The Brian Lehrer Show

What War Is Good For

Friday, March 21, 2003

Former theology student Chris Hedges discovered war fifteen years ago and quickly became addicted. As a journalist working in Central America, the former Yugoslavia, and the Middle East, he chased danger and was enthralled by the terrible things he witnessed. After fifteen years dodging artillery, Hedges hung up his flak jacket and went to work reading Thucydides, Catullus, and Remarque. His new book, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, is the product of the year he spent thinking about why people make war. Plus: the latest from Washington and Iraq.

Listen to the whole show

Prisoner's Dilemma

John Donnelly, Washington reporter for the Boston Globe, on the latest developments from Washington and Jim Ross, senior legal advisor for Human Rights Watch, on the treatment of POWs

Desert Swarm

P. J. O'Rourke, correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly currently based in Kuwait, gives the pro-war report from the Gulf

What Is War Good For?

Chris Hedges, columnist for the New York Times, on the psychological effects of being a war correspondent and his book, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning (PublicAffairs, 2002)