Press Releases

Washington, DC—Senator Jim Webb issued the following statement today in tribute to reporter Anthony Shadid, who died Thursday while on assignment in Syria:

“As someone who has reported from war zones and foreign countries, I have tremendous respect for Anthony Shadid. When reviewing his groundbreaking book on the people of Iraq (Night Draws Near), I wrote that ‘one strains to think of any other person who would be able to combine the same elements of ethnic background, American upbringing, scholarly ability and long experience in the region in order to flesh out the cultural, historical and political framework of the Iraq war.’ He was a true journalist, able to separate his politics from his prose. His insights into the complexities of the Middle East and the impact of American policies abroad will be greatly missed.”

The Washington Post reprinted Senator Webb’s 2005 review of Night Draws Near in Sunday’s Outlook Section: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/review-of-anthony-shadids-night-draws-near/2012/02/17/gIQAoZRaKR_story.html