When I was embedded in Iraq last year, one reporter pulled me aside and carefully spelled out the U.S. military's "Rules of Embedment" for me.
"Don't say anything negative or they will withhold your access to news or even send you back home." Oh, okay. Nothing negative. Check.
And so I praised our brave troops to the heavens -- and that was really easy to do. Those guys are doing a great job! But it still didn't do me any good. I still got no access to news. And I still got unceremoniously sent home. Why? Because I couldn't keep my mouth shut about George W. Bush. Hey, my mentor-reporter never warned me about that!
The first time I was embedded in Iraq, I got watched like a hawk because of my unfriendly attitude toward the White House (and also apparently because, at John McCain's famous "stroll through the market" press conference, I couldn't keep my mouth shut and actually asked him some actual important and news-worthy questions such as was anyone planning to invade Iran. Hey, I thought Americans might want to know this sort of stuff.) And after that, Condi's State Department apparently started reading my e-mails and I was sent home without ever being allowed to leave the Green Zone -- while other, more compliant, reporters were granted access to come and go as they pleased.
The second time I went to Iraq was a fluke. I truly believe that someone let me back in purely by accident. But then they sent me off to Anbar province, the one place in Iraq that was safe. I loved Anbar. I loved the Marines. I sent home GLOWING reports about how the Marines were helping with the reconstruction and working hand-in-glove with the Iraqis and...all of it true. The Marines ARE doing a good job in Anbar. But Bush ain't doing a good job in the White House. The man is a thief and a war criminal -- and I wrote about it. My bad. Oops.
Then, in January of 2008, I applied to go back to Iraq one more time. Hey, what can I say? I'll go to anywhere for a good story. Plus I'd only seen the Green Zone and Al Anbar so far and I still wanted to see what was happening in the rest of Iraq.
"Come on over," said one of those guys who sit in pre-fab cubbies in the Green Zone all day and routinely rubber-stamp reporters' embeds. "We'll send you out with the Third Infantry Division. They cover Iraq from the north to the south. They are your one-stop shop for embedding! You'll love it here." Or words to that effect. Yea for the 3ID!
Based on this enthusiastic invitation from CentCom in Baghdad, I ran out and bought a plane ticket for February 12, pulled my helmet out of the closet and dusted off my Kevlar. I was good to go.
But what happened next? Someone in the CentCom front office must have read some of my articles from OpEd News or the Lone Star Iconoclast or something. "Yikes!" he must have screamed. "She doesn't like George Bush!" I bet you could have heard him all across the Green Zone. "Cancel that embed!" And they did.
Now I am sitting here in Berkeley with my non-refundable plane ticket to Kuwait City in my hand, lamenting about all that money that I've just wasted -- money that I can ill-afford to just throw away. But my flight leaves from SFO on February 12 -- and I am going to be on that plane. Why not? At least this way I'll get to see some inflight movies and eat some free food and the ticket won't be a total waste. And when I get to Kuwait, I can sleep in the mosques, hang out at the internet cafes (if they still work after four underwater cables were mysteriously cut in the past week) and be there in the Middle East when the action heats up.
"What action, Jane?"
"The action that will happen when Iran opens its non-dollar-based oil bourse next week and all Hell breaks loose." And I'll be right there when it happens, watching the Kuwait economy inflate and the American dollar collapse and...." And when the spit hits the fan, you had better believe that I will have lots of really really really nasty things to say about George W. Bush.
"Jane, why are you all hatin' on GWB this time?" Because there are all too many signs these days -- like, as journalist Mike Whitney has recently pointed out, Dubya's recent trip to the Middle East to browbeat his allies into submission, the mysteriously-cut internet cables connecting Tehran to the rest of the world, the US anti-missile ships now in Israeli harbors and the Iranian navy in the Mediterranean -- that all point out that Bush is probably planning something stupid (again) such as another disastrous Shock and Awe.
What did JFK used to say? "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country." That thought has NEVER crossed our George's mind. Trust me on that one. What America means to him apparently is that it is just another good bank to rob. But I digress.
The Green Zone guy wrote me again. "Jane, you can't come back to Iraq because it's a battlefield over here." Duh. That's why I want to go over there! Why else would I want to go to some war-torn country, spend three weeks wearing Kevlar and live in a tent? That statement didn't wash. So the guy thought up another one.
Stillwater is a freelance writer who hates injustice and corruption in any form but especially injustice and corruption paid for by American taxpayers. She has recently published a book entitled, "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips For Touring Today's Middle East". According to Ms. Stillwater, "It's a fabulous and entertaining book. I loved writing it. And I hope that you will love reading it too." It's available at http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719 or you can special order it at any independent bookstore.
Jane's characterizations of Bush are an indication of her inability to be objective, which is why she was canned. Does she think a reporter that labled Clinton as "an unprosecuted rapist and abuser of women" would have gained access to a theater of war? Duh, Jane!
by
RMarvel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 3:58:18 PM
You make it sound like I said that about Hillary Clinton. Or even if you meant that I said that about Bill or the family dog or whoever, I never said such a thing about anyone -- not even Bush. That's libel, buddy. Go wash your mouth out with soap.
by
Jane Stillwater (459 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 65 comments)
on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 5:27:46 PM
I love you, Jane, and see what you are able to get in response? You must have readers...I can't believe they won't let you go back, but then again, it's pretty typical of this administration, and it's not just Iraq, we can't even get access to the constitution over here!
by
Judy Ramsey (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 82 comments)
on Friday, February 8, 2008 at 1:47:56 PM
3 comments
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