Under Fire: Untold Stories from the Front Line of the Iraq War

The tales missed--or overlooked--by big media during the Iraq war unfold here as a dozen Reuters correspondents share their eyewitness stories. The accounts take the reader from the crosshairs view of a U.S. soldier to the streets of Cairo, where Caroline Drees witnesses a people's humiliation in the wake of a swift American drive through Arabia. Luke Baker comments on the pumping refrains of urban rap and garage bands that apparently kept many a young American warrior awake at the wheel of a Humvee during the long trek through sandstorms and the creepy quiet of the desert. As Samia Nakhoul reveals, the residual effects of war often have more to do with the horrors of living than dying: thousands of pregnant Iraqi women flocked to already ill-equipped hospitals days before the war to have cesareans in order to avoid labor during an attack. Other simple, chilling truths of the conflict emerge. Mike Collet-White describes the Kurds' joy over Saddam's defeat, followed by their vengeful killing of Arabs. Saul Hudson profiles the People's Mujahadeen, which the U.S. government cannot decide whether to peg as terrorists or employ as instigators of regime change in Iran. These affecting narratives document the small details of war-ravaged life, society and the human condition, and tell a more personal, gripping story than the bombing missions and flag-raising reported on the nightly news during the invasion.