent lies and cover-ups by those in the highest levels of the military and administration.War is either/and: Men behaving badly, or where men meet glory.
Filkins' description is graphic. He was also free to roam wherever he chose across Iraq from 2002 - 2006. It reminds me of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. In another chapter, maybe a segment that best represents what war and men are about, Filkins tells the story: After "winning" ground in Fallujah, his photographer wanted to get a snapshot of a dead insurgent. Filkins chose what to put in and what to leave out. THE FOREVER WAR by Dexter Filkins is creative non-fiction at its finest.
(Where is that picture). The first Marine is shot dead. The segments (chapters) in the book are sourced from his notes. Did you know the Sunni warrior prefers to behead his victim, whereas the Shia leaves the head on, but likes to drill holes in it. The locals, the people we are told we are fighting for, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, play both sides, and agree with whoever has a gun in their face at any particular time, and eventually--who pays the most, their loyalties literally turning on a dime. He was embedded with the US Marine force that was engaged in the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.
The photographer never got his get.The two journalists were upset--felt responsible for the death of the marine. The blast force goes out, not up, obliterates the body, and blows the head off and up to land somewhere atop a rubble pile. The marine sergeant gives permission, so off they go, escorted by a couple marine volunteers, toward a minaret where they remember a body. Apparently, the Jihadis never leave any bodies behind, just like American soldiers, and such a shot would be a real "get," prized by those who pay his salary. Subsequently, air support is called in, the shrine is bombed, and the insurgent bodies atomized. I guess it depends on how you frame it.
It affects him profoundly and sets him on a downward spiral. The answer might well be in Chris Hedges' book: "War is Force that gives of meaning." I highly recommend this book--five stars. That's what happens in war." (pg.211) In Craig Mullaney's fine account of the same "War on Terror" (The Unforgiving Moment); when he loses one of his men in an ambush on patrol in Afghanistan, Lieutenant Mullaney is devastated. He traveled with a photographer and an Iraqi interpreter. As they go up a narrow stairwell, the marines leading, gunfire erupts. Did you know the head of a suicide bomber often remains intact.
It is an up-close look at war written with grit and is not for the squeamish. Menendez did write a novel about the same war (The Last War) and included some of the missing love and sex.THE FOREVER WAR must be considered as anti-war, unless one thinks the complete destruction of towns, cities, families, and infrastructure, the carnage and killing is a necessary rite-of-passage for boys to become men.
The author, a foreign correspondent for the NY Times, has been in Iraq and Afghanistan for the last 11 years and has a unique perspective. This book was so well-done. This book is totally non-political and Filkins makes no attempt to explain the conflicts.but one finishes the book with a new understanding. The vignettes - not necessarily chronological - that comprise this book are written sparingly, never overwritten, and I loved that he kept his opinions out of the writing, unlike so many correspondents. Filkins presents the reader with a lucid and balanced look at the mess in the Middle East. No wonder he has received so many kudos.This may just be THE definitive book on the wars in the Middle East.
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