The Gun by C. J. Chivers Page A

memories of the treatment of Karzan Mahmoud, who met with me several times in Iraq, Canada, and the United States. Karzan also introduced me to other survivors, who walked me across the ground in Sulaimaniya and meticulously recounted the gunfight in which they were maimed. Security officials in northern Iraq allowed Kevin and me to conduct multiple lengthy interviews with Qais Ibrahim Khadir, the terrorist involved in the attack, who was later executed. I was further aided by many victims of assault-rifle proliferation in many other places, including the survivors in Beslan.
    Several arms dealers helped me, too. The preponderance of them, due to the nature of their business, asked to remain anonymous here. Two don’t mind a public thank-you: Reuben Johnson and Tim Sheridan. I was aided by many people engaged in many ways in researching ongoing conflicts: Tania Inowlocki, James Bevan, Aaron Karp, Robert Muggah, Tanya Lokshina, Phillip Killicoat, Brian Wood, Sergio Finardi, Peter Danssaert, Peter Bouckaert, Anna Neistat, Ole Solvang, Hugh Griffiths, Nicholas Marsh. Gary Kokalari, a one-man Albanian smear factory, provided a seemingly small tip that exposed a Pentagon-funded international scandalin the Kalashnikov ammunition trade, and deepened my understanding of arms and munitions movements. John Wallace and Ed Costello helped with recollections of time shared with General Kalashnikov, and with referrals. Ruslan Pukhov and Dmitri Bender helped with insights and materials in Russian. Virginia Ezell provided referrals and references, including useful copies of
Small Arms World Report.
Several government employees and military officers helped locate records or shared material and information that, because of a stubborn culture of government secrecy in the United States, are not accessible to the public. Their assistance enriched this book. Officials at Rosoboronexport in Moscow invited me to several ceremonies related to the Kalashnikov and its place in Russian arms history, discussed many aspects of the international arms trade, and through their colleagues at Izhevsk, arranged a rare tour of the Izhmash plant to observe the manufacture and final assembly of assault and sniper rifles.
    They also arranged interviews with General Kalashnikov, as did Igor Krasnovksi, one of the general’s grandsons. General Kalashnikov deserves a special thank-you for meeting several times in Izhevsk and Moscow, and for entertaining questions he has heard before.
    The nudge toward this book, which ultimately led to those interviews, came from Samuel G. Freedman, who, in 2002, not long after David Rhode and I had returned from Afghanistan and completed a series of newspaper articles about guerrilla and terrorist training methods, suggested a more thorough examination of the Kalashnikov’s origins and ubiquity. Stuart Krichevsky seconded the idea and shepherded it throughout.
    Karen Thompson guided the book through its production, and worked around (and tolerated) my repeated long trips overseas. Jonathan Karp arrived with enthusiasm to publish the book she made possible. Outside of Simon & Schuster, several editors supported reporting into aspects of the military small-arms trade and its effects. At the
New York Times:
Susan Chira and Roger Cohen, who edited the foreign report, Matt Purdy and Paul Fishleder on the Investigations desk, Katie Roberts and Marc Charney at the Week in Review, Rogene Fisher and Jeff Delviscio at the At War blog, along with Ian Fisher, Kyle Crichton, Beth Flynn, and Bill Keller. Also, Mark Warren and David Granger at
Esquire.
Sid Evans and Anthony Licata at
Field & Stream,
with David DiBeneddetto and Colin Kearns. David Petzal, an army veteran and editor whohas dedicated decades to understanding small arms, read the draft manuscript and applied an eye true to his reputation: thoroughly informed, unsparing, and welcome.
    Friends at the
Times
pitched in with information, referrals, translations, clippings, and other