John Camp and Eric Bowen have landed in Kuwait and are waiting to travel into Iraq. Here is a Q&A with Camp before the pair departed.

MinnPost:: You've already won a Pulitzer Prize and you're a best-selling novelist. Many of your former colleagues at the Pioneer Press would say you're entitled to take it easy at this point in your life. So, why go to Iraq now? Do you miss journalism? Are you looking for "color" for future novels?

John Camp: I'm going to Iraq because I'm interested in the war there, and because I'm interested in the cultural dynamics in the Middle East, where I have a good number of friends. I've traveled in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Israel, and would have loved to go to Iraq if that had been possible — but it wasn't, because of the general anti-American feeling there since at least the 1970s. The war itself doesn't really apply to my novels, which are local in nature, and I don't plan a new career writing war stories. I've always thought of myself as a journalist; that was what I did.

MinnPost:: What kinds of stories are you interested in pursuing in Iraq?

John Camp: For most of my career, I was a general assignment reporter, so I'll be looking for anything that comes along. My interests in doing this are not primarily literary — they are reportorial, and I'm particularly interested in what is happening with Minnesota folks, especially those in the National Guard. I've always thought of the Guard — and I think a lot of the members of the Guard did also — as people who respond to local emergencies, like floods and tornadoes, and do local public service, rather than as front-line troops. There is a possibility, I think, that they wound up in Iraq because of miscalculations by the war managers, or because the war managers really viewed them in a different way than the rest of us did. This may all involve a misunderstanding on my part, and I plan to investigate the question.

MinnPost:: What questions do you think aren't being adequately answered either by the news media or the various nations?

John Camp: I've always had a fascination with the technical and small-scale aspects of life — the national media seem to have more interest in the sweeping political views. After reading Iraq war stories for several years, I really, in my mind's eye, don't know what it looks like, or smells like, or sounds like; or really, what an infantryman does now. I was in the Army in Korea in the 1960s, and that Army, I think, was much like that of my father's, in World War II. This Army feels much different to me — but again, I'm not sure about that. If I have time, that's another thing I'd like to ask about.

MinnPost: What kinds of preparations have you made for this trip, other than buying a bullet-proof vest?

John Camp: I also bought a groin protector for the vest...

MinnPost:: Um, thanks for sharing, John.

John Camp: Mostly it's been standard reporter stuff. Get a phone (in this case, a satellite phone) a laptop, a camera, etc. Not much that I wouldn't get to go to Boise. My working partner, Eric Bowen, has been dealing with a lot of the military connections, which in my experience, might be the hardest part. I was a newspaper editor in the Army, and I know something about the Army PR culture. We'll be there such a short time that I worry about how much we can get done.

MinnPost:: Did you write about the Vietnam War or serve in that war? What kinds of thoughts or concerns are you having as you prepare to enter the Iraq war zone?

John Camp: I neither wrote about nor served in Vietnam, although I served in Korea during the Vietnam era (and was there during the Pueblo Incident, which almost touched off a war). I feel stupid for saying this, but I don't have a lot of thoughts about what I'll find in Iraq. I'm actually going there to find out about it. Since I've traveled in the Middle East quite a bit, and worked there on archaeological digs, I've got some ideas, but my experience is that ideas often don't hold up in the light of experience. So, we'll see.

MinnPost:: How will you handle your celebrity with soldiers who are fans of your novels and know your real name? Will this fame work to your advantage or will it get in the way?

John Camp: Not to be impolite, I doubt that many soldiers there give a rat's ass about my celebrity, whatever that may be.

MinnPost:: How are your family and friends reacting to your travel plans?

John Camp: They're pretty interested. My kids, who are grown now and living in L.A., are used to me packing up and taking off to somewhere weird. A couple of years ago, some friends and I jumped in my truck and drove up to the North Slope of Alaska, because we wondered what all this oil stuff was about, and we wanted to see for ourselves. Didn't write anything, we just looked at it.