Hey Kevin,
Have you read this weblog from Baghdad?

http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

The above blog is apparently an Iraqi woman...maybe you can meet her and compare notes.

You were asking about what we'd like to hear in the way of news...I'd say: an honest account. It would be nice to see some places where we are truly helping...I'm sure there's got to be some places, but not covering up where the US is clearly having trouble, or doing the US govts bidding of just good news. People here know that's BS. Anyway, I've had a friend over there...and you just hope all our guys an gals gets out of there alive...and people who are against the war are not against the soldiers (make sure they know that).
Cheers!
Bob

Kevin, I recommend you contact her (Riverbend) if you can -- I've exchanged emails with her and find her highly informed, intelligent and fairly balanced, as well as outspoken, in her opinions.

She has a wealth of stories to tell of the day to day life of women in Iraq -- her visit to her former workplace and they way she was treated due to the changing religious attitudes was chilling and heartbreaking at the same time. The search for a misssing neighbor, ultimately found in a roadside grave, where he'd wound up after trying to check on his elderly parents and confronting roadblock after roadblock still makes me angry -- the anguish of an ordinary family not knowing where their loved one was for days on end, searching roadside grave after roadside grave until someone recognized the burned out remnants of his car is an image that shall never leave me.

Try contacting her if you can -- she has a story to tell.

Kevin,

The pictures are fantastic! The children are beautiful! Your comments are interesting. It is intriguing to imagine what they were doing or saying right before the raid. I’ve wondered that same thing concerning the people on the airplanes, in the buildings and on the ground on Sept Eleventh.

I still am wondering why you have not responded to my post to you on Topic: Back to Iraq on 10-17-2003 05:12 AM ET - message # 24. Are you ever going to respond? Please let me know!

I was glad to read you made a fellow family member of the military extremely happy! Just to see or hear about our loved one means more than you know! Thank You!

To Casey T. Hoo-rah and God Speed to you and yours!

Great shots of kids. The girl with her mother is very expressive...tugs at the heart. Glad to see boys being silly.

Are you riding in one of the armored Humvees, I hope? Stay safe.

Marley

Lance, Bob,

Thanks for the info on Riverbend. Will check her out.

M.

thanks for the great pictures kevin :)
the kids are adorable.
just wish that they will have a better life, with education and all.

Kevin,
I think people are looking for good reporting, you seem to be providing that. I personally, am very frustrated with what seems to have been false information prior to the invasion. Have YOU seen any evidence of the reported WMD? Have YOU personally, seen any connection with terrorist activities?

Edited by author 10-28-2003 10:35 PM
Thanks for the opportunity to express an opinion about what I'd like to see in our media. One word: integrity. The story that sticks in my mind is of journalist Robert Fisk who, it was reported in the American media, was attacked and beaten by Afghan rebels. When one read Mr. Fisk's column in the UK papers one finds out that their village had just been bombed by US forces and these people were running for their lives. They were frightened and very angry and upon seeing someone who appeared to be western, they took out their frustrations. Mr. Fisk starts and ends his column by saying that had he been one of the villagers, he would also have attacked anyone looking like a westerner. So two radically different reports of the same event ... one which, though true, isn't whole and leads the reader to believe in the fight, while the other gives the complete story. Upon reading Mr. Fisk's account I felt manipulated by the US report and couldn't help but wonder whose agenda was being supported by the lack of integrity. The suspicion continues. Perhaps the best thing to come out of it all is that I now intentionally search for "the other side of the story" in European, UK and Middle East publications. Sadly, this shouldn't be necessary. It seems that the corporate and political machines are so intertwined and the pressures to conform and support so overwhelming that journalists who want to pay the bills are forced to compromise. The reader loses. Integrity is what I look for.

Kevin,
I am glad things are going so well for you. It is very interesting to read your articles and see your pictures. Get back to California as soon as possible.

Sam
Cal Poly

Edited by author 10-30-2003 02:58 AM
Teggey,

This article maybe what you were looking for. http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=254

It is by a British Journalist. Hopefully you will not feel manipulated by the US report. You should to read the entire article to understand where the journalist is coming from and what he is saying.

Thanks Ordi, I read the article - right to the end. Interesting certainly, however I still maintain that by telling parts of stories - as the Fisk story was reported in the American media - journalists do a diservice to the reader. We need the whole story - told objectively - so that we can make up our own minds. I do not want my mind made up for me by some editor or politician's agenda. Neither do I want the infotainment drivel that has become so very popular. While the American people were reading about (dare I say absorbed by) Monica Lewinsky, who really killed Diana and JLo's latest marriage there was serious business going on in the Middle East and in other parts of the world which was largely ignored by the headlines. Even now, the article you referred me to speaks to the problem of bombs going off making better, more interesting copy than the mundane tasks involved with rebuilding a country but what have we heard leading the headlines in the US? Bombs. Sensational yes, but not balanced reporting. Still in fairness to journalists, the people buy it and so as tabloids become mainstream serious journalism suffers. Kevin was asking what we want to see and since he is a serious as opposed to tabloid journalist, I gave my opinion. The 'fix' involves the reader supporting journalists with integrity, not believing everything they hear verbatim and ignoring fluff.

Hi, Kevin. I´m jornalist and I´m from Brazil. This pictures are very interestings... congratulations for ur blog. What is really unbelieveble is to see that these children are happy, cause probably they don´t know how bad is a war.

lo.nunes@uol.com.br

It is so difficult for me to hear the Bush Administration talking heads say, "this is tragic but we have to expect this in a war" (referring to the Chinook downed on 11/2/03 w/15 U.S. killed and 21 wounded). When I feel that the real tragedy was the appointment of Bush as President. For me this is not about whether it is a Republican or Democratic administration but rather an Administration with a bunch of liars and thieves who treat the American people as a fools with the help of the electronic media. It is refereshing to read your stories. I support our soldiers and I hope they come home soon.

Kevin you are truly doing doing brave and essential work over there, keep it up and please stay safe. I worked in Saudi for 5 years,living in the desert with the bedouins. I had to work in the harems(not exotic, just the back room) with the women you are not really a hypocrite taking their picture as I took many and they really did not mind except if they said so. so I really appreciate this blog it brings the day to day reality to us here in couch potato land. Do not forget though you will have the culture shock of being back in the West once you leave that lovely country. You have to remember it is here you come from and give it time.
Inshallah you will stay safe.