An appointment in Samarra (Luke Baker in Baghdad: horror worsens)

[Barrett808]

An appointment in Samarra
27 Aug 2005 12:42:14 GMT
Source: Reuters

Reuters correspondent Luke Baker covered the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 as an embedded journalist and has reported on the country from our Baghdad office for the last two years. The following story is his personal account of how the atmosphere of death and destruction has become more and more insistent as acquaintances and friends are struck down.

By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Death creeps up on you in Iraq. The longer you remain amid the country's violence, the more insistent, the more bullying it becomes.

Over time, more people you know die, or are maimed, or have scrapes with death that leave them psychologically scarred.

All along there have been stories about it -- those killed by aerial bombardments, children blown apart by suicide bombs, families caught in crossfire, slain at the hands of insurgents or murdered by criminals.

In March last year, I stood in the street in Kerbala as suicide bombers exploded among crowds of Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims, killing more than 100 people, including dozens standing around me -- strangers who became new victims of Iraq's conflict.

But in recent months, the deaths have grown more personalised -- it's not just random people who die anymore, but people you've met, people you've interviewed, some you know quite well, colleagues you work with every day, friends even.

Almost every week, someone on the staff at Reuters, just one of a dozen or so news organisations still operating in the country, has a new tale to tell of a relative -- a brother, a mother, a cousin, or a son -- killed in terrible circumstances.

(more)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27399568.htm

[Cocoa]

1. NYT correspondents sound more and more depressed

Dexter Filkins from the NYT a while ago was on Charlie Rose (he was back from Iraq for a short period, he's back there now I think) and he looked literally depressed.

And I just heard James Glanz on NPR, and he also sounded seriously depressed, literally like he was on the verge of tears, he sounded like he could barely get through the interview.