Beyond the Green Zone

Somehow, the word embedded has become synonymous with quality when it comes to journalism in Iraq. Ride along with the troops and watch as the war unfolds. There’s validity to that, but as independent journalist Jamail proves in his new book, subtitled Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq, there is also value in eluding the American military’s watchful eye.

Jamail took to the streets of Iraq in 2003, and his reports have run in The Nation, London’s Guardian and progressive radio shows like Democracy Now! He tells of families killed, mosques destroyed and communities rent asunder. Where the military sees “insurgents,” he sees resistance movements. He also tells of humanitarian work—the blood drives held in mosques and the makeshift hospitals built in war zones.

At times the writing is a little more introspective than we’d like—his notes on his personal experience are far less riveting than his more objective accounts—but they hardly stand in the way. And though filled with “news” reports of the war, much of the material here is years old. But Jamail is able to keep things in historical perspective (e.g., likening the conditions in Fallujah to Sarajevo), which allows his reporting to take on a timeless air.