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Dexter Filkins

Dexter Filkins Biography

Journalist

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“Talking to [him] that day, and [him] and the other Talibs, it seemed obvious enough that what lay at the foundation of the Taliban’s rule was fear, but not fear of the Taliban themselves, at least not in the beginning. No; it was fear of the past. Fear that the past would return, that it would come back in all its disaggregated fury. That the past would become the future. The beards, the burqas, the whips, the stones; anything, anything you want. Anything but the past.”

FearTalibanJihadism
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“The most basic barrier was language itself, very few Americans in Iraq whether soldiers or diplomats or news paper reporters could speak more than a few words of Arabic. A remarkable number of them didn't even have translators. That meant for many Iraqis the typical 19 year old army corporal from South Dakota was not a youthful innocent carrying Americas good will, he was a terrifying combination of firepower and ignorance.”

YearsSpeakLanguageNumbersIgnorancePaperNewsArmySouthSoldierIraqInnocentCombinationRemarkableBarriersReportersTypicalGood WillDiplomatsFew WordsTranslatorsDakotaSouth Dakota
Author:Dexter Filkins
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