Absolutely furious at this perceived slight and wrote that if this light cannot he reasonably explained, the citizens of maryland will take umbrage and their exit from the union will be assured. That was the problem. Maryland was seriously ticked off and lincoln needed maryland. If maryland went confederate washington would be entirely hemmed in by confederate territory and it seems likely the Federal Capital would have to remove itself to philadelphia and new york. The stakes were huge. Anyone else . I have a question. Did mary todd, on the train or the children . Its one of the very interesting things about the story. Was Mary Todd Lincoln on the train . Among the many reasons lincoln was criticized for falling in with pinkertons plan on that night, his family was on the train with him and the thinking was quite reasonably, if you are in so much danger why did you leave your wife and children on the train to face these dangers that you would not . Have them to lunch at the home a prominent citizen of baltimore and then take them to the the train, to the second train that would carry them the rest of the way to washington which would have, might have sidestepped the issue as effectively as pinkertons plan did. So it is quite possible that she wasnt on the train any more than he was. But the perception that lincoln had left his family to face the perils that he himself would not also clung to him like glue. Anyone else . Maam . Yes, a couple quick things, and i apologize if you already addressed this. But, first, what specific thing kicked off for you about this event that made you say i want to spend the time researching exactly what really happened here . And was that process similar to what will happen or is already happening for your next book . How do you decide what youre going to pick more an area to explore many nonfiction . In nonfiction . Well, thank you for that. For me it was as true for me today as it was in lincolns time that all roads lead to baltimore. I have always been interested in the subject. The official answer, and its true, is that when i first got out of grad school, i was working at time life books op the series they had on the series they had called the civil war. And the joke around the office was that it took us longer to do the series than it took us to night the civil war. But it was there that i met some of the characters in this story for the first time including colonel ellsworth, the gallant little colonel who was at lincolns side through the whole journey and later became one of first to fall at the start of the war. And also pinkertons prized operative, timothy webster, who was hanged early in the war as a union spy in richmond. And i had begun to get the scent of it there. Im also a lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan and have written early and often about conan doyle and Sherlock Holmes and in the valley of fear, one of the novels about Sherlock Holmes, there are pinkerton men at the center of it. Its based on the molly mcguires. And we learn that if a pinkerton man is deep in this business, we are all destroyed. Be im honest if im honest, my first exposure to it was in a friends treehouse in cleveland in 1971. There was a stack of comic books that had belonged to one of his uncles. And i actually have it with me. [laughter] and it was called true comics, and it told the story of this plot. And there it is. And it was not a great telling of story [laughter] there was one line, i think it went we need men such as yourself, mr. Pinkerton, now that crime seems to be on the increase. [laughter] but it got the job done. And since the other reading in the treehouse that day involved the girls of the big ten [laughter] i think i made the right choice in terms of what to write, what to write a book about. [laughter] but to answer your question of, you know, how one picks a book topic, strange to say it can be as serendipitous as that, but you have to dig deeply enough to make sure that the bones of the story are there, that its going to support the full telling of a story. And thats the part of it that i love. I like to be up to my neck in the research. Thank you. Anyone else . [inaudible] [laughter] yeah. I have heard say that this book has been nominated both for an edgar award and an agatha award just recently. Whats that . [laughter] im sorry. Yes, it has, and im deeply flatter ored by that, and i thank you flattered by that, and i thank you, and the check is in the mail. Thank you. Laugh if there are no other questions, i thank are there any other questions . Then i thank you for your kind attention, and i will be happy to talk with you, sign your copies and continue on on this joe by night. Thank you snowy night. Thank you for coming. [applause] [inaudible conversations] but lincoln was a security nightmare. I mean, he was an open door president. It went against his instincts to take protective measures which drove his friends and wouldbe with protecters crazy. Like kennedy. Yeah [inaudible] were you going to Say Something . Oh, no. I was just going to open it up to the signing line, but if theres more discussion, please. Yeah, if anybody has a book to be signed, please come on up. [inaudible conversations] for more information visit the authors web site, stashower. Com. Johnnie walker is the code name of an iraqi translator who helped the navy seals root out terrorists in iraq following the insurgency. Johnnie walker accompanied the seals on over a thousand missions and is credited with saving dozens of them. Next, mr. Walkers experiences. This is about an hour. First of all, thank you, everybody, for coming out. We really appreciate the support, and were going to kind of wing it a little bit, were going to keep it easy, and well just take it where it goes, right . A lot of people have been asking where, you know, why did, why how did this book come about, why did you write this book with, and i have to say that the book actually started, in a way ive been working on this book for almost four years now. While i was working on american sniper, which i wrote with chris kyle whos another great, great american, one night chris and i were hanging around in his den, and we were looking at some pictures. The picture came up of some guys who were about to go out on a seal mission, and i noticed that one of them was a lot taller than the other, than the other people in the room and was wearing slightly different uniform. And i said whos that big guy . Chris looks at me and says, well, thats the only iraqi i ever trusted with a gun. [laughter] i was, like, oh, thats pretty interesting, man, tell me about that. So he told me that was the translator they called Johnny Walker, and chris started telling me about some of the missions. I have to say that i write fiction, and the stories that chris was telling me sounded so much more remarkable and more fictional and more thrilling than stories that ive ever come up with that i almost stopped writing novels. We ended up putting johnny in the book, in america sniper. Hes in about a paragraph. We changed his name and his background because we were very worried at the time. Johnny, we thought you were still in iraq. With the book, our book came out, american sniper came out, and chris was actually doing a book signing, i think, in california, ask johnny went out and johnny went out and just showed up. And chris, as chris told the story later on, chris said i called him up i thought he was dead and called him up and made him stand up in front of the room and told everyone truth, that Johnny Walker chris kyle is known as a man who saved a lot of seal lives and a lot of iraqi leaves, and lives, and crust told that crowd and has told me and has told everybody he could that Johnny Walker safed more seals and more americans and more iraqis than chris ever could. It was just a remarkable story, and im not sure if it was the next day, but soon after chris got hold of our publisher, our editor, actually, Peter Hubbard whos really been a big help for us and said, peter, you are doing this book, boy. In this man is really important. And thats kind of where we started. So, johnny, why dont you tell us a little bit you were born in a city in mosul . Correct. Why dont you tell us about that. My first time, i want to thank all of you guys for all of your support, and i apologize for my broken english, but [inaudible] i want to thank matt, that guy, i met him in 2003 in mosul, and this is first time i saw him after all these years. Matt, why dont you stand up. Matts an army veteran, and [applause] puts himself on the line for [inaudible] so tell us about yourself. I born in 1964 in mosul, grew up normal child and played basketball, high jump and all my dreams at that time, i want to live in america one of the days. And unfortunately, got marriage and having kids and wife, and it looked like my dream disappeared. [inaudible] at the beginning, and i didnt have any chance. And it [inaudible] in my heart, this is wrong. I deserve this chance. I am the first one for this job. So anyway, by accident i found work with military police wait, wait, wait, wait a second. Now, wait, see, the problem with dealing with johnny is johnny is just a little bit too, a little too humble. Here is what actually happened. He has been trying to get jobs for quite a while trying to support his family. There were no jobs. At that time the americans were, you know, they were very honored because they had liberated the country. Right. So johnny tried to get a job, didnt get a job. And we go into more detail in the book, but basically, he couldnt get a job, and he was down to he had enough money to buy a pack of cigarettes or his kids lunch. Or a taxi or a taxi to go back. He decided the heck with the taxi, i can walk. The kids can have lunch, and i can have two cigarettes, three cigarettes whatever it was. So he was walking home in mosul, which was not the greatest place, and all of a sudden he comes upon some mps and a discussion with an iraqi. So tell us about that. So we are walking to, like, by accident i walk on this side, and three females, they walk on the right side. And i hear them, they talk bad things about the American Forces this is what i need, i have not enough money to support my kids, and right now im going to end up fighting with military police without anything because part of our tradition i have to to protect our women no matter what. So anyway, im thinking what i should do, so i come up with a plan. I have to go to the military police and ask him, hey, guys, can you let me fix this issue . And they give me this chance, maybe ill try to make those females avoid any issue with the american police, and at the end of the night, earns going to be happy. So, basically, youre a marriage counselor. [inaudible] [laughter] so anyway, when the females start coming up and its nighttime and i look after them and i though them, and i know the background of those females, and it looked like what are you guys doing . So when they look at to me it look like, oh, we are so sorry, we didnt mean to do anything. And i told them, you know what . You have only one option, you have to go right now to your house, or you guys can have something bad with me. So the sergeant when he sees what i did with the female and fixed the issue, he asked me who i was, if i can work with them. I told him, you know what . I would love it, yeah, why not . And at that time one of the boyfriends for the girls, one of the girls, he came to me, and he Start Talking [inaudible] [laughter] johnny just, johnny just asked if we could use a bad word. [laughter] were this be new york. [laughter] so anyway, he came to me and he start giving me hard time and talking bad word about me and my family. It looks like, you know what . Im done with you. So i catch him, and i beat him, his face blood, whatever. [laughter] ribs broken, and the military police tell me, you know what . Stop, just leave him, you work for us now. Of. Just a side note on that story, Sergeant Berg recently had been out of contact with johnny for pretty much since several months after that and just recently because of this book got in touch with johnny again, and thats been one of the great side notes, you know, of this whole process, that lot of the men a lot of the men and women who served with johnny in iraq have been getting in touch with him. And its really a heart warming part of the story. So johnny went to work with the mps as an interpreter, and he made such a great name for himself that when the seals came to mosul in a few months later on, they wanted, theyd already heard of the toughest interpreter in iraq. And they asked for Johnny Walker. And Sergeant Berg was very reluctant to give you up and eventually did. [inaudible] and sergeant [inaudible] so you started working with the seals. And johnny, did you know what seals were at first . No. So the first time when i hear about seals, it was like, what does that mean . I couldnt find it anywhere, and my english at that time [inaudible] [laughter] i had no clue what im dealing with, and it was like what im doing . Be i love america, but those people are scary and different clothes, different camis. And i remember the First Mission i worked with them, like the guy i walked with just like stop, left, right, go. And i dont know finish. [inaudible] i have no review, i have nothing. So it looks like, oh, my gosh, we are under attack. So i start to run away, and the guy who [inaudible] he ran after me and he catch me and he said we just [inaudible] the door. [laughter] now, what you didnt tell them, though, is that on that First Mission johnny, johnny showed up. They told johnny that he was not allowed to have, bring his weapon. But ordinarily in iraq pretty much every male had at least generally an ak, but had some weapon. So, johnny, what did you bring on that First Mission . Knife. Im sorry, and how johnny brought a knife, and how big was that knife . Was it this big or this big . Compared to my phone, this big. [laughter] so it was pretty i heard the story from the original guy, it was more like this big. But johnny started going with the seals. There was one incident really that kind of cemented your relationship with the seals. Do you want to talk about that one where the man was wounded . So one of the missions, you know, im carrying [inaudible] in this environment, and i dont know whats going on. But it looked like i could support my family, so anyway, we went to one of the targets, and we want to take that house as Mission Towards the election next day. So [inaudible] and there is guys they start shooting us. And in that time i have no weapon, i have nothing with me, and i saw one of the guys, i hear got injured in his arm. So it looks like what i should do. And the only thing i knew is i want to save him. So i went, i grab him and [inaudible] but you know what . Its worth it to do something right. So i got him out, and there is [inaudible] i cannot mention his name. He says i want that guy. So from that time they start trusting me, and they start considering me as a brother and part of seal community. Yeah. Actually, the significance there is that there were a lot of people that were interpreters or translators with the American Forces. Often they were kept back behind the lines when there was any sort of combat. Johnny, johnnys being a little bit modest in that story. According to the seals who were there, johnny ran forward as there was gunfire going on. Johnny grabbed him, brought him back, and they were quite impressed at that point. And from that point on, johnny was actually a brother to the seals. Now, i think it can be difficult for people who are not seals to understand what an honor that is. I mean, you can hang out with seals, you can be even, you know, from even another special forces, another special operations guy and not be considered a brother. And johnny, they trusted him with their backs. What does that a, what does that feel like, johnny . I mean, you know, with these americans who you hadnt known . How did you feel towards themsome. I dont know. I feel like they are my family and they do good job to my country, so i will do anything to help them make their mission succeed. Its a huge battle for me to get [inaudible] and everyone who came to me and support me in different ways. So [inaudible] now, johnny started in mosul, but the seals actually had missions across the country. And so, johnny, you traveled quite a bit, right . This is true. You ended up, name some of the places that you were at and where you ended up. We went to most of the iraqi cities and towns, and at the end i end up with in baghdad. In baghdad atta time, thats kind of like at that time, thats kind of like going to miami, you know . Its a really nice place. They love you. Did they . And that time there is like a huge fire fight thats been [inaudible] and extremists shia, and couple men this kind of grow up in that time, ask they cannot do anything by themselves. So they need all the support from seals to, like, protect them. And from there we start, like, targeting bad guys, militia and extremists. Just to explain, in islam as i think a lot of people know though not necessarily everyone, you can make a lot of different divisions. One of the major divisions is between sunni and shia. And the interesting thing, johnny, youre what what are you and whats your wife . So i am sunni, and my wife, she is shia. And one of the days we sit, and it look like i come up with a crazy idea. I want to ask my kids whos going to be sunni and whos going to be shia. So i told my wife, and i dreamed it that night. I thought, hey, can you bring the kids, i want to talk with them. So my kids, they came, ask they showed up in the room, and hey, guys, we are democratic family, and were going to make vote whos going to be sunni, whos going to be shia. So they asked me, daddy, are you shia . No, im sunni. Mom, she said, im sue ya. So all of them raise their hands and say we are shia. [laughter] the interesting thing is that before, not only before the american war, but before the kind of sunni awakening, you lived in mosul, and while there were sunni and shia, mosul happens to be an area where theres more sunni. There wasnt as much, there wasnt religious animosity. There werent people who were shooting at each because they were sunni and shia. Unfortunately, whats the situation now or what was the situation with the americans . So it look like almost the country divide by sunni cities, by shia cities and kurdish places. Basically, now theres a lot of, theres a lot of violence. [inaudible] now, johnnys wife was in baghdad no, im sorry, excuse me. Johnnys wife was in mow is suggest, and mosul, and you were in baghdad, and can you tell us what