I always try to describe the situation just as it is. I try to find sentences that I believe tell the story best. Even my articles are more literary than ordinary news stories.

I was thinking, there are 5 million people, and I am just one of those 5 million. In the build-up to the war you see children playing in the street, and you think, ah, I'm going to be okay.

When I decided to stay in Iraq, I decided to take the fear out of my body and put it into a freezer.

If I lose, then I have to accept that my way of writing books is not the way society says it's okay to write.

If you've lived in a dictatorship for thirty years, you're used to people lying to you.

I think when you start to get afraid, it's time to leave.

There is no journalist without opinions, and there's no real objectivity, but we can strive toward it.