Iraq Churns On

Complex stories call for journalists who are both hardheaded and clear thinking. The story of the creation, the many near death experiences and the ultimate survival of the V-22 Osprey—a military aircraft that takes off like a helicopter and flies like an airplane—is an object lesson in how competing and often selfish interests in Washington can produce something that is not serving the interests of the American public.

Time’s Mark Thompson saw an Osprey predecessor fly in the early 1980s, and he has watched it move from blueprints to blue skies. As a Washington reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he...

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