Iraq & Afganistan wars

Journalist T. Christian Miller of The Los Angeles Times talks about his new book, Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq. Miller writes, "In almost every way, the rebuilding has fallen short."

Before most Americans had heard of the Taliban, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid wrote a book about them. After the Sept. 11 attacks, it became a best-seller. Rashid's recent reporting for English-language newspapers involves Islamist militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Anthony Shadid of The Washington Post has been reporting from Lebanon. Shadid won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for international reporting. His latest book, Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War, has just come out in paperback. Shadid is of Lebanese descent and grew up in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for The New York Times, discusses efforts to recruit Iraqis for the Iraqi army, and looks back at the invasion of Iraq. He co-authored the recent book Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. Gordon is also a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine.

British diplomat and journalist Rory Stewart walked alone across Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban. The former fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Havard's Kennedy School of Government wrote about it in the memoir The Places in Between. Stewart was later appointed a provincial governor in post-invasion Iraq, and has a memoir about that experience as well.

Deputy Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Ginger Cruz oversees the audit, inspection and investigation operations established to prevent waste, fraud and abuse in the U.S. reconstruction of Iraq. Cruz just returned from Iraq.

Thomas Ricks, senior Pentagon correspondent for The Washington Post, talks about his new book, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, takes a hard look at the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq.

New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins has been covering the war in Iraq and is back for a brief visit to the United States. Filkins updates us on the situation in the Middle East. Last year, he received the George Polk Award for War Reporting for his riveting, firsthand account of an eight-day attack on Iraqi insurgents in Falluja.

Army chaplain and captain Ran Dolinger has 20 years of experience in the army, ministering to soldiers in the field, and training other chaplains. He was in Iraq from July 2003 to February 2004, and returns there September. He currently serves at the Chief of Chaplains Office as media liaison officer.

Sergeants Zack Bazzi and Stephen Pink were two of three soldiers on the frontlines in Iraq who were given cameras to record their experiences. Charlie Company, 3rd of the 172nd Infantry Regiment and were based in the Sunni Triangle. They filmed their entire year's deployment. The footage makes up the new documentary The War Tapes which was directed by Deborah Scranton. The film opens in New York and L.A. this weekend.