REAL JOURNALISM FROM IRAQ

Michelle Malkin, recently returned from Iraq, has been posting regularly on her embed at FOB Justice. I mention this partly because she's wearing my body armor, but mostly because she's a fine journalist and her reporting is worthy of further distribution.

Malkin posted pictures from her embed here. Her first report following her return is here, and she has posted videos here, here, and here. Scroll around, as I have not linked to everything in her archives.

While I never was allowed "outside the wire," my experience mirrored that reported by Malkin. I was privileged to be there, and have never worked with a finer group of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines than I did at Camp Victory.

Other journalists who have reported from the mid-East (Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon) include Bill Roggio, Michael Yon, Michael Totten, and Bill Ardilino. Please visit their web sites and scroll around. You will not see their reports in newspapers or on television.

COMING TO IRAQ

My first official act after arriving was to go to the MNC-I (Multi-National Corps - Iraq) headquarters to sign in. Coalition Force headquarters at Al Faw Palace, near Baghdad. Apparently used by Saddam’s sons Uday and Qusay for their “romantic adventures,” it is commonly called the “Perfume Palace” by the soldiers stationed at Camp Victory.






The first floor “ballroom” is dominated by the chandelier seen in this picture. Expensively appointed, the workmanship is surprisingly shoddy.
















The obligatory “Kilroy was here” picture. Almost everyone who has business in the Palace has a picture taken on the couch just inside the ballroom. I was no exception.