Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq

by Bill Katovsky, Timothy Carlson

"The interviews crackle with immediacy." -The New York Times

"It is my hope that this outstanding piece of work will reach the widest possible distribution and readership." -Dan Rather, CBS News, on the John Burns interview

EMBEDDED is a collection of deeply emotional and highly personal accounts of covering the Iraq War. Many of the world's top war correspondents and photographers speak candidly about life on the battlefield. Here are articulate and heartfelt descriptions of fear and firefights, of bullets and banalities, of risking death and meeting deadlines.

With over sixty interviews conducted in Kuwait and Iraq shortly after many returned home, Katovsky and Carlson allowed these journalists to step outside their professional role as journalists and examine the lethal allure of combat reporting.

Here is CBS Evening News correspondent Jim Axelrod discussing the perils of racing to Baghdad while despondent over the death of a television colleague and being unexpectedly comforted by ABC News Nightline's Ted Koppel; Newsweek reporter Scott Johnson unwittingly driving into an ambush and then kicking out the windshield of his bullet-riddled car to escape the Iraqi gunmen; New York Times Baghdad Bureau Chief John Burns's brave refusal to be intimidated by his Iraqi information ministry minders; and many, many more.
Each interview in EMBEDDED maps its own personal path and narrative arc, while presenting an emotional window to war and reporting. Taken individually, each offers a unique view of the most-covered war in history. Collectively, EMBEDDED is an eyewitness to history that will do for the war in Iraq what Michael Herr's Dispatches did for Vietnam.

Genres: Nonfiction

450 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Melanie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was engrossed by the different views and experiences of the media personnel who opted to go to Iraq and "embed". I enjoyed the short stories presented by each persons' encounter. I was saddened by the stories of loss, intrigued by the personal choice to go, and entertained by some of the accounts.

Time Magazine Photographer Yuri Kozyrev account was humble, touching and not so arrogant as some of the reporters.

Los Angeles Times David Zucchino provided an interesting and thought provoking account that prompts you to want to research more deeply into the money found, and attempted theft. How severe were the punishments? Were more monies found?

The New York Time Reporter John Burns presented such a passionate argument regarding accurate reporting on the genocide being committed by the Sadam regime, and speculated that had all the news agencies been presenting the horrifying facts prior to the war, the world audience would stand in support for a war in Iraq, without having to go forward with a dubious WMD argument.

What really alarmed me was repeatedly reading that the war is over. I know the book was written a few years ago. However, the arrogance to assert the war is over when the troops were and are actively losing their lives befuddles and offends me.

[Duane Bowker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 58 oral accounts from reporters, photographers, public affairs officers and others on their experiences during the first few weeks of the Iraq War in 2003. As the title suggests, many of the correspondents interviewed for the book were embedded with coalition forces but there seem to be just as many accounts from "unilaterals" (non-embedded). It's really an interesting patchwork of stories and, in the composite, gives quite an impression.