Donate Now David Enders, for the Pulitzer Center
Iraq
The break in blogging is due to Rick and I being on an embed and not having the time to blog or a regular internet connection. But as we come off the embed, I want to address that subject. Some people still maintain it is impossible to tell an accurate story embedded, I see it as the only way possible to find out what's going on with the military.
But here in the "country of death," a name Rick and I have started jokingly using to avoid the hyperbole of things being named "street of death," "highway of death," etc., we are always embedded. In order to get down to Najaf last week, two hours south of Baghdad, we rode with the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council in a convoy of Iraqi police, military and the party's guards.
The only other option was spending money we didn't have for our own private security, which is already how other journos travel in Baghdad, so in a sense, they are at least always embedded with their personal security, many of whom won't even go to Najaf or some of the places in Baghdad Rick and I have been visiting. And quite frankly, it was much easier to speak with Iraqis while on a mission w/the US military than it was while in Najaf with SIIC, who, despite assuring us how safe the place was (a major point of taking us down there) politely refused to let us out of their sight. Nothing here, if you are not Iraqi, is done without cover, and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. In order to travel anywhere in Baghdad outside of our immediate neighborhood, we coordinate ahead of time with the "local security" in that place, whoever it may be. On Thursday, we are going to Basra, where we will be hosted by one of the political parties.