INTO IRAQ - ON A WHIM

M

ichael Totten has been living and blogging from Beirut for a while now, and has also made some excursions into Iraqi Kurdistan which generated some great articles and photos for his blog. A few weeks ago, he mentioned that he would soon take another excursion to an unspoken destination, promising another trip report to follow.

The guessing game went all over the map. Where was Michael going next? Syria? Egypt? He clarified everything when he'd reached his destination: home in Oregon. Michael had been digging into Hezbollah's activities in Lebanon, and it seems as though he knew when was the right time to distance himself again. He had acquired about as much proximity to those folks as any reporter would want -- much more of it could definitely be hazardous to one's health. His "Open Letter to Hezbollah" was published upon his return home, and gives an insight into what it's like to have a journalist's relationship with such people.

But the real reason for this post is to tip you off to Michael's gripping report of his last, unplanned journey before leaving the Middle East. A friend had decided to come visit him, and they met up in Istanbul for a short vacation / adventure in Turkey. It turned out more the latter than the former. While driving down the Turkish coast, they hit upon a spontaneous idea -- "Hey, we could drive to Iraq!" And so, they did.

On a tight time schedule, the task seemed impossible. Check out the newly posted Part IV of Back to Iraq (after reading the first three parts, conveniently linked at the top of that page). Two more parts are to follow. A big wai to Michael for the great writing and pictures. Now, that's blogging!

- posted by Agam @ 8:14 PM 0 comments

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