Before the war in Iraq, the American media generally went along with the White House’s depiction of Saddam Hussein as an imminent threat to world security. Now, with no weapons of mass destruction uncovered in Iraq, the reporting is getting tougher. Today’s Washington ...
Category: Blog
Silent Havana
If you have been to Havana and have been seduced by it, a new film will send you back, it seems. The film is called “Suite Habana” and is described, by The Guardian, as “stark, beautiful…the ...
Iraq: It’s a Mess
Read all about it, sadly, in today’s Washington Post. “‘We’ve been given a job that we haven’t prepared for, we haven’t trained for, that we weren’t ready for,’ ...
The Race to Baghdad, Cont.
My story in Outside, about my journey through Iraq, is posted here.
The Race to Baghdad
What was it like to cover the war in Iraq? My 7,500-word story about my journey from Kuwait to Baghdad is in the July issue of Outside magazine. The article, “The Race to Baghdad,” is not posted online yet but the issue is available at newsstands.
Meet the New Boss
Dathar Khashab had what it took to maneuver his way up through the ranks in Saddam Hussein’s oil bureaucracy. When his new managers showed up wearing U.S.-issue fatigues, he didn’t miss a step. My latest story, about a G.I. and a Baathist, is in this weekend’s issue of The ...
Salam Pax, Cont.
How was I to know that my Baghdad interpreter was famous? Public Radio International has posted a cute story about Salam Pax and the dimwitted foreign correspondents, including myself, who figured out who he is. Click here and scroll down to “Blog Report” for the audio file.
Salam Pax Exists
During the war in Iraq, a blogger in Baghdad became a sensation on the Web, attracting a considerable following to his blog. He also attracted a considerable mystery–was he for real? I stumbled onto the answer, and my story about it, in Slate, is posted here.
Talking About Sadr
If you want to know more about Muqtadah al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite leader whom I wrote about in The New York Times Magazine, Public Radio International has posted an interview they did with me. Scroll down to “Islam Interview.”
In Iraq, Theocrats and Americans
My latest story, in The New York Times Magazine, profiles Moqtadah al-Sadr, who wants Iraq governed by Islamic law. First he has to outsmart his rivals, outmaneuver the Americans and get Iraq’s millions of Shiites ...