Thu 1 May 2008
happy anniversary, george
Posted by benadair under links
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Today is the fifth anniversary of our president declaring, 42 days after the start of military activities in Iraq, “Mission accomplished.”
There’s been plenty of military and political analysis of what’s gone right and wrong in this war (balanced, accurately, I think, at about 2 percent right, 98 percent wrong). Me? I’ll leave that stuff to the experts.
I’ve been mostly interested in the effects of war on the home front — our individual and collective psyches, our culture and our lives — and for the past year-and-a-half I’ve directed a ton of excellent war coverage exploring these ideas. Lead by reporter Krissy Clark and buttressed by our crack team of behind-the-scenes producers (notably Suzie Lechtenberg), it’s been some of the best coverage I’ve read or heard of what it’s meant for our nation to be at war for so long (a war that’s now longer than WWII).
Here are links to three stories that are a best-of-the-best. They seem especially appropriate to list here today.
- In this piece for the fifth anniversary of the war, produced by Suzie Lechtenberg, three soldiers reflect on their first and last days in Iraq. As a sidenote, there’s been some very powerful poetry written by soldiers about this war. Brian Turner, who’s been on the show a few times, has written some of the best.
- This piece from Krissy Clark, on the fourth anniversary of the war, has a very distinct beauty and poignancy to it.
- Here, another veteran named Sean Huze tries to sublimate his experiences through artistic expression. This was one of the first stories I edited with Krissy and where I first started recognizing her formidable talent.
One more shout out on war coverage: My wife came home yesterday in tears after hearing this interview on Fresh Air yesterday. It’s another excellent example of the strange, complicated ways our nation is and is not dealing with this war (yet another 2:98 ratio, I’m afraid).
