Iraq
Trial by Press Conference
The strangest of press conferences was broadcast live on Al-Iraqiya today. In what looks like a reaction to the terrible incident in Abu Ghraib in which more than 30 people were killed Ministry of Interior spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf, paraded two alleged Qaeda members in front of Iraqi journalists. He sat them beside him and […]
Two Iraqi journalists killed in suicide attack west of Baghdad
Iraqi television channel al-Baghdadiya says that two of it’s journalists were amongst the 33 Iraqis killed in a suicide attack today. They were covering reconciliation meeting taking place in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. Al-Iraqiya, the state funded Iraqi television channel says one of its correspondents has been seriously injured in that attack as well. […]
Counterinsurgency and new media
The Small Wars Journal has put together a collection of thoughts on the impact of new media on the way the US military has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Well worth bookmarking, reading, and re-reading. I was going to pick out a ‘best of’, but I was struggling. It’s all very interesting. It includes thoughts […]
Working as a journalist in Iraq
The excellent Alive in Baghdad talks to Hassan Fadhel Allah al-Hussaini, the editor of the Rayat al-Arab newspaper, at his office in Baghdad. He talks about his newspaper, the assasination of former colleague Saad Mehdi Shalash, press freedom and the "miracle" of working life in Baghdad. Click the video above to play the interview, "All […]
Shoe thrower goes on trial
Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who famously threw his size 10’s at outgoing U.S. President George Bush and called him a "dog", goes on trial today. Zaidi has been held in prison for over two months and could face up to 15 years behind bars, Zaidi was handcuffed and surrounded by a pack of security […]
Salam al-Dosaki shot dead in Mosul
Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the al-Hadba newspaper in Mosul, Iraq, was shot dead by a policeman on Thursday afternoon, 5 February according to Reuters, Mohammed Yunis Mohammed, a Mosul policeman, had been drinking when he approached the home of neighbour Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the local al-Hadba newspaper, police said. An argument ensued […]
Meanwhile… in other shoes
Al Zeidi, the now infamous journalist who threw his shoes at outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, is honoured in artistic fibreglass and copper in Tikrit this week. Artist Laith al Amari has created a giant shoe in honour of Al Zeidi and the Iraqi people. The sculpture is inscribed with a poem paying tribute […]
Major TV channels pulling out of Iraq
The United States three mainstream broadcast networks, namely ABC, CBS and NBC, have stopped sending full time correspondents to Iraq. At the same time the channels are trying to bolster their numbers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Americans like their wars movie length and with a happy ending,” [said Mike Boettcher, a Baghdad correspondent for NBC […]
Iraq still the deadliest place to work
That’s the conclusion of the Committee to Protect Journalists. For the sixth straight year, Iraq has recorded the highest number of deaths among journalists and media workers of anywhere in the world, The 11 deaths recorded in Iraq in 2008, while a sharp drop from prior years, remained among the highest annual tolls in CPJ […]
Talking cobblers
Rival cobblers are claiming they sold Iraqi TV journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi the shoes he hurled at President Bush last weekend, Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported Turkish businessman Ramazan Baydan had made the shoes and carried a front page picture of the design, alongside the headline”Made in Turkey.” Baydan said he had designed the style in […]
Hero or villain?
The Iraqi TV journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, better known these days as the shoe thrower of Baghdad, continues to make the headlines today. It appears he’s quite the hero in much of the Middle East especially with his family, “I swear to Allah, he is a hero,” said his sister, who goes by the nickname Umm […]
Michael Ware addicted to the story
Michael Ware, a reporter with CNN, talks to Greg Veis in Men’s Journal about the difficulties of reporting from Iraq, getting addicted to the story and life on the road. He wonders if he’ll ever be able to quit the war habit. It’s not a pretty picture, “I’m a war dog,” he says. “After seven […]
Bush takes a size 10
U.S. President George Bush had a close encounter with the footwear of an Iraqi journalist this past weekend. Bush was at a press conference during one of his surprise visits to the Iraqi capital when Muntadar al-Zeidi, a reporter with Al-Baghdadiya TV channel, hurled his size 10’s at the outgoing President, Before guards could wrestle […]
“Berkeley grandma sues over canceled embed”
Nothing much to add to the self explanatory headline, but that has to be the best headline of the last week or so… All the way from San Francisco, Berkeley blogger Jane Stillwater is suing the federal government for the cost of an airplane ticket to Kuwait and the cost of 15 mocha lattes from […]
Throwing Shoes!
Mr. President George W. Bush received a pair of black, size 10 shoes in a Press conference in Iraq, on Sunday. But, sadly he didn’t receive them as gifts, but were thrown at him in extreme anger by an Iraqi TV reporter present in the press conference. Such Awe!! Surely this is not an act […]
U.S. refuse to release Reuters photographer
The U.S. military in Baghdad have refused to comply with an Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruling to free Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, a Reuters freelance photographer. Mohammed has been held by U.S. forces since early September, 2008. On November 30, the Iraqi court said there was no evidence against him, “Though we appreciate the decision of […]
Ivan Watson discusses life In Baghdad
NPR reporter Ivan Watson, who narrowly escaped a car bomb yesterday, will be discussing life in Baghdad live on the NPR site today at 12PM EST or 5pm UK time. Watson reported the attack in audio, text and video on NPR Baghdad Reporter, Suddenly, Iraqi soldiers ran up screaming “bomb” in Arabic and pointing at […]
Journalists narrowly avoid Baghdad car bomb
NPR reporter Ivan Watson and three Iraqi colleagues are just about the luckiest journalists in Iraq today. A bomb attached to their vehicle exploded on a Baghdad street on Sunday – without them in it. Watson, and his producer and translator Ali Hamdani, were interviewing people at a roadside kebab shop when the bomb was […]
Court order to free Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed
Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, a freelance photographer who works for Reuters and Iraqi media outlets, has been held by US Army in Iraq since early September. An Iraqi court ruled on Sunday that there is no evidence against Mohammed and he must be released, “I’m pleased to learn that a court ordered Ibrahim Jassam released as […]
Farnaz Fassihi on reporting and Iraq
Farnaz Fassihi, an Iranian-American journalist, author of Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq and The Wall Street Journal‘s deputy bureau chief for the Middle East and Africa, talks to Sara Sarnaz on the Persian Mirror. Fasshi reported from Iraq from 2002 until 2006 and in the interview she talks about […]
Journalism’s deadliest decade
Writing in The Observer, Richard Sambrook discusses what has been the deadliest decade for journalists. 173 journalists were killed in both 2006 and 2007 – up from 70 in 2002. The numbers look set to be lower in 2008, but as Richard notes, they’re still far too high. Iraq is still the most dangerous country […]
Blogging journalist ready for Iraq embed
Independent journalist Michael Totten is going back to Baghdad. He’s managed to organise an embed with the US military and will no doubt be blogging his trip here. “So stay tuned for an in-depth tour through Baghdad after the surge. I will learn as much from this adventure as you will. The United States will […]
US Army recruitment website relaunches
How about this for an army recruitment website? Relaunched today, goarmy.com, includes all sorts of video from soldiers deployed in Iraq. (Interestingly there are also strong video elements on the British Army recruitment website.) In an introductory montage, the site proclaims that in the past information about the war in Iraq was in the hands […]
Deborah Haynes wins inaugural Rat Up A Drain Pipe
Deborah Haynes won the inaugural Rat Up A Drain Pipe Award at the Society of Editors gala last night. The new award was presented by the BBC’s Andrew Marr for her reports on the persecution Iraqi translators faced when the US and British forces withdrew. “Here is somebody who dug out a difficult story, pursued […]
Oliver Poole gets reverse culture shock
Oliver Poole, author of Into the Red Zone and Daily Telegraph foreign correspondent, talked to students in Oxford earlier this week. Snippets of his chat appear in Cherwell and he talks about that oddest of feelings of reverse culture shock felt by many war correspondents when they head back home, “Once I began to live […]
Live from the Baghdad embed
Eric Owles, a journalist embedded with US forces in Iraq, answers questions from readers on the New York Times Baghdad Bureau blog. The post is part of a series of embed posts on the NYTimes blog Q. Are you given special training ( Boot Camp for Journalists?) so that you’re qualified to be embedded with […]
US Milblogs from Iraq
After the closure of Kaboom: A Soldier’s War Journal, what’s been filling my milblogging void? Well here are some of the ones from Iraq that I’ve been reading recently. Fobbits Need Ice Cream Too. A National Guard Infantry soldier describes life running convoys into Iraq from Kuwait in the best of irreverent styles. “Our battalion […]
Saddam Hussein’s nephew blogging?
This is the sort of post that comes with a significant disclaimer – I can’t entirely verify the authenticity of the blog. But I thought I’d point you in the direction of a blog whose author claims to be one of Saddam Hussein’s nephews, Al-Hussain Arshad Yassin. In this post Al-Hussain offers a defence of […]
Iraq embeds at all-time low
CNSNews reports that the number of embedded reporters working in Iraq is at an all-time low, There were just 39 embedded reporters covering Iraq in September 2008 compared to 219 in September 2007, a decline of 82 percent. link
A winnable war?
“There’s no such thing as a winnable war; It’s a lie that we don’t believe anymore” Music is not my specialist subject but these lyrics have been popping into my head over the past couple of days. Sting, of course, was singing in the context of the Cold War, but after these comments made by […]