With the war coming to an end, my life at Dogwood army base near Baghdad has become more like prison life. Nothing much happens on the base, and even the meetings end with simple routine briefings. I was supposed to accompany the soldiers to a nearby camp on Monday, but that was also canceled. It is becoming embarrassing to be taking around my reporter's notepad with me all the time.
As the news reports shift from war itself to the reconstruction of Iraq, my fellow war correspondents at nearby camps are leaving one by one. I also received orders to return home. But as my departure time approaches, the loneliness and distress I have been restraining surge up. I risked my life reporting on the war. But it was not my war, it was theirs - the United States and Iraq. I could not cheer with the U.S. soldiers on their victory, and I could not cry over the hundreds of Iraqis who died.
The bloodshed must truly be over, the journalists are getting bored. So. The fighting is over and we can't seem to find a THING to report about. Nope. No stories here. I mean the reconstruction of an entire COUNTRY, nope no story there. These men don't even try to hide it anymore. If there is to be no more blood and big explosions, then they'd just as soon go home.
