Slate

Situation Normal

Slate
What “Generation Kill” Gets Right About Iraq
July 18, 2008
http://www.slate.com/id/2195528/
I hate Skittles. I perfected this dislike while covering the invasion of Iraq, because the gummy pills of sugar and fruit were included in the MREs fed to soldiers, Marines, ... (Read more)

Who’s Africa’s Worst Leader?

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Hint: It’s probably not Robert Mugabe
June 24, 2008
A pop quiz: Who is the worst dictator in Africa?

a) Robert Mugabe
b) Robert Mugabe
c) Robert Mugabe
d) None of the above

The answer seems obvious. Thanks to extensive coverage in the news media and abundant criticism by Western governments, ... (Read more)

Salam Pax Is Real

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How do I know Baghdad’s famous blogger exists? He worked for me.
June 2, 2003
Baghdad was hectic when two blogging friends e-mailed me to suggest that I track down “Salam Pax.” I had no idea who or what they were talking about. I could have handed over the job ... (Read more)

Camp Taliban

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The strange last days of the mullahs in black turbans.
November 20, 2001
It was, I suppose, just a matter of time until the Taliban imported a media circus.

About nine days ago the Afghan ambassador in Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was his regime’s principal spokesman to the outside world, ... (Read more)

Do You Know the Way to Paradise?

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Terrorism, suicide and the Quran.
October 4, 2001
Nawaf Alhazmi, one of the suspected Sept. 11 hijackers, left behind a letter that outlined last-minute things he should do and think about, such as not forgetting his passport and ensuring he was not being followed. The letter, ... (Read more)

Pakistan’s Everyday Dangers

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The unnoticed perils of working in the Third World.
September 28, 2001
America sounds like a dangerous place. I don’t know for sure, because I was in Macedonia when the World Trade Center was attacked, and I have been in Pakistan since then. But friends in New York, where ... (Read more)

A New Theory From Pakistan

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The Mossad and 9/11. A dispatch from Peshawar.
September 23, 2001
The headbands were flimsy, just strips of white cloth tied across demonstrators’ foreheads with slogans written in black ink. The most popular slogan was “Long Live Osama,” though others said ... (Read more)

Macedonia Diary

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Dispatches from Skopje
September 13, 2001
Thursday, Sept. 13, 2001

At the main gate to the U.S. military base outside Skopje, Army soldiers in full battle gear offer visitors a crisp salute and an even crisper shout of their squad’s motto—”Strike To Kill.”

The motto predates the ... (Read more)

Diary From Belgrade

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Five days in Serbia’s turbulent capital.
October 2000
Posted: Monday, Oct. 9, 2000, at 10:30 a.m. PT

It may not have been the polite thing to do, but I just gate-crashed a revolution. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was not in the mood to provide journalists with invitations, in the ... (Read more)

Know Maass

Slate
July 10, 1997
When I first moved to Manhattan, a neighbor approached me in the corridor of my apartment building.

“Are you Peter Maass, the writer?”

Though I have heard this many times over the years, I still don’t know the correct response. Yes, I am; no, I am not. Both are accurate. ... (Read more)