Tough life for Iraqi journalists
Posted: Friday, July 13, 2007 12:13 PM
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Baghdad, Iraq
By Michele Neubert, NBC News Producer
"Why don't you take some food for you family," I said to our freelance cameraman, Ali. He had just finished telling me how all the families in his village were desperate for basic supplies.
He'd come down from Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, where the U.S. military had been conducting a three-week long surge to flush out alleged al-Qaida operatives.
And while there have been some military successes, being caught in the middle hasn't been easy for the locals already struggling for survival. NBC had been in the region recently and saw first hand the humanitarian relief effort to help the locals, many of whom have been too frightened to leave their homes
"Then there is the added problem of who really is al-Qaida? Have they indeed gone? Or have they just melted into the population?" he pointed out. "And everyone is frightened of repercussions, especially if we get too friendly with the Americans."
Well, maybe at least some food could help. I thought he could take some of our extra kitchen supplies and some treats for the kids. He politely declined.
Long, dangerous trek for a paycheck
"I don't have any transport to carry it," he explained.
"So how did you get here?" I asked.
A naive question considering we deal with dangers of travel every time we go out and I should know that the road up to Diyala is long and treacherous. When we went up there it was by military helicopter. Yet somehow I had expected Ali's car to be parked outside.
"I jumped a lift on a flat-bed truck and then walked five kilometers [three miles] through the checkpoints," he explained, the entire time looking remarkably uncrumpled and unfazed in a crisp blue cotton shirt.
He’d gone through all this to collect his monthly salary which, while generous by Iraqi standards, wouldn't get many Westerners out of bed, let alone get them to go on a trek of about 75 miles.
Like many Iraqi journalists, Ali was risking life and limb just to get a paycheck. Something to think about during a week when three local Iraqi journalists were killed in two days – a Reuters photographer and driver, as well as a reporter for the New York Times.
So, no charitable goodie bags of essentials to go for Ali this time.
"Tell you what you could do though," he added. "All each family needs is $25 to help them survive."
"How many families?" I asked. "Fifty," he said.
My heart wanted to pull out my purse and empty it for them right there. My head said that wouldn’t work.
What about all the other families who need help? There are millions of them. Where do you draw the line?
So I gave him his salary, smiled, and said I'd think about what I could do.
I haven't stopped thinking about it since.
