Under the Steel Rain: Life at Camp 'Dirty Bird'
Forward Operating Base Eagle is just three blocks east of the teeming Shiite slums of Sadr City. Read Full Entry
MORE Iraq 2004 COVERAGE
Fri, Sep 10 2004, 6:12 PM ET
Hilla SWAT
FORWARD OPERATING BASE, IRAQ -- We've been up since 3 a.m. waiting for Hilla SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), the elite Iraqi police force. It's now 4:30 a.m. Despite their annoyance, the Force Recon squad from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit seems extremely patient, at least around me and a photographer for the Chicago Tribune, Kuni Takahashi. They look at their watches and BS each other about depravities -- typical life details at a military FOB (forward operating base) in Iraq. Read Full Entry
Mon, Sep 27 2004, 9:14 AM ET
Blog Smog
Didn't want this site to be about what I had for breakfast, what books I’m reading, what music I like. I didn't want it to be blog smog -- information haze -- that's little more than a personal masthead for the ship of self. Read Full Entry
Tue, Sep 28 2004, 11:17 AM ET
Behind the Blast Walls
We are living vicariously through our local fixers and crews. The conventional wisdom in Iraq now (at least for highly conspicuous tv news) is, "go out heavy (embed with the military) or don't go out at all." Read Full Entry
Sun, Oct 10 2004, 2:22 PM ET
Flying Dutchman
GREEN ZONE, IRAQ -- I try to pinpoint when it was exactly, what word I had so eagerly uttered, that turned me into the Flying Dutchman of electronic journalism, a man without a sense of community, cursed to forgo family, friends, holidays, anniversaries for an endless voyage with an ambiguous purpose. Read Full Entry
Fri, Oct 22 2004, 6:20 PM ET
Waiting for Fallujah
CAMP ABU GHRAIB, IRAQ -- I'm currently embedded with the Third Battalion, First Regiment Marines -- or the "Thundering Third" as they like to be known -- waiting for the long-rumored offensive to retake the stubborn, insurgent-held city of Fallujah -- prior to Iraq's January elections. It's widely accepted in Iraq and within the U.S. State Department and the United Nations that Fallujah must somehow participae in the upcoming vote or else the process will seem illegitimate and further disenfranchise both moderate and militant Sunnis from the new Iraqi government. Read Full Entry
Tue, Nov 2 2004, 4:25 PM ET
Military Vote: Marines on the Eve of Election and Battle
NEAR FALLUJAH, IRAQ -- Although many Marines here profess a deep interest in the outcome of the U.S. presidential race, most don't have time to pay close attention. A squad from Weapons Company assembles their 81-millimeter mortar tubes while the heavy "whoomp" retorts of a .50-caliber sniper rifle pulsate across the firing range 1,000 meters away. On the eve of the U.S. election, these Marines are busy preparing for perhaps the fiercest battle they may experience in Iraq: the fight for Fallujah. Read Full Entry
Wed, Nov 10 2004, 7:27 PM ET
Street by Street
FALLUJAH, IRAQ -- Even before first light, Marines, soldiers and Iraqi National Guard troops swarmed into Fallujah. Tanks and heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicles used their main guns to blow up cars and buses parked on side streets just in case they might be booby-trapped. "This is a frigging ghost town," says Cpl. Steven Wolf, a squad leader for the CAAT (Combined Anti-Armor Team) Platoon. The streets are deserted. Read Full Entry
Thu, Nov 18 2004, 10:43 AM ET
You're Either With Us...
Attempting to enter Tikrit before the city fell to coalition forces, Kevin Sites and his CNN team were captured by Saddam's militia. Read Full Entry
Sun, Nov 21 2004, 10:54 AM ET
Open Letter to Devil Dogs of the 3.1
A letter to Marines involved in the 2004 battle for Fallujah. Read Full Entry
Scheduled Conflict Coverage
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One Man. One Year. A World of Conflict.
Kevin's Travel Journal
- Mon, Sep 11 2006Our Journey So Far
- Wed, Aug 23 2006Israel: 'To Be or Not to Be'
- Mon, Aug 21 2006Lebanon: Holding a Rock
- Mon, Jun 19 2006Kashmir: The Soccer War
- Tue, May 30 2006Kashmir: Missed Chance: Oh Hello, Dalai!
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- Mon, May 1 2006Haiti: No Comfort Zone
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- Mon, May 1 2006Video Feature: The Hot Zone You Haven't Seen, Part II
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Learn More
- BBC: Iraq Country Profile - includes a map, key facts, and profiles of political leaders.
- BBC: Iraq Timeline - chronology of key events.
- Institute for War and Peace Reporting: Iraq - includes daily updates of what Iraqi papers are reporting, translated into English.
- Iraqi Transitional Government - official interim government site. Includes profiles of officials, and information on issues such as elections, security, reconstruction, law, and the constitution.
- Iraq Body Count - independent public database of media-reported civilian deaths related to the U.S.-led war and occupation in Iraq.
- Washington Post: Faces of the Fallen - biographical profiles of U.S. service members killed in Iraq.
HOW TO HELP
- Int'l Committee of the Red Cross: Iraq - due to widespread violence, has curtailed most relief operations; focuses on those detained or interned by the multinational forces in Iraq and by the Iraqi authorities.