The Forever War and the Real People of Iraq and Afghanistan

After reading further into The Forever War I have come to learn more about the lives of these people and my view on their culture has changed. Although most live by the rules of the Koran it seems that some just abide by the laws so they are not singled out and punished. The punishments are extreme and for very miner offenses like steeling the punishment is the amputation of a hand where in the United States the accused would maybe get community service or something more depending on the charges and crime. Also they truly believe in the saying "an eye for and eye" this is shown in a man charged with the murder of another man. The family of the murdered man has the right to kill the accused murderer with no judge or jury.

The author of the book was in fact in New York on September 11th and goes into some detail of his day but describes it in short words his experience then returned to his research in the middle east. At first I wanted more from his day but after thinking about it the reason why I believe he did not got deeper into that day was because they people he was interviewing and following around had nothing to do with that terrorist attack. The people who live and persevere through all of the fighting and murder, the people who still remember the days where their country was prosperous and free had nothing to do with the attack on american and the people who did are not supported by everyone. By taking the focus off September 11 and putting the main focus on the people not the terrorist the author shows that there is a difference between the terrorist and the natives and people need to see the difference and not just look at these people with blind hate.

The Forever War By Dexter Filkins

After some research on the three books given to us to chose for our class book club I settled on The Forever War by Dexter Filkins. The reason why I chose this book is because although it is the longest of three choices it is the most relevant to the United States today. Recently the United States as a country recognized the 10th Anniversary of September 11th; a wound in American history that will never completely heal. That day for many Americans will go down in their lives as a day they will never forget and for some Americans it is a day they would rather chose to forget. The author Dexter Filkins goes into Iraq and Afghanistan to bring the truth out by spending time with soldier, natives, and Taliban. After finishing the first chapter I was horrified to learn the customs of the people there who hold control over the culture. They ban everything from music to alcohol and handing out server punishment to anyone breaking their laws. The majority of the children are forced to take care of themselves or their families because their parents have died in battles or as casualties from Tribe Lords fighting for possession

of land. Some even forced to fight for different alliance groups so they can support their families leaving them forever scared and changed never really knowing or understanding the meaning of a childhood.

I look foreword to reading further into this book and discovering the truth of what it is like surviving in the war as well as the families and people living in Afghanistan today who play no hand in terrorism but are forced into war with guns at their backs.