Comments on: In the Red Zone http://austinmatzko.com/2005/10/08/in-the-red-zone/ A blog about philosophy, Christianity, web development and whatever else I feel like writing about. Sun, 19 May 2013 12:48:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2-RC4-18391 By: Anson Cassel Mills http://austinmatzko.com/2005/10/08/in-the-red-zone/comment-page-1/#comment-536 Anson Cassel Mills Fri, 10 Mar 2006 13:19:07 +0000 http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/?p=150#comment-536 Lisa Ramaci-Vincent is right. Your review of Red Zone is both thoughtful and nicely written. That Vincent's widow thought well of it too is icing on the cake. Sorry I didn't notice the review when you put it up in October. Lisa Ramaci-Vincent is right. Your review of Red Zone is both thoughtful and nicely written. That Vincent’s widow thought well of it too is icing on the cake. Sorry I didn’t notice the review when you put it up in October.

]]> By: Lisa Ramaci-Vincent http://austinmatzko.com/2005/10/08/in-the-red-zone/comment-page-1/#comment-534 Lisa Ramaci-Vincent Fri, 10 Mar 2006 05:31:46 +0000 http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/?p=150#comment-534 I just wanted to say thank you for this sensitive, thoughtful post about my husband Steven and his book In the Red Zone. I appreciate your helping to keep his name and his memory alive in people's minds, and am glad you seemed to like the book. There is nothing else out there like it, and given how the situation outside the Green Zone has changed since the first two times he was there, there never will be again. One thing, though - Steven was intrigued by Islam, but not at all ambivalent about the religion's radical elements. He loathed the fundamentalists and bloated, misogynistic tribal leaders who espoused shari'a, and was not shy about saying so in his book, in varous articles and in his blog (www.redzoneblog.com). Yes, at times he dressed in dishdasha and kheffiya, but he had a flair for the dramatic, so while sometimes it was in an effort to try and blend in, other times it was just for the enjoyment he got out of wearing the clothing of the country he loved so much. But in no way did it mean he thought well of, or even tolerated, Muslim zealots. So yes, he did it for fun. Unfortunately, fun is not a concept well-regarded in radical Islam; but then, neither is writing articles about the infiltration of Shia fundamentalists into the police force. These days, doing either in Iraq can get you killed. I just wanted to say thank you for this sensitive, thoughtful post about my husband Steven and his book In the Red Zone. I appreciate your helping to keep his name and his memory alive in people’s minds, and am glad you seemed to like the book. There is nothing else out there like it, and given how the situation outside the Green Zone has changed since the first two times he was there, there never will be again.

One thing, though – Steven was intrigued by Islam, but not at all ambivalent about the religion’s radical elements. He loathed the fundamentalists and bloated, misogynistic tribal leaders who espoused shari’a, and was not shy about saying so in his book, in varous articles and in his blog (www.redzoneblog.com). Yes, at times he dressed in dishdasha and kheffiya, but he had a flair for the dramatic, so while sometimes it was in an effort to try and blend in, other times it was just for the enjoyment he got out of wearing the clothing of the country he loved so much. But in no way did it mean he thought well of, or even tolerated, Muslim zealots.

So yes, he did it for fun. Unfortunately, fun is not a concept well-regarded in radical Islam; but then, neither is writing articles about the infiltration of Shia fundamentalists into the police force. These days, doing either in Iraq can get you killed.

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