Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.

Talking About Sadr

If you want to know more about Muqtadah al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite leader whom I wrote about in The New York Times Magazine, Public Radio International has posted an interview they did with me. Scroll down to “Islam Interview.”

In Iraq, Theocrats and Americans

My latest story, in The New York Times Magazine, profiles Moqtadah al-Sadr, who wants Iraq governed by Islamic law. First he has to outsmart his rivals, outmaneuver the Americans and get Iraq’s millions of ... (Read more)

Trying to Rebuild Iraq, While Watching Their Backs

The New York Times
May 11, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The news conference was held in splendid isolation. Splendid, that is, if you enjoy being walled off from the rest of Baghdad by tanks, armored Humvees, barbed wire and a small army of soldiers bearing M-16 assault rifles and .50-caliber machine guns.

The ... (Read more)

Back-Room Theocrat

The New York Times Magazine
Moqtadah al-Sadr wants an Iraq run by God’s laws. But first he has to outsmart his rivals, outmaneuver the Americans and get Iraq’s millions of Shiites behind him.
May 11, 2003
Najaf is one of the great spiritual centers of the world’s 120 million ... (Read more)

Slumlords

The New Republic
Dispatch from Baghdad
May 3, 2003
A few days after American troops entered Baghdad, I went to Saddam City, a sprawling slum inhabited almost exclusively by Shia Muslims. But, by the time I got there, Saddam City was gone. Yes, the people were still there, as was the ... (Read more)

Baghdad Dispatch

My latest story, in The New Republic, about Shia fundamentalism in Iraq, is posted here.

Blogging Again, Lightly

It’s been a while since I lasted posted because I have been covering the war in Iraq. Internet access has been limited, and blogging will remain infrequent until I return to the United States. My stories on the war (and related issues) are posted on the “Magazine Articles” page of ... (Read more)

“Good Kills”

The New York Times Magazine
To get to Baghdad, the marines of the Third Battalion fought the old-fashioned way–by shooting as many of the enemy as they could. Their victims weren’t all soldiers.
April 20, 2003
As the war in Iraq is debated and turned into history, the emphasis ... (Read more)

Soldier of Misfortune

The New York Times Magazine
April 13, 2003
The following is an interview I conducted with Lance Corporal Derrick Jensen, published in the April 13 issue of The New York Times Magazine.

First off I want people to understand that there is more than just combat. We’re not seeing fighting at all times. ... (Read more)

Hungry Road

The New York Times
Food, Too, Can Be a Weapon of the War In Iraq.
April 6, 2003
AL KUT, Iraq–A few days ago I drove with a Marine convoy into the desert north of Nasiriya, heading toward Baghdad. The landscape was as unforgiving as it comes–parched and barren, like the ... (Read more)