CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/11/2020

Debi Cornwall's 'Necessary Fictions' makes for interesting 9/11 reading

Featured photograph is reproduced from Necessary Fictions, Debi Cornwall's new book investigating American military bases where role-players enact highly realistic training exercises in a fictional country called “Atropia.” Cornwall tells the following story. "In the years after September 11, an American friend of mine traveled for the first time to a Muslim country. Malaysia, maybe. Or Indonesia. He was awakened by the early-morning azan as muezzins around the city lifted their voices to call the faithful to prayer. It terrified him, he confided.
For all the mosques in the 'ville, I have never heard a call to prayer here. Five times a day, action does not stop. The faithful do not gather, wash, place their shoes outside, and kneel side by side to pray.
On my last rotation I encounter a fellow civilian, carrying a radio and a notepad. A consultant, he says. His job is to report back on how the scenarios play out, how realistic they are, where there is room for improvement.
'If the 'ville is a stand-in for Afghanistan or Iraq,' I ask, 'why no call to prayer?' 'Interesting,' he replies, nodding. 'That's a good idea.'"