Dear Richard, Lisa here!!! It was AWESOME to meet you and speak with you in Atlanta on  June 5th! I was so excited and thrilled to meet you at the book signing! Thank you for shaking my hand, the hug, and taking those two pictures with me! It is hard to express everything about what one is feeling in ones heart, but it meant the world to me! It was a dream come true for me! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! I will keep that memory forever!!! YOU ARE WONDERFUL and the book is GREAT!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU BIG FAN LISA!! STAY SAFE ALWAYS!!! PEACE to YOU!!

Dear Richard,

I'm glad you are Stateside for a time.  I'm not sure that I will be able to catch you in person on your book tour, but I wish you all the best, and I've got my copy of War Journal, already.  I think you are a terrific writer.  (A Fist in the Hornet's Nest was great.)  I'm also a big fan of your reporting.  Your heart and compassion really come through.  I'm sure you're well aware that you have quite a following on Brian Williams's blog.  I'm very glad Lisa (McNeil, of Alpharetta, Georgia) finally got to meet you!  

Safe travels to you, always.

Laurel

P.S. - I've heard you say numerous times now that you don't feel that people are interested in hearing about the Iraq war, anymore.  Please don't feel discouraged; we really do care.

Hi Richard:

It was good to hear you read your book!   I finished it last weekend.  I really couldn't put the diary down.  Your explanations, your candor and the vividiness of the journey was more than remarkable.

I have a few questions for you.   I doubt I will get an answer but maybe others felt the same way.

1.  How do you know how to trust a person like Ali or Zohair?  How did you find folks like these two to help journalists?

2.  The stories of the girls at the orphanage made me realize how men around the world demoralize women into careers like prostiution with shame and hatred.  Do you think Iraqi law will ever be changed so that the orphans of this violence will be able to be adopted outside of Iraq?

3. The story about the grocer and his beautiful daughter was both sickening and overwhelming.   I have to say that I wept.   How can our global communities feel so much hatred toward women and children?  

Thank you Richard for all that you have taught me.   Your dispatches have been alarming, interesting and educational.  I think you have in fact found your bliss in a way that is unfamilar to many people but outwardly gives you much happiness.   I wish you the peace you can receive in your heart, mind and soul to carry on with your work and feel an amazing sense of happiness.    

Mr Engel, I have your new book - so far, so good.  Thanks for the information consdering our changing world. As for me, I am very much interested in what is happing in Iraq and Iran!

I just got done reading the excerpt from Richard Engel's latest book & I really was impressed with his candor about the circumstances surrounding Saddam Hussein's capture.  I always doubted the story the media put out there about Saddam being found in a "spider hole".  When I read that part of the excerpt, I, at first, felt some disappointment in Richard's promoting the lie about Saddam's capture but, as I read more, I felt better, knowing that he was, in fact, telling the truth.

I wals also really impressed with his writing style.  It was as if he were sitting & telling his story in person.  Finally, I was also impressed with his wide range of knowledge about literature.  

I hope you will continue to relate to the public the truth about the situation over in Iraq.  We really do need to see change here (even though I know Richard has said that it doesn't matter to him who is president) because I think that is the only way change (hopefully for the better) will begin to take place elsewhere in the world, namely in Iraq.

Awesome overview. Informative,concise. So good watched it twice.

I just finished the book two days ago, great job!  I'm not usually a nonfiction reader, but this one caught my attention and held it.  Wonderful culmination and summary of the five years thus far of the war.  I look forward to hearing you talk in LA!!

~Kristin

All the best richard ..I'm really happy for you
and I'm pretty sure this book is great ..can't wait to read it
keep up the good work

Hi there!  Does Richard have a schedule for a book reading/book signing in New York City?  How do we contact him?  Thank you.

Dear Richard, Lisa Again! I know I posted already on Friday, but I just want to say that I enjoyed the reading from the book in the video. I wish the best for Marwa,Aliya and Sora the three girls from the orphanage. They deserve the best in life! I also listened to you speak on CSPAN-2 and enjoyed hearing you speak about the book. Also other interviews Charlie Rose and NPR. Very Interesting! Plus, I hope Zohair is feeling better and Ali has success in his life. They were really great friends to you and I hope things go well for them. But I really wanted to say again how much I was thrilled to see you in Atlanta. It was AWESOME to see you. I wish I had said even more to you at the signing table, but there never is enough time. I wanted to tell you how special and wonderful I think you are as a person and how great a journalist you are for NBC. It meant the world to me to speak with you and meet you! Thank you for being so gracious and kind! Thank you for shaking my hand,the hug,and taking two pictures with me! I cannot express how much it meant to me. You are just wonderful!! Thank you for a great lecture and book signing! It was a wonderful evening! It is an excellent book! Thank you Richard!! PLEASE STAY SAFE ALWAYS!! ALWAYS STAY SAFE RICHARD!! Peace to you and to all!

Dear Richard,

   Thank you so much for putting together a book that encompassed so much of your time in Iraq. There are several times that you mention how the media and political groups alike talk in "talking points". Being here in the states, it is hard to find media that is raw primary sources. The media wants to turn all stories into statistics about how many dead or how many AMERICANS dead, but your stories paint an image simialar to events in Rwanda.
  It is a breath of fresh air knowing there are reporters like you in Iraq. Few here in the states have a clue about middle eastern history and politics, or that most of the countries in the middle east were carved out of the ottoman empire poorly after WWI. I am really sick of gun-ho conservatives here who make this out to be a "cowboys" versus "indians" deal. Bush may hope to be vindicated by history, and maybe there is something to that. He clearly hasn't "Bought a carpet in Baghdad, or Damascus, or hashish in Yerushalayim", but at the very least he has introduced democracy to a very non democratic region. Perhaps his vision will be reached but not for some time, and I hate to sound pessimistic but the only thing I can say is "get ready for WWIII". Your work is greatly appreciated.

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