THE FOREVER WAR; Dexter Filkins; New York: Knopf, 2008; 368p. Nonfiction.The Forever War is agonizingly beautiful, so deftly and compassionately written with
the authority of one who has risked and ruined his life in pursuit of sharing the truth about
the endless wars of the Middle East. Filkins, overseas correspondent for The New York Times,
writes tellingly and firsthand about Marine firefights, Iraqi doctors watching babies die for
lack of electricity to incubators, children running heedlessly through minefields to cadge a stick of gum, a widow drinking the blood of her husband's killer. Filkins pushes no agenda except the powerful wish for things to be different--American troops are portrayed with affection and deep regard. He does convey the lamentable fact that if the United States leaves Iraq and Afghanistan, all will be lost, and if we stay, all will be lost as well. One of the great war narratives of this or any age.
LW
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