When I tell stories about Iraq, the ones people react to are always the stories of violence. This is strange for me. Phil Klay Read Quote
The Cold War provided justification for a larger peacetime military, since we were never really at peace, or so the argument went. Phil Klay Read Quote
I think that just because you’ve been through an experience doesn’t make you the ultimate arbiter of what it means. We figure things out; we work things out through the help of other people who can engage with us but also be intelligently critical. Phil Klay Read Quote
There’s a tradition in war writing that the veteran goes over and sees the truth of war and comes back. And I’m skeptical of that. Phil Klay Read Quote
It’s often difficult to get perspective on your own stories, on your own experiences, without talking them through with someone who is genuinely interested in thinking about them. And that’s the key. Phil Klay Read Quote
People should be able to tell stories that are important to them to try and understand what they mean. I don’t think you figure anything out on your own. Certainly not war stories. Phil Klay Read Quote
The notion that war forever separates veterans from the rest of mankind has been long embedded in our collective consciousness. Phil Klay Read Quote
I suppose it is the lot of soldiers and Marines to be objectified according to the politics of the day and the mood of the American people about their war. Phil Klay Read Quote
I didn’t want to write a ‘this is how it is’ Iraq book, because the Iraq War is an intensely complicated variety of things. Phil Klay Read Quote
Going to war is a rare experience in American culture, so it’s easy for simple notions to gain a lot of weight. The reality is always more complex. Phil Klay Read Quote
