Citizen Sage has been interested in current events and international affairs since he was a boy. He was born and raised in the USA. He learned Spanish in Mexico, where he traveled frequently with his parents. He spent a year abroad in Taiwan and learned Mandarin, while in College.

A corporate internship in Japan during business school set him on a 20 year career in international sales, marketing and operations within the automotive industry. Also fluent in Japanese, he has broad experience in Asia and has also traveled extensively in Europe.

More recently, he has invested in water-view real estate in the Pacific Northwest. He is a proud father of eight.

My passion is ...

the truth, regardless of its effects.

I know too much about ...

Japanese business culture.

My parents always told me ...

to finish the food on my plate.

My childhood ambition ...

was to have a dozen children and five homes around the world.

My favorite memory ...

is Hindu dancers in Bali festivals.

Why I write ...

to open eyes to a broader perspective.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

the violent direction led by the neo-cons.

My first job ...

was delivering 20 morning newspapers by bike.

My best moment ...

refusing to medivac my new baby due to nurse holidays.

My inspiration ...

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

Politics, News & Issues > Pulitzer Center Is the accidental killing of civilians by US forces, in places like Somalia, an unavoidable part of the war on terrorism?

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Collateral damage happens in every war, although efforts are made to minimize and avoid it. In the case of foreign intervention, the killing of civilians, albeit perhaps unintended, can have major and profound impacts on the course of the war. Enemy combatants and surviving civilians can be expected to spread the news of Americans or other foreigners having killed civilians and that changes the attitudes of locals regarding the trustworthiness and appropriateness of American and other foreign involvement in "security" operations. In Iraq, this has been a key factor in the growth of insur...

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