"Embedded reporting" was the media buzzword during the original invasion of Iraq, bringing juicy pictures of action and 'thrilling' audiences with tales of heroism, courage and success.
But, when the battle was over the 'embedded reporters' returned to their comfortable newsdesks and hotels and forgot all about it.
However, one journalist (Nir Rosen) returned and 'embedded' himself with the US 3rd Armoured Calvelry regiment. The result is a 5 part series of articles chronicalling their activities.
It makes for an interesting read:
'This is the wild, wild west'
"With the intel we've been getting, it's probably a house full of nuns," complains an acerbic First Sergeant Clinton Reiss. After a few minutes of banter the ride out into the rising sun is silent. Bandit troop is hunting an invisible enemy who shoots at the Americans daily. Back home at Fort Carson, Reiss's wife waits for him with their 13-year-old daughter who is angered by teachers who say the war is over.
Why we are here
Two-week-old copies of Stars and Stripes newspaper get passed around like porno. The US military authorized paper provides much of the soldiers' news, and they are not well informed about debate back home over the Bush administration's justifications for the war. Anyway, they don't have time to dwell on such things, but rather "believe, and hope, that our leaders sent us here for the right reasons".
The locals
"They hate us," the soldiers often say about the Iraqis they believe they liberated. And the soldiers get shot at whenever they enter the bleak townscapes of western Iraq. Yet not all the patrons of a cafe in the city of Subeida are bitter. They now have more freedom. But the word that is most often heard in discussions about the US occupation is "disrespect".
Operation Decapitation
One non-commissioned officer is surprised by the high number of prisoners Apache has taken. "Did they just arrest every man they found?" he asks, wondering whether "we just made another 300 people hate us".
Three days after the operation, a dozen prisoners can be seen marching in a circle outside the detention center, surrounded by barbed wire. They are shouting "USA, USA!" over and over.
"They were talkin' when we told 'em not to, so we made 'em talk somethin' we liked to hear," grins one of the soldiers guarding them. Another gestures up with his hands, letting them know they have to raise their voices. A first sergeant quips that the ones who are not guilty "will be guilty next time", after such treatment.
The wrong Ayoub
The soldiers of 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment are fighting a losing battle. Intelligence officers who cannot speak Arabic and are not familiar with Iraqi, Arab or Muslim culture, send them out on the basis of spurious information, and the troops in the field, despite their best intentions, end up creating enemies instead of eliminating them. Nir Rosen accompanies a frustrated Apache Troop, with their tanks, Bradleys and Humvees, on a mission to capture the not-so-deadly Ayoub.