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January/February 2004 Issue
January/February 2004 Cover
James Fallows, “Blind Into Baghdad”; Kenneth M. Pollack, “Spies, Lies, and Weapons: What Went Wrong”; “State of the Union”; Ben Birnbaum, “A Family Deposition”; P. J. O'Rourke, “Speaking of the Candidates”; Joshua Green, “In Search of the Elusive Swing Voter”; Kenji Fujimoto, “I Was Kim Jong Il's Cook”; fiction by Nathan Roberts; and much more. View Magazine
  • Close Call
    Guy Billout
  • A Family Deposition
    Ben Birnbaum
  • A Beautiful Mind
    Mark Bowden
  • Information, Please
    Shannon Brownlee
  • High Plains Drifter
    Terry Castle
  • America's Fortunes
    The Editors
Culture

Close Call

By Guy Billout
January/February 2004 Issue
Close Call

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