Fresh Air, Thomas Ricks and Stephen Benjamin, June 19, 2007

De: Terry Gross

Narrado por: Terry Gross

Hear Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Ricks, and former Navy Petty Officer Stephen Benjamin, on this edition of Fresh Air.

Ricks will discuss his recent trip to Iraq. He is the author of the best-selling book Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. Before his position at the Post, he wrote for the Wall Street Journal. His other books are Making the Corps and A Soldier's Duty.

Then, Stephen Benjamin, who was trained as an Arabic translator and was headed to Iraq when he was dismissed from the Navy under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Benjamin is gay. His supervisors knew he was gay, and most of his peers also knew, and he says he was always accepted as a member of the team. Two other gay Arab translators were also dismissed. A group of U.S. Congressmen and women have asked the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee to hold hearings on the ousted linguists, stating that the continued loss of such "capable, highly skilled Arabic linguists continues to compromise our national security during [a] time of war." [Broadcast Date: June 19, 2007]

Then, pickup Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq.

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