Graeme Wood

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Death of a Poseur

Jonathan “Jack” Idema, the pseudo-mercenary who was jailed after being convicted of operating a private prison in Kabul, died of AIDS in Mexico last week.

For the International Herald Tribune, I visited his semi-abandoned office building in Fayetteville, N.C., and found chains on the doors.  Idema’s adjoining apartment, where he allegedly conducted his assignations, had a poster for the Broadway musical Urinetown on the wall and a single cowboy spur rusting in the grass outside.

Filed under: International Herald Tribune, , ,

A Turkish Assad?

Which is scarier: a government that hunts down and kills dozens in cold blood, or a government that hunts down and kills dozens by accident?

Read more at the IHT.

Filed under: International Herald Tribune,

Clinging to the Egyptian Army

I visited Nag Hammadi for the IHT and found an Egyptian Wild West.

Read my story here.

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Afghan Oil Fields Not a Curse — Yet

I visited the northern oil fields of Afghanistan.

Read about it at the IHT Global Opinion site.

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Microrevolutions off Tahrir Square

Originally published on the IHT‘s Latitude blog.

CAIRO — It has been nearly three months since the last really big, unmanageable crowd converged on Tahrir Square and threatened to stay until its demands were met. On the eve of Ramadan, in early August, the Egyptian military smacked and clubbed that group — a broad but woefully inarticulate coalition opposing the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ hold on power — out of the square. And much to the protesters’ horror, the majority of Egyptians seemed fairly satisfied with the pushback, preferring a return to order even if it came with a military policeman’s truncheon. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: International Herald Tribune,

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