Slate
June 2, 2003
Baghdad was hectic when two blogging friends e-mailed me to suggest that I track down “Salam Pax.” I had no idea who or what they were talking about. I could have handed over the job of sorting out this Salam Pax thing to my interpreter—he was a clever and funny Iraqi ...
The New York Times
May 11, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The news conference was held in splendid isolation. Splendid, that is, if you enjoy being walled off from the rest of Baghdad by tanks, armored Humvees, barbed wire and a small army of soldiers bearing M-16 assault rifles and .50-caliber machine guns.
The ...
The New York Times Magazine
May 11, 2003
Najaf is one of the great spiritual centers of the world’s 120 million Shiites because it is home to the tomb of Imam Ali, founder of the Shiite faith and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. But the true heart of Najaf today, and the place where the political ...
The New Republic
May 3, 2003
A few days after American troops entered Baghdad, I went to Saddam City, a sprawling slum inhabited almost exclusively by Shia Muslims. But, by the time I got there, Saddam City was gone. Yes, the people were still there, as was the poverty–the kids playing barefoot ...
The New York Times Magazine
April 20, 2003
As the war in Iraq is debated and turned into history, the emphasis will be on the role of technology–precision bombing, cruise missiles, decapitation strikes. That was what was new. But there was another side to the war, and it was the one that most ...
The New York Times Magazine
April 13, 2003
(The following is an interview I conducted with Lance Corporal Derrick Jensen)
First off I want people to understand that there is more than just combat. We’re not seeing fighting at all times. Sometimes accidents happen. The other night, a good friend ...
The New York Times
April 6, 2003
AL KUT, Iraq–A few days ago I drove with a Marine convoy into the desert north of Nasiriya, heading toward Baghdad. The landscape was as unforgiving as it comes–parched and barren, like the moon with an atmosphere of dusty oxygen. As we moved forward, mostly ...
The New Republic
March 31, 2003
Last week, I watched nearly a dozen British tanks and armored vehicles storm across the Kuwaiti desert on cue–literally. The British military had arranged a “press facility,” as they call such affairs, and, although the men and women of the media had ...
The New York Times
March 8, 2003
KUWAIT — The Philippine police knew they had an unusual case when they arrested Abdul Hakim Murad on Jan. 6, 1995. After Mr. Murad accidentally set a small fire in his Manila apartment, the police reportedly found gallons of sulfuric acid and nitric acid, as well as ...
The New York Times Magazine
February 2, 2003
On an April day in London last year, Yosri Fouda’s cellphone rang, and a stranger introduced himself by saying, “I’m a viewer of your show.” He claimed to be in a position to “provide something top secret” and asked for ...
