A few months ago, I traveled to a place I’d never visited before: Mbale, Uganda. I wasn’t there to marvel at the vastness of Lake Victoria or spend a day at a safari park, though I wished I’d had time to see mountain gorillas. I was there to Meet Noor, a girl I met 11 years ago in the midst of the Iraq war. She came … Continue reading What I learned from a girl in Iraq: Human being first, journalist second
A few months ago, my friend and colleague Lateef Mungin died quite suddenly. This morning, more shocking news awaited me. CNN photojournalist Sarmad Qaseera passed away. He was 42. Here’s the thing. Like Lateef, Sarmad was always smiling, always cracking jokes. His joy in life was infectious. I never heard him get bitter like so many other journalists in the war zone. He came to … Continue reading Courage in journalism, Part II: RIP, Habibi
I met Mike when sectarian strife exploded in Baghdad in 2006. That was not his real name, of course, but it was what he went by in his job as a translator for American soldiers. Mike and I spent several evenings chatting at a coffee shop on the vast Camp Liberty complex. He was a smart well-spoken man with Antonio Banderas looks. He told me about … Continue reading A Romeo and Juliet love story from Iraq
I felt small standing amid the Roman ruins in Jerash. I marvel at the building accomplishments of people who lived so long ago; they intended to make structures last. How many slaves gave their lives in constructing magnificence not even an earthquake could fully take away? I think of how I’d stood in this exact place more than a decade ago, when war seemed imminent … Continue reading Back to Baghdad
