Interviews

A reporter from People magazine (the London desk, which covers less Hollywood and more actual news) is here in Kampala to do a story on Steve and Outside the Dream. After trying to arrange an interview time with me for the past couple days, the reporter and I snuck out to the neighborhood watering hole for some warm Krest cola. (There has been no electricity here for almost a week.)

Nothing all too interesting was said in the interview; but afterwards, we sat on our 20-cm-high stools for a good hour, discussing his other work. It sounded facinating: a story on Afghan women war refugees in Pakistan, the tumult in Sierra Leone, and four stories on Iraq before and after the war.

The last was fodder for a long discussion on his experiences covering Iraq. Needless to say, he had no compliments for how the White House had waged the war or for its decision to go to war in the first place. He was in Iraq until the day before Shock and Awe (does Sony still own the trademark on that phrase?), and he made it clear that things were more-or-less safe under Saddam for those who could keep their mouths shut about his innumerable flaws. But, what surprised me was just how dangerous things had gotten for reporters since 2004 .

Yes, the blagh-osphere has been 'buzzing' about this for a long time, but he described the situation in 2004 as fairly safe for a cautious reporter. He explained that in 2004, he did a follow-up article on eleven subjects whom he had written about before the war began. He said that he was able to find nine of them (some outside Baghdad) using only local taxis and a translator. He never used any kind of military escort. Now, he says, hardly anyone leaves the Palestine Hotel. If they do, interviews are never longer than nine minutes. Nine minutes is considered enough time for an ambush to be set up for the reporter.

... I never knew People magazine covered anything beyond the sex lives of Hollywood's most pathetic. But, maybe there are some interesting stories beyond that picture of Jennifer Aniston snuggling with Vince Vaughn on the cover... maybe.