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Estimates of civilians killed in Iraq range from 60,000 to 600,000. Now the Iraqi government is clamping down on the last remaining source for official numbers. L.A. Times Baghdad correspondent Tina Susman says her paper is keeping count anyway.
More on this topic:
But Who’s Counting
Innocent Accounting Errors
The New Math
Since the beginning of the Iraq war, blogs by soldiers and marines have provided one of the clearest pictures of life as a grunt. Now, the Army is cracking down on military blogs. Retired paratrooper and blogger Matthew Burden says it’s a death sentence for combat blogging. But Army Major Ray Ceralde defends the new rules.
More on this topic:
I Wanna Be a Soldier Blogger
House Democrats held hearings this week to investigate whether the Pentagon deliberately twisted the truth about the war exploits of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bateman discusses the history of hero-making in war.
The mission of a Marine combat artist, dating back to World War I, is “Go to war, do art.” Combat artist Sergeant Kristopher Battles talks about the challenge of drawing a picture while escaping sniper fire.
The 15 British naval officers detained in Iran went home this week, but they stayed in headlines. The L.A. Times' Borzou Daragahi says Iran’s image may have been bolstered by the ordeal, at least in the Mideast press.
BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza last month. It's generated some outrage from western journalists, but even more from those in Palestine. Reuters reporter Nidal al-Mughrabi discusses the Palestinian response to Johnston's abduction.
The war of images took another step forward this month when the U.S. military announced the creation of its own YouTube channel. Army Major Armando Hernandez explains why the Pentagon is bringing the fight to the enemy and to the small screen.
The Iraq war is 4 years old, and the American body count still climbs. This week, Brave New Foundation launched the Iraq Veterans Memorial, an online tribute by friends and families of those killed. Jim Miller discusses memorialization in the YouTube age.
