In the "Spiegel" interview he talks about visiting East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the "USA Today" article, his response to a question about religion began with, "When I was in my twenties..." and when an editor asked him whether the "realm of hell" could be compared to current conditions in Iraq, Hawks replied "it's more like Beirut in the '70s". In the "Spiegel" interview and in the "Daily Telegraph" article, Hawks states that he drives a 15-year-old car and that he does not own a television.