Peter Maass
@maassp.bsky.social
Editor & writer. Author of “Love Thy Neighbor” & “Crude World.” Done time at the NYT, WP, Intercept.
Baghdad 1979 is calling, wants its Baath Party purge back.
September 25, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Baghdad 1979 is calling, wants its Baath Party purge back.
Meanwhile, in upstate New York…
August 16, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Meanwhile, in upstate New York…
Grok hadn't mentioned my article in its first response, so I wondered what was going on. I vaguely recalled that Janine retweeted my article in 2024, so I checked her timeline and yes, bingo, she had done so and quoted my "I'm Jewish" line.
August 16, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Grok hadn't mentioned my article in its first response, so I wondered what was going on. I vaguely recalled that Janine retweeted my article in 2024, so I checked her timeline and yes, bingo, she had done so and quoted my "I'm Jewish" line.
Someone then asked if she was actually Jewish, and Grok fessed up that it "misattributed" my Washington Post story -- headlined "I'm Jewish, and I've covered wars. I know war crimes when I see them" -- to her.
August 16, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Someone then asked if she was actually Jewish, and Grok fessed up that it "misattributed" my Washington Post story -- headlined "I'm Jewish, and I've covered wars. I know war crimes when I see them" -- to her.
Here's a funny yet revealing tale about Grok (Elon Musk's AI) attributing a story I wrote to my friend @janinedigi.bsky.social, and as a result saying she's Jewish (which she's not, though I am).
It starts with a query from an X account that didn't like a post from Janine and asked Grok about her.
It starts with a query from an X account that didn't like a post from Janine and asked Grok about her.
August 16, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Here's a funny yet revealing tale about Grok (Elon Musk's AI) attributing a story I wrote to my friend @janinedigi.bsky.social, and as a result saying she's Jewish (which she's not, though I am).
It starts with a query from an X account that didn't like a post from Janine and asked Grok about her.
It starts with a query from an X account that didn't like a post from Janine and asked Grok about her.
From 2024, @mollycrabapple.bsky.social:
August 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
From 2024, @mollycrabapple.bsky.social:
Personal news: I will be a fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography at CUNY, working on my next book, "End of a Fortune: The Warburgs and Schiffs and the World They Tried to Make." To be published by Hachette's Grand Central imprint, it's about my family's complicated role in Israel's creation.
May 12, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Personal news: I will be a fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography at CUNY, working on my next book, "End of a Fortune: The Warburgs and Schiffs and the World They Tried to Make." To be published by Hachette's Grand Central imprint, it's about my family's complicated role in Israel's creation.
"Mainstream American Jewish leaders have ... effectively redefined what it means to be a Jew. To silence condemnation of Israel, they have equated support for the state with Jewishness itself." -- @peterbeinart.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...
April 28, 2025 at 2:02 PM
"Mainstream American Jewish leaders have ... effectively redefined what it means to be a Jew. To silence condemnation of Israel, they have equated support for the state with Jewishness itself." -- @peterbeinart.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...
On the front page of the New York Times, celebratory pictures from Baghdad showed the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein. The headline described President George W. Bush as "elated."
April 9, 2025 at 12:51 PM
On the front page of the New York Times, celebratory pictures from Baghdad showed the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein. The headline described President George W. Bush as "elated."
And then, suddenly and finally, Saddam Hussein was gone.
April 9, 2025 at 12:51 PM
And then, suddenly and finally, Saddam Hussein was gone.
It was time for the statue to come down. The M88 started to back up, pulling on the chain around the statue, and it began to tilt forward.
April 9, 2025 at 12:51 PM
It was time for the statue to come down. The M88 started to back up, pulling on the chain around the statue, and it began to tilt forward.
At the statue, Chin didn't receive any of these orders. With his work finishing, he took the flag off Saddam's face -- it had been there for a minute and a half. Soon after, an Iraqi flag was handed up to him. Here's a picture I took of the Iraqi flag heading up the crane.
April 9, 2025 at 12:48 PM
At the statue, Chin didn't receive any of these orders. With his work finishing, he took the flag off Saddam's face -- it had been there for a minute and a half. Soon after, an Iraqi flag was handed up to him. Here's a picture I took of the Iraqi flag heading up the crane.
After Col. McCoy gave Capt. Lewis a green light to tear down the statue, Lewis told McLaughlin to get his flag -- his chance had come. The flag was handed from Marine to Marine until it got to Chin and covered Saddam's face.
April 9, 2025 at 12:48 PM
After Col. McCoy gave Capt. Lewis a green light to tear down the statue, Lewis told McLaughlin to get his flag -- his chance had come. The flag was handed from Marine to Marine until it got to Chin and covered Saddam's face.
Where did the flag come from, how did it get into Chin's hands?
The flag belonged to Lt. Tim McLaughlin, a tank commander. McLaughlin was at the Pentagon on 9/11, and after the attack, a friend gave him a flag she purchased at a store in the U.S. Senate. He brought it to Iraq.
The flag belonged to Lt. Tim McLaughlin, a tank commander. McLaughlin was at the Pentagon on 9/11, and after the attack, a friend gave him a flag she purchased at a store in the U.S. Senate. He brought it to Iraq.
April 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Where did the flag come from, how did it get into Chin's hands?
The flag belonged to Lt. Tim McLaughlin, a tank commander. McLaughlin was at the Pentagon on 9/11, and after the attack, a friend gave him a flag she purchased at a store in the U.S. Senate. He brought it to Iraq.
The flag belonged to Lt. Tim McLaughlin, a tank commander. McLaughlin was at the Pentagon on 9/11, and after the attack, a friend gave him a flag she purchased at a store in the U.S. Senate. He brought it to Iraq.
For a bit more visual context, here's a photo I shot from a short distance away.
April 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
For a bit more visual context, here's a photo I shot from a short distance away.
Then it went onto the statue's face (photos by Bryan Mangan).
April 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Then it went onto the statue's face (photos by Bryan Mangan).
Before I explain the improvisation, it's useful to see what happened.
The flag was handed to Chin and he began to unfurl it.
The flag was handed to Chin and he began to unfurl it.
April 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Before I explain the improvisation, it's useful to see what happened.
The flag was handed to Chin and he began to unfurl it.
The flag was handed to Chin and he began to unfurl it.
Chin was a member of the M88 crew and he climbed up its crane to attach a cable around the statue's neck, so it could be pulled down. Here's a photo I shot of Chin climbing the crane. He was about to become world famous for putting an American flag on the statue's face.
April 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Chin was a member of the M88 crew and he climbed up its crane to attach a cable around the statue's neck, so it could be pulled down. Here's a photo I shot of Chin climbing the crane. He was about to become world famous for putting an American flag on the statue's face.
One of the controversies about the toppling was the crowd size -- was it a lot of wildly happy Iraqis, as the tightly-cropped shots indicated on TV, or was it a very small crowd? Mangan shot this picture from the M88; up to half of the people in the frame are journalists.
April 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM
One of the controversies about the toppling was the crowd size -- was it a lot of wildly happy Iraqis, as the tightly-cropped shots indicated on TV, or was it a very small crowd? Mangan shot this picture from the M88; up to half of the people in the frame are journalists.
This one gives a closer view of the journalists packed onto the M88.
April 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM
This one gives a closer view of the journalists packed onto the M88.
The following pictures were taken by Maj. Mangan. While the professionals were preparing to take the photographs and video that editors and viewers would expect from this event, the amateur was taking the most interesting pictures of all, I think.
April 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
The following pictures were taken by Maj. Mangan. While the professionals were preparing to take the photographs and video that editors and viewers would expect from this event, the amateur was taking the most interesting pictures of all, I think.
Notice, in the photo above, how people are walking toward the M88 and the statue. The M88 was drawing them there.
Quite soon, photographers who had previously drifted away returned to the statue and climbed on top of the M88.
Quite soon, photographers who had previously drifted away returned to the statue and climbed on top of the M88.
April 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Notice, in the photo above, how people are walking toward the M88 and the statue. The M88 was drawing them there.
Quite soon, photographers who had previously drifted away returned to the statue and climbed on top of the M88.
Quite soon, photographers who had previously drifted away returned to the statue and climbed on top of the M88.
The toppling was portrayed in the media as a symbol of Iraqi jubilation, but it happened only because Marines made it happen, and there weren't many people in Firdos at the moment it began, just 200 or so, including journalists. Here's the M88 as it got to the statue's base.
April 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
The toppling was portrayed in the media as a symbol of Iraqi jubilation, but it happened only because Marines made it happen, and there weren't many people in Firdos at the moment it began, just 200 or so, including journalists. Here's the M88 as it got to the statue's base.
The best vehicle for the job was Leon Lambert's M88, which had a crane. There wasn't much happening at the statue until the M88 started rolling toward it. As it arrived at the statue, a crowd gathered. The following pictures, taken by Maj. Bryan Mangan, show its advance.
April 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
The best vehicle for the job was Leon Lambert's M88, which had a crane. There wasn't much happening at the statue until the M88 started rolling toward it. As it arrived at the statue, a crowd gathered. The following pictures, taken by Maj. Bryan Mangan, show its advance.
The toppling was fizzling out, failing. At about this time, McCoy emerged from the hotel (I was following him) and saw what was not happening. "A military operation was developing into a circus atmosphere," he later told me. I took this picture of him when things slowed down.
April 9, 2025 at 12:26 PM
The toppling was fizzling out, failing. At about this time, McCoy emerged from the hotel (I was following him) and saw what was not happening. "A military operation was developing into a circus atmosphere," he later told me. I took this picture of him when things slowed down.