Since i saw all of the beheading video's of Ansar al Sunna's hostages (Nic Berg, Kenneth Bigley etc.) I am overcome by fear of travel, even when going as far as Luxembourg. With this I mean to say that the amount of courage it takes for a journalist to set foot in that godforsaken part of the world is more than praiseworthy. But if i were you, I would buy a cute little tank instead of a helmet and vest.

A cute little tank? Yes, in the end people will make a sitcom about this war too. Allo, Allo, Arnon?

@ Joep

Are these beheadings really getting to you to that extend? May be you should try to relativate things a little. How many beheadings have been going on? Ten, twenty? That's a very small amount of people to get killed. O.K. a cruel way, that I admit, but I think it's also important to realise how these killings are honour related. The most of us here in the West have lost the awareness for that concept, at least I rarely ask myself if I behaved honourable, but in the East it's a concept wich is deeply rooted in everyday society. F.E. it's also impossible to understand 'harakiri' or 'kamikaze' without the notion of honour. Both of them have now ceased to exist. Within 40 years we will look at these beheadings the same way.

Go to a shop like Noorloos. You can try (and buy) everything there. Might be alittle bit more expensive but at least you know it will fit.

Mieke

Yes, the shrieking sound of someone breathing through a cut in his neck really gets to me, no matter what statistics say.
As for 'honour' , since i am in a sort of a 'multicultural' relationship i know exactly what that concept is. There is nothing more vicious than the vague concept of honour and killing in its name. Honour goes beyond everything that is rational, and therefore i spit ion it.

a measuring worm?

Drawings

Send me please pictures than I'll qill make drawings from it...(...)

@ Joep

I suggest you stop watching these movies. Or are you somehow attracted to it?

Ofcourse i'm attracted to what really happens, instead of watching safe and abstract news reports. No matter how ugly. I even dare to say that when news will become more uncensored and visual, people will probably be more affected by the horrific things that happen in this world.

Monica

Measuring worm or inchworm or measuring tape, yes.

Joep Smaling

This comes from personal experience: The chance of being beheaded in Luxembourg is very small. But just to be on the safe side, stay away from the hills and forests.

Mieke

I’m not sure what is your point. That the beheadings are just okay, because in forty years they will be considered folk customs?
Arguing against hysteria is one thing, but there is a limit to relativism don’t you agree?

Mr. Grunberg

What are your motives for going to Iraq as an embedded journalist?

@ Arnon

Of course you are right, there are limits to relativism. I expressed myself a little clumsy. In forty years from now these beheadings will remain atrocities, but to shrivel up by fear means granting them the victory. Understanding why and how they function on a psychological level, normally helps you to confront them in a more apt way. And in my opinion being aware of the importance of honour can help us to obtain that.

@ Joep

If you take a look at how more and more young girls and woman are getting murdered even here in Europe and America because of what is called honour related killings, I wouldn't dare to describe thes killings as 'about a vague notion of honour". If we take "honour" seriuosly, maybe we will find a way to put an end to it.

Mieke

As I said, I know exactly what you mean. I meant to say thats its an idiotic concept. Honour is like: you are hounorable when you conform fully to the dogma morals of the community. If you don't, you're in danger. This is typical for collectivist cultures in which people depend on their good name in the eyes of others. But to follow that codes of honour, means you are a conformist and thereby to weak to follow your own codes. I loathe it.

Mieke

There will be no end to honour related killings as long as politicians continue to cultivate their cultural relativism. Here in Holland, all cultures are perceived as equal, so the message is: we must condone it., because its their culture and who are we to say that the culture of others (in which they slay woman who dont conform) is evil?

Anna M

For the same reason why I went to Afghanistan among other places.

Mr. Grunberg

And those reasons were? I am sorry I have to say to you I don’t know them. In addition it seems to me that, although existing similarities, the Afghanistan war differs from the one in Iraq.
I’m just wondering what a journalist/ writer embedded in the US army in Iraq can write about? Will you be writing about the new built, world’s most expensive embassy in Iraq? Will you describe the American bases provided with swimming pools, movie theaters, Burger Kings, etc.? (Facts The New York Times already covered in 2003). Or what about the building of a permanent navy base which will be used by the US to keep an eye on the oil export over sea?
Stories the US desperately wants to cover up.
The ‘War Torn’ veteran stories in The New York Times can tell us maybe more about this colonial war than an embedded journalist in the US army can.

Anna

I believe there is a lot of circle jerking going on in the US army. That needs to be covered too.

Anna M

Your question seems to be more a statement than a question.
Yes, the war in Iraq is very different from the war in Afghanistan. Nevertheless the reasons why I went to Afghanistan might be the same as the reasons why I’ll go to Iraq.
The idea that everything is covered by the NY Times is a little bit gullible, don’t you think? On the other hand I have met serious and intelligent people who claim that it does not make sense to write plays after Shakespeare, so you are in good company.
Yes, I plan to write about the Green Zone as well.
Your description of the war as a colonial war is as far as I’m concerned empty rhetoric.
Your suggestion that we could leave the coverage of the war to NY Times is a sign if intellectual laziness.
Please be aware that nobody is forcing you to read my reports about my stay in Iraq.
If you want to you can stick with the NY Times from 2003 forever. It is in many ways a noble claim that you stopped reading newspapers after 2003.

Mr. Grunberg

I completely agree with you: stating that everything is covered by The New York Times would be extremely gullible. The same goes for leaving the coverage of the war in the hands of one newspaper. This is not a statement I made, but merely your interpretation of something I didn’t write. At the contrary, I prefer to be informed by a variety of national and international news sources, in 2003 and today.
What I am concerned about is the coverage of this particularly war by a journalist embedded in the US army, and the maybe biased coverage this can lead to.
The US invaded Iraq, ignoring the United Nations, and from 2003 up till now there are more and more signals and facts that the initial and officially stated ‘not-permanent occupation’ is resulting in a permanent occupation. Iraq and America even signed a binding agreement saying that the Iraqi government must especially attract American investors in its industry. If this is not a colonial war, then what is it?
Anyhow, I will read your reports. Maybe they give me a different view on the facts, maybe not. Maybe they will implicit or explicit contain your motivations for covering this war as an embedded journalist, since my question hasn’t had an answer from you.

Anna M

I don’t think that embedded journalism equals bad journalism.
Read to given an example Generation Kill by Evan Wright.
Or One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, who was not an embedded journalist but even better a US Marine himself.
Explanations for a text can at the end only be found in the text.
But if you aware of my work you might come up with reasonable explanation why I go to Iraq.
Your musings about a colonial war are not very convincing. You seemed to be against the war and in favor of the UN -- a respectable point of view.
But what your point of view has to do with the daily operations of soldiers on the ground and therefor with journalists following these daily operations is not clear to me.
You are not very aware of what war is, aren’t you?
Or do you expect the embedded journalists to shout every day to soldiers: “You fight a colonial war, you bad boys, you.”

Anna M

I'm currently reading Mr Wright's book and highly recommend it.