Producer Cory Gnazzo with the phone we had surgically attached to his earMore pictures from Iraq after the jump…
Our beloved and deliberately hoopty satellite truck — “oddjob”. It has everything except the flying james bond derby hat that cuts you.Our ragtag bunch. First – Kiann Sadeq, very Baghdad-experienced NBC producer… Fluent in Arabic and Farsi… Flew in with us from Scotland. Barfed in her helmet on a particularly challenging Blackhawk ride. A champ!Tweedledee to my tweedledum — the great Kimbo Dougherty, engineer and sound genius. Terrifies everyone with his top-of-the-lungs warning: “I’M A HUGGER!!” — and he means it! Aaaaaagggghhhh!!Let there be light in Baghdad at night — each of those two generators on the left is bigger than a car. They power a big gaudy restaurant across the street — and lend 5 watts to the family that lives in the sweltering apartment above them.Side view of generators — giver of life. You have my permission to dismiss and disdain forever any American official who downplays the importance of electricity to Iraq now — to politics, the war, everything.Cameraman David Lom. Flew in from Kabul to work with us — lives in China. Fueled entirely by soda, rice krispie treats, cigarettes and cookiesBaghdad airport is amazing. Built by Saddam at whatever time this was *in* in dictator chic — but then it sat unused because no one was really flying in or out. Preserved in amber! Sparkly!
Vanessa Silverton-Peel