Monday, August 9, 2010

Another non-fiction book

I just finished The Forever War by Dexter Filkins.  He spent nine years in Iraq covering the war for the New York Times.  The stories he tells are unbelievable.  I am so glad I don't have any close relatives involved in that war, but on the other hand I feel so "coddled" and fortunate to live in this country.  Not just our service people but the people whose country this is have suffered so much for so long.  It is really painful to read, and think about, and that makes me feel guilty too.  I know we collect supplies for the troops, and do what we can, but it just doesn't seem like enough after what they are being asked to sacrifice.   I was afraid the book was going to be very anti-war, but I thought Filkins did a good job reporting the unbiased truth.  The United States made mistakes, but also, that culture is entirely different than any culture we have ever been at war with.  There just isn't a lot of good to say about the situation, and this book makes me believe (as I have heard many times) that they will just end up fighting it out themselves (and probably for a long, long time.)

I would recommend this book if you are interested in the war in Iraq.  However, I haven't read a lot of other books on this topic so I don't have much to compare this one to.

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