Walt Rodgers, Embedded Journalist, Writes

Here's the book I referred to Monday night by CNN's Walt Rodgers, embedded with troops in Iraq. More information here.

Here's what one review said about it:

From Booklist

Rodgers, a CNN correspondent, was embedded for three weeks in March 2003 with the Seventh Calvary, who advanced from the Kuwaiti border to Baghdad. In this fascinating account, he begins with his experiences at Embed U, the orientation school for journalists at which he was taught how to deal with chemical weapons, which were never used by the Iraqis.

He recalls going into war zones in a refitted Humvee purchased from King Hummer, a used-car salesman in Kuwait. Rodgers and his crew struggled along with the cavalry, trying to stay alive and developing close ties with the soldiers, who never questioned the legitimacy of their missions.

The benefit of embedding was the firsthand view of combat it offered the reporters, but Rodgers notes that the embedded journalist necessarily lacks a broader picture. Returning to Iraq a year later, Rodgers interviewed soldiers and Iraqis and found a higher level of danger since the invasion.

This stirring close-up account puts a human face on the bravery and determination of all those engaged in the conflict in Iraq.

Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved