September 29, 2003
Fair weather in Iraq
Alright, I know it has been more than three months since I left Iraq, so I may not be the most reliable source of information and judgment anymore. Worse, as the National Review suspects in its current review of my new book I may at times be prone to “a not-quite-subconscious European delight in portraying Americans as clumsy imperialists”. (Great blurb, actually. Would jack up the sales in France, that's for sure.)
Anyway, that is why I am proud to announce that I got a co-author on board: Jack Fairweather, a reporter friend of mine who has just gone back to Iraq for six (SIX!) months.
Continue reading "Fair weather in Iraq"
Alright, let's get serious about this
“Tell me, how is it out there in Baghdad?” I was once asked in Iraq. Not by a friend from back home calling me but, alas, by a public affairs officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad. In the four weeks of her working for CPA she had NOT ONCE been outside the heavily fortified compound on the Tigris River, formerly Saddam’s central palace complex. The only Iraqis she had met were translators for the troops and civilian administrators. “It is too dangerous for us to go out,” she said.
May this anecdote serve as an (entirely circumstantial) reflection on just who is doing a bad job in Iraq: the occupiers or the media?
Continue reading "Alright, let's get serious about this"
September 15, 2003
The killlings in Iraq continue
A few days ago, U.S. soldiers shot and killed ten Iraqi policemen in the town of Falluja, a centre of anti-American resistance about 30 miles west of Baghdad. Remember, these were not the “bad guys” but the men who help the Americans maintain order. And in fact, it appears they had been chasing some criminals when the GIs decided to spray their cars with bullets, at short range. No surprise then that the entire town is livid with rage now, and hundreds of men have vowed bloody revenge at the funerals.
How could this happen? The answer is quite simple:
Continue reading "The killlings in Iraq continue"
September 11, 2003
Start a blog on a day like this?
New York City
A crisp and eyeblue morning. I am sitting on the roof deck of a friend’s house in the Lower East Side, sipping a cup of coffee and enjoying the view over the splendid concrete behemoth that is Manhattan. In the sky above, planes approach JFK and La Guardia. “It was one of those beautiful autumn mornings when you just wanted to take a bath before leaving the house,” a friend of mine said the other day. “And then all hell broke loose.”
Inevitably, my eyes wander to where the WTC towers once stood.
Continue reading "Start a blog on a day like this?"
