I had an interesting interview with New York Times reporter Nicholas Kulish who was a war correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. His new book, Last One In is a great satire and comes out July 1st...

Here's a bit of our interview:

I caught up with Kulish and asked him a few questions about Last One In:

Noveltown: Have you been criticized for writing a comedy-drama in relation to the War in Iraq?

Nicholas Kulish: I’ve had some uncomfortable questions about it, without question. I think that people who read the book recognize that it’s a satire rather than slapstick. There’s a lot of humor, but at its heart this is a serious book. It’s also confined to the initial stage of the war, the gung-ho rush to invade. I find that to be its own, isolated event – different from the long hard slog of the last four years.

Noveltown: I’m guessing some real comedic experiences imprinted themselves upon you while you were embedded with a Marine attack-helicopter unit for the Wall Street Journal. This one even made it into your novel as one soldier writes about March 13 2003: “In other developments, our “embedded media” person has arrived. His name is Nick Kulish, and he writes for the Wall Street Journal. Seems like a nice guy – he’s about 27 and is getting the lay of the squadron. Some of our pilots initiated him last night… at about midnight, they all got dressed up in their gas masks and ran into his tent screaming “Gas Gas Gas!!!” Pretty hysterical – he jumped out of his rack with a wild look on his face, until he saw everyone busting up laughing in their masks and realized what was going on. One of the guys even got it on videotape for the rest of us to watch later.” Comments?

Nicholas Kulish: That’s some great sleuthing. I can’t believe you found that old blog post. The “gas attack” is one of the few remaining experiences of mine that was translated into the book. The first draft had more of that, but the pure inventions tended to be livelier and funnier than the based-on-real-life experiences. But that was the kind of seminal hazing experience that – video camera included – would be hard to top.

Noveltown: In your Book Review article, “Embed cred: how close is too close for embedded reporters?” you wrote some poignant thoughts: “When I contemplate the success or failure of the embed program, I think about those briefings in Qatar, at the Pentagon's press office, not the numbing recitation from the podium, but those moments when a questioner, with a newspaper or television transcript clutched in one hand, refuted a bit of stilted Pentagonese by saying, "But an embed with the 3rd I.D." or "ah embed with the 1st Marine Division reported ... " And that's why we were there.”

Now, how do you reconcile your real experiences and criticisms of the embed program with your own message about embeds that you relate to readers Last One In?

Nicholas Kulish: Context is always important. That review was written at the peak of criticism of the program, when everyone was railing about the media manipulation, the co-opting of the reporters, the lapdog patriotic press. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have civilian observers going along with your military as long as it’s balanced with outside reporting from all sides. I always had a Heisenberg Principle theory that a company of infantry with a reporter was less likely to do something borderline knowing that the notebook, the camera and the microphone were around somewhere. I thought there were some issues with the embedding program and the rules, as well as the way a lot of the coverage went, but in general transparency and access are good. As far as “refuting Pentagonese,” I think it’s important to realize the difference between the politicians, the brass and the troops. The troops in my experience are bright, dedicated, impressive people. You can criticize the strategic decisions while backing the troops on the ground.

(Read the full article and get order information)