This is the second part of a two-part interview.

I promised that for this part I would share the story about the title of  Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions. I am going to let John Burnett tell it in his own words. It comes at the start of a chapter on Pakistan. He describes a protest at which he, at 6'7", is the tallest person, where his fixer has told him to tell people he’s Canadian, such is the anti-American sentiment.

While there Burnett notices something:

I noticed then that a pudgy, flush-faced student had hoisted a homemade sign directly over my head that read “Americans Are Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions.” It was printed in English, no doubt for the benefit of CNN.
“Hasan, tell this man to take his sign down,” I said.
“Just ignore it, John.”
“It makes me nervous.”
“No one will hurt you. It’s okay.”
I stared at the student and he stared back at me, expressionless.
“Then tell him I really like his sign and I’d like to have it,” I continued.
“What?” Hasan glanced at me.
“Ask him if he will give it to me as a gift.”
I’ll never completely understand why the student complied. Perhaps he wanted to show me he was neither beast nor hellion like my countrymen, or maybe he thought I needed to meditate further on his message. For whatever reason, he rolled up the posterboard and handed it to me with a smile.
And then he said, “You are our brother, no problem.” He extended his hand to shake mine. “You are our brother, no problem.”
“I am your brother?” I asked.
“Yes, you are our brother,” he repeated.
Dumbstruck, I wanted to visit further and find out why he was so friendly, but a crowd had gathered around us – never a good idea an emotional rally…”
“Hasan, what just happened back there?” I asked.
“Muslims hate U.S. foreign policy,” he explained patiently, but people of the Northwest Frontier Province are very courteous to foreigners. We are Pashtuns. Our tradition is hospitality.”

One last thought before we continue the interview: Burnett ends his introduction by quoting the same quote from Pete Hamill I used in an analysis of journalism over the last 100 years ago, that being the important job journalists play: "The reporter is the member of the tribe who is sent to the back of the cave to find out what's there. The report must be accurate. If there's a rabbit hiding in the darkness it cannot be transformed into a dragon." 

Scott: You wrote some sentences that made me laugh out loud, like this one about the army spokesman mad at you call for describing a man as "paunchy”: "I learned an important lesson that day. You can call a Latin American strongman a murderer; just don't slight his vanity.” Did such things make you laugh at the time or only later?

John: Oh, I always revel in the humor of my stories at the time, and for years later. I collect stories like this. That's why I wrote this book. Humor keeps me sane on a dark and dangerous story.

Scott: My favorite quote is this one, though, from the chapter about Pakistan: "I've stuck out in crowds all my life, but nothing compares to being the tallest American at a Death to America rally." How surreal was that?