Dexter Filkins
Dexter Filkins: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist
Full Name and Common Aliases
Dexter Filkins is a renowned American journalist and war correspondent.
Birth and Death Dates
Born on July 14, 1966 (age 57), no information available on his death date.
Nationality and Profession(s)
American, Journalist, War Correspondent
Early Life and Background
Dexter Filkins was born in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in a family that valued education and encouraged him to pursue his interests in writing. Filkins attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied journalism and graduated with honors.
After college, Filkins began his career as a journalist, working for various publications including the _Los Angeles Times_ and the _Detroit Free Press_. However, it was his work as a war correspondent that would bring him international recognition.
Major Accomplishments
Throughout his career, Filkins has reported from some of the most conflict-ridden regions in the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen. His bravery and dedication to journalism have earned him numerous awards and accolades, including two Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting on the Iraq War.
In 2004, Filkins' article "Blood from a Stone" was published in _The New Yorker_, where he detailed the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison. This exposé sparked widespread outrage and led to significant reforms within the US military.
Notable Works or Actions
Some notable works by Dexter Filkins include:
"Blood from a Stone" (2004) - an article in _The New Yorker_ detailing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
The Forever War (2008) - a book about his experiences as a war correspondent in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other conflict zones.
Filkins' writing has also appeared in various publications, including _The New York Times_, _The Washington Post_, and _The London Review of Books_.
Impact and Legacy
Dexter Filkins' work has had a profound impact on the world. His reporting has shed light on some of the most pressing issues of our time, from human rights abuses to the complexities of modern warfare. Through his writing, Filkins has given voice to those who have been silenced or marginalized.
His legacy as a journalist is cemented in the Pulitzer Prizes he won for his work, but it's also evident in the countless lives he's touched through his reporting and writing.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Dexter Filkins' bravery, dedication to journalism, and commitment to exposing the truth have made him a widely respected and quoted figure. His impact on global events has been significant, and his legacy continues to inspire new generations of journalists and writers.
As a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Filkins' work serves as a testament to the power of courageous reporting in shaping our understanding of the world.
Quotes by Dexter Filkins
In war, people find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, and in those circumstances, they act in extraordinary ways. In war, you see people at their very best and their very worst, acting in ways you could never imagine. War is human drama at its most epic and most intense.
Any American who has spent time in Iraq or Afghanistan will tell you: the closer you get, the less certain you are of anything. If you are in Iraq, if you are in Afghanistan, everything is ambiguous. Everything is murky and gray and uncertain and possibly lethal.
It's so jarring to go from Baghdad to Cambridge, to go from a place where people are fighting and striving and dying to a place where the biggest concern is what kind of cheese to put in your sandwich.
The whole kind of post-World War I settlement that formed the modern Middle East is in danger of collapsing, and we can - we, the United States, you know, the preeminent power in the world - we can say that we want to ignore that, but how long can we avert our gaze? And how long can we stay out?
The expectation in the Obama Administration, or at least the hope, is that a nuclear deal with the West could ultimately moderate Iranian behavior by helping to integrate the country more thoroughly into the international system. Will this happen? It's impossible to predict, of course. We will only know if we get there.
The overriding goal of counterinsurgency is to make friends: You make friends with the people; you isolate the insurgents.
The American surge of combat forces into Baghdad that was ordered by President Bush worked. And there was a calm, a relative calm that descended on the country kind of late 2008. That pretty much held until the last American combat soldiers left at the end of 2011.
Let me just say, I think there's a reasonable criticism to be made of the Obama administration on the way that it left Iraq.
It is one of the great ironies of the American war in Iraq - was that the guys who really got the most out of it were the Iranians. And they have us to thank for that. Yeah, I mean we basically put Maliki in power in 2006, but he has been - he's really not a friend of the United States. He's a friend of the Iranian regime.
I think - I think the real nightmare place now is less Afghanistan than it is Pakistan. I mean, again, Pakistan is this gigantic country, deeply troubled, kind of almost ungovernable, sitting on top of probably 50 or 60 nuclear warheads. Nobody really knows where the warheads are; the Americans certainly don't know where they are.