<html><body><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Thomas E. Ricks, Pentagon Correspondent </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">for <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Washington Post</I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </B>and<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </B>author of the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">New York Times</I> best-selling book <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">,</B> </I>will<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> </I>speak at <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Cleveland Public Library’s Writers and Readers Series,</B> <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Sunday, March 2,<SUP> </SUP>2:00 p.m. Free and open to the public</B>, the event will take place at the <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Main Library, Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium, E. 6<SUP>th</SUP> Street and Superior Avenue.<o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">As a reporter for the <I>Wall Street Journal </I>for seventeen years, Ricks covered military conflicts, defense, and national security issues. He has spent a great deal of his professional life in war zones and has reported on <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> military activities in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Somalia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Haiti</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Korea</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Bosnia</st1:country-region>, <st1:City w:st="on">Kosovo</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Macedonia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kuwait</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He was part of a <I>Wall Street Journal</I> team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on the challenges the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> military will face in the 21<SUP>st</SUP> century.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Ricks wrote the New York Times best-selling <I>Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq </I>(2006), following five tours reporting on the conflict in that war-torn country. Ricks is also the author of <I>Making the Corps </I>(1997), the account of a <st1:place w:st="on">Parris Island</st1:place> boot camp platoon. His highly regarded first novel, <I>A Soldier’s Duty </I>(2001), is about a peacekeeping mission in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region></st1:place> gone tragically wrong.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; tab-stops: 207.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Ricks, a graduate of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Yale</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, has been with <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Washington Post</I> for seven years. He lives with his family in suburban <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place> For more information, visit<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> <A href="http://www.cpl.org/" target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><A href="http://www.cpl.org/" target=_blank><A href="http://www.cpl.org/" target=_blank><a href="http://www.cpl.org">www.cpl.org</a></A></A></SPAN></A> </B>or<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </B>call<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> (216) 623-2800.</B></SPAN></P></body></html>