E&P's Christenson Calls Lastest Iraq Visit The Most Violent Ever

[Hissyspit]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003118103

Christenson Calls Fourth Iraq Trip The Most Violent Ever
Sig Christenson

By Joe Strupp
Published: September 07, 2006 8:55 AM ET

NEW YORK Sig Christenson had not been back to Iraq since 2004. Having taken three trips to the war-torn country during the first 18 months of the U.S. invasion, the San Antonio Express-News scribe and president of Military Reporters and Editors (MRE) had easily seen it all.

But earlier this year, when the idea for a story about a Texas state legislator who is also a Marine reserve colonel in Iraq came up, Christenson found himself heading back to Iraq -- and gladly so. Since arriving in country on Aug. 10, Christenson has embedded with two different units, in Ramadi and at a military hospital in Balad, while also spending a week in Baghdad.

He says the violence is the worst he has ever seen there. "There is fighting everywhere, all over the country," Christenson said late Wednesday during a phone interview from Camp Anaconda, a joint operations base in Balad, some 42 miles north of Baghdad. "The insurgents are using more and more improvised explosive devices. They are getting more and more powerful. It is a real war here."

Christenson, who will oversee his last MRE conference after two years as president next month in Chicago, said he had not seen as much outright danger for journalists or soldiers during his three previous trips. "The weapons are getting more lethal, there are roadside bombs that can blow up tanks now," said Christenson, 49, who is traveling with Express-News photographer Nicole Fruge. "The insurgents are as committed as they ever were and more so, and the Iraqis are growing weary of our presence."

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[kstewart33]

1. Great post. Thanks. eom

[Hissyspit]

2. kick