Annia Ciezadlo Quotes

As a freelance foreign correspondent, I spent most of the past decade living in the Middle East, where I specialized in reporting on politics and civilian life in war-torn countries. I was a special correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor in Baghdad (2003–2004) and The New Republic in Beirut (2005–2007). My writing on culture, politics, and the Middle East has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Granta, and The Nation.

Being an American journalist can put people on the defensive. In countries where people assume the press is partisan, like in Lebanon, or where it had essentially become an extension of the government, like in Iraq, people tend to see a journalist as an agent of his or her government. That can be dangerous if the United States military is occupying their country, or aligned with their enemies.

Annia Ciezadlo
- People
- Country
- Military
Part of the reason you see so little about this in the Western media is that Iraq was closed off from the outside world for so long under Saddam. But I think there's a deeper reason, which is that it messes with our assumptions - not just about Iraq, but about culture and human nature.

Annia Ciezadlo
- World
- Culture
- Reason