Two Crabs

Miss Baghdad

Greetings from Baghdad. Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been SWAMPED with work, which is actually a good thing because it makes the time go faster.  I've been suffering from a bad case of writer's block, and cabin fever.

It's no picnic working in Iraq these days. You can't walk outside your base. You can't walk down the street to grab lunch or an ice cream. You can't drive around town without an armed escort. My entire world in Baghdad is a 50x50 square meter, heavily-fortified compound. Except for the occasional day trips to the Green Zone for press briefings,  I spend most days cooped up a three-room apartment, with just CNN and my iPod to keep me company. 

The good news is I'm a short-timer. For OPSEC (operational security) reasons, I can't divulge the exact date of departure. But I will soon be flying back to the land of the big PX.

In the meantime, check out the latest Baghdad photos on Flickr. This spectacular photo of a Black Hawk helicopter passing by a golden setting sun was shot from my apartment balcony.  It reminds me of the poster for "Miss Saigon." It was shot with a Canon 30D digital camera with 300mm lens and a bit of post-processing for color correction.  Just wish I had snapped it about a half-second earlier, and used a tripod!

Here's one more parting shot :

WHAT Green Zone?!?!??

In recent years, bashing the media has become something of a competitive sport. Journalists now rank somewhere between used car salesman and trial lawyers on the scale of loathed professions. But these days there is one particular kind of journalist that is so despised, so vilified, that it has practically destroyed a once heroic and glorified career: the war correspondent.

By war correspondents, I mean a generic term to describe any reporter working in conflict zones, but particularly Iraq and Afghanistan. In some circles -- notably conservative bloggers and commentators -- war correspondents are seen as the root of all evils. From terrorism to death of U.S. soldiers, the media coverage of war zones is somehow directly tied to America's problems.  Just take a look at this T-shirt being sold by a conservative company called RangerUp.com.

Conservative bloggers and milblogs (military bloggers) love nothing more than spreading media-bashing rumors, innuendo and flat-out lies, referring to the media as "MSM", a abbreviation for "mainstream media, but used in a derogatory manner.  I'm all for freedom of speech, but some of it is downright crap.

And nothing pisses me off more than the urban legend that all journalists in Iraq are hiding in the Green Zone.  (The Green Zone refers to the 4-square-mile, heavily-fortified compound that is home to about 5,000 American soldiers, diplomats and civilian contractors. The Red Zone refers to any place outside the Green Zone: in other words, all of Iraq.)  If you read some of these blogs, you'd think all war correspondents were sitting at the Green Zone cafe, sipping their lattes and writing our copy off CNN and wire reports.

Let me make this clear once and for all:  WE DO NOT LIVE IN THE GREEN ZONE!  Let me repeat that, WE DO NOT LIVE IN THE FRACKING GREEN ZONE!!   With the exception of TWO news agencies who shall remain anonymous, all foreign correspondents in Iraq  live, work, eat and breathe in the so-called RED ZONE.   

Yes, we live in a secure compound, but it's patrolled by Iraqi security guards. We do NOT have U.S. soldiers, tanks, Bradleys or Apache helicopters protecting us.  Neither does any other media organization.  And we do not sit here by the swimming pool drinking beer all day as conservative bloggers believe. YES, WE LEAVE OUR HOTEL ROOM!  Yes, we go in the street and talk to regular Iraqis and, when we're allowed, US troops.  Which is more than you can say about most U.S. soldiers and U.S. Embassy employees, the majority who will never see the outside of their compound and see the REAL Iraq.

Conservative bloggers say war correspondents are a buzz kill, that we are only covering "bad news" and ignoring the good news. They say we are the ones leading Iraq down another Vietnam, another war we "lost" supposedly because of the media coverage of that conflict.   And if things don't turn around, blogger say, the media will be responsible for the los of the Iraq war.  WAKE UP, PEOPLE! Iraq is a mess. I've done my fair share of feel good stories. But there are so many stories you can cover on new school openings, water treatment plant projects and "Hurray, Iraqis have cell phones and Playstations now!"

EVERY Iraqi I have spoken to say they would give up their cell phone, Internet and American electronics today if it would mean they could walk down the street without fear of being blown to bits.  Most Iraqis are so frightened that they hide in their homes day and night.  It's no surprise that Kofi Annan said last week that the average Iraqi had a better life under Saddam Hussein. Yes, Iraq was a dictatorship with a regime that silenced and killed critics. But the average Iraqi was not personally affected by Saddam policy. Sure they were poor, sure they had no free speech, sure they would have rather lived in the United States. But for cripes sake, THEY WERE ALIVE! They didn't have to worry about being kidnapped, tortured and killed just because of their religious sect.

This is the true Iraq. The Iraq that conservative bloggers are trying to sweep under the rug. The true Iraq that war correspondents are merely documenting to the public.  We journalists did not create the security situation in Iraq. We journalists are not stating pro or con agendas. We're just reporting what we're witnessing. With our own eyes. In the Red Zone. In the real Iraq.

Sleepful in Baghdad

Last night, I slept for 10 straight hours. It was first time I had slept more than 6 hours in at least two weeks. And did I mention I'm in Baghdad?  After living in London -- with police sirens, buses and screaming drunks passing by our windows at all hours of the time -- sleeping in Baghdad is a piece of cake. Especially now that the government has imposed an emergency, indefinite curfew for all vehicles and pedestrians in Baghdad and closed all airports to commercial flights. The reason: a massive attack yesterday that killed more than 150 civilians.  Just another day in Baghdad. Absolutely nothing has changed. It's no better, no worse.  The only difference is all the landscaping. Yes, that's right. Landscaping. The road in front of my hotel has been decorated with beautiful flowers, trees, Iraqi flags, and the roundabout nearby has a new park with a lovely fountain and dozens of new benches -- a park with no visitors because people are too scared to venture out. Check out this parody from today's issue of "Onion.com":

CNN Renews This Week At War For Next Eight Seasons

ATLANTA—CNN officials announced that they will be carrying the popular news show This Week At War through the 2014 season. "We're confident that we'll have at least eight full seasons worth of material for this property," said CNN President Jonathan Klein during the dedication of the new 11-story TWAW news headquarters in Kuwait City. "And believe me, we're going to be going in some surprising new directions. A premise like this can go on for a generation." In addition to TWAW's extended renewal, CNN is retooling existing news shows to give them a more martial focus, most notably The Situation And War Room, and Lou Dobbs Tonight In The Middle Of A Pitched Street Battle Between Sunni And Shiite Extremists.

World cup fever...in Baghdad

Like everywhere else in the world -- with the exception of the United States, where most people still consider soccer to be a girls game -- World Cup fever has hit Iraq.   

But watching the games in Iraq is not so simple.  The TV in my hotel room is on satellite and has more than 300 channels, NOT ONE that is carrying the games. So an Iraqi pal jerry-rigged a rabbit ear antenna to my TV to receive the games over air.

The games are not "officially" carried by Iraqi networks.  That hasn't stopped the networks from carrying pirate feeds from Dubai or Europe. One Iraqi channel shows the game with arabic commentary. Another network is carrying an English feed, but they have muted the sound, so all you get is the video!

Meanwhile on US bases in Iraq, some soccer fans serving in Iraq are really ticked off because the game is not being shown on American Forces Network (AFN), better known by its old name, Armed Forces Network.  A handful of troops have written nasty letters in military publications berating AFN for its decision.

Incidentally, I'm rooting for three countries. In order of fanness: Team USA (capital Claudio Reyna, left), England and Mexico.   Ole ole ole!