A special thanks to my friend, colleague, and mentor, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! She took me under her wing and taught me to fly, and I will forever be in her debt. She is this country’s finest journalist. Also to one of my media heroes and friends, Juan Gonzalez, for the example he has set and the battles he has waged. I also wish to acknowledge my rebel media comrades from my Democracy Now! family: Dan Coughlin, Maria Carrion, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Mike Burke, Elizabeth Press, Nell Geiser, Yoruba Richen, John Hamilton, Mike DiFilippo, and Aaron Mate. Also special thanks to: Rep. Jan Schakowsky and her staff, Dave Rapallo from Rep. Henry Waxman’s office, Brenda Coughlin, Michael Moore, Elisabeth Benjamin, Kwame Dixon, Dave Isay, Verna Avery Brown, Dave Riker, Diana Cohn, Denis Moynihan, Mattie Harper, Isis Philips, Chuck Scurich, Karen Pomer, Vince Vitrano, Kareem Kouddous, the Antic family, Ian van Hulle, Laura Flanders, the Crespo family, Art Heitzer, William Worthy, the late Dave Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Errol Maitland, Dred Scott Keyes, Elombe Brath, Sharan Harper, Bernard White, Mario Murrillo, Deepa Fernandes, Karen Ranucci, Michael Ratner, Coach Goran Raspudic, St. Rose of Lima and Neighborhood House. For their support and encouragement: Carmen Trotta, Tom Cornell, Frank Donovan, Matt Daloisio, Bill and Sue Frankel-Streit, and the whole CW family. My deep gratitude to Philip, Daniel, and Frida Berrigan and Liz McAlister for their example, their community, and their love.
So much of what can truly be called independent journalism is produced by people and communities in struggle, and the labor is donated because of lack of financial resources and out of a deep commitment to a free media and a just world. I would like to thank the independent media outlets that have supported and published my work over the years: Pacifica Radio, its journalists and workers, and its five stations (WBAI, KPFA, KPFK, KPFT, and WPFW); Democracy Now!; Pacifica affiliates and community radio stations across the U.S. and the globe; Free Speech Radio News; Dennis Bernstein and Flashpoints; Norm Stockwell and WORT; Commondreams.org and Craig Brown; Antiwar.com; Alternet.org; Z Magazine and Michael Albert; Guerrilla News Network and Anthony Lappé; Jeffrey St. Clair and Alex Cockburn at Counterpunch.org; CorpWatch.org; the Indypendent newspaper and Independent Media Centers worldwide; Sam Husseini and the Institute for Public Accuracy; Brian Drolet and Free Speech TV; Dee Dee Halleck, the godmother of community TV; Danny Schechter and MediaChannel.org; John Alpert and DCTV; The Progressive magazine; Dollars & Sense magazine; the Grassroots Radio Conference; Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry at ElectronicIraq.net; and HuffingtonPost.com and Arianna Huffington. Thank you also to independent journalists Dahr Jamail, Arun Gupta, Christian Parenti, Laila al-Arian, Alan Maass, Rosa Clemente, Norman Solomon, Josh Breitbart, Robert Greenwald, Pratap Chatterjee, John Tarleton, Andrew Stern, Kat Aaron, and Rahul Mahajan. To my friends and colleagues whom I worked with and struggled alongside in a place once called Yugoslavia: Ivana Antic’, Ljiljana Smajlovic’, Terry Sheridan, Katya Subasic’, Nenad Stefanovic’, Thorne Anderson, Kael Alford, Alex Todorovic’, Josh Kucera, Vesna Peric Zimonjic’, Ana Nikitovic’, Ivan Benussi, Novak Gaijic’, and Dusan Cavic’. Thanks also to Oronto Douglas and Sowore Omoyele of Nigeria for taking big risks for justice.
I would like to express gratitude and admiration to my dear friend Kathy Kelly, who introduced me to the beautiful people of Iraq in 1998 and traveled that country with me many times thereafter. She is indeed a voice in the wilderness. Also, thanks to Cathy Breen and Abdul Sattar Jihad Jabbar for their friendship in times of struggle in Iraq over many years. Special thanks to Jacquie Soohen, Rick Rowley (and Big Noise Films), and Norm Stockwell for making the impossible happen and breaking down that technological and political firewall. Thanks also to Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday, whose courage in simply saying no has been a profound inspiration. Deep gratitude also to those Iraqis whom I cannot name for their own safety who have helped me on occasions too numerous to recount here. Finally, I wish to remember those journalists killed while serving as the eyes and ears of the world. May we have the courage to pick up their cameras, notebooks, and microphones and carry on the struggle and the work.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, “Pieces Emerge in Blackwater Shooting,” Associated Press, October 8, 2007.
2 Sudarsan Raghavan, “Tracing the Paths of 5 Who Died in a Storm of Gunfire,” Washington Post, October 4, 2007.
3 Jennifer Daskal, “Blackwater in Baghdad: ‘It Was a Horror Movie,’” Salon, December 14, 2007.
4 Videotaped interview with Ali Khalaf Salman.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.; Jennifer Daskal, “Blackwater in Baghdad,” Salon, December 14, 2007.
7 James Glanz and Alissa J. Rubin, “From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths,” New York Times, October 3, 2007.
8 Videotaped interview with Ali Khalaf Salman; Jennifer Daskal, “Blackwater in Baghdad,” Salon, December 14, 2007.
9 Ibid.
10 James Glanz and Alissa J. Rubin, “From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths,” New York Times, October 3, 2007.
11 Sudarsan Raghavan, “Tracing the Paths of 5 Who Died in a Storm of Gunfire,” Washington Post, October 4, 2007.
12 Sudarsan Raghavan and Josh White, “Blackwater Guards Fired at Fleeing Cars, Soldiers Say,” Washington Post, October 12, 2007.
13 James Glanz and Alissa J. Rubin, “From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths,” New York Times, October 3, 2007.
14 Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, “Pieces Emerge in Blackwater Shooting,” Associated Press, October 8, 2007.
15 Videotaped interview with Ali Khalaf Salman.
16 Ibid.
17 Jomana Karadsheh and Alan Duke, “Blackwater Incident Witness: ‘It Was Hell,’” CNN.com, October 2, 2007.
18 Videotaped interview with Ali Khalaf Salman.
19 Jomana Karadsheh and Alan Duke, “Blackwater Incident Witness: ‘It Was Hell,’” CNN.com, October 2, 2007.
20 Sabrina Tavernise and James Glanz, “Guards’ Shots Not Provoked, Iraq Concludes,” New York Times, September 21, 2007.
21 Videotaped interview with Ali Khalaf Salman.
22 Ibid.
23 Sudarsan Raghavan, “Tracing the Paths of 5 Who Died in a Storm of Gunfire,” Washington Post, October 4, 2007.
24 Ibid.
25 Videotaped interview with Jawad al-Rubaie.
26 James Glanz and Alissa J. Rubin, “From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths,” New York Times, October 3, 2007.
27 Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, “Pieces Emerge in Blackwater Shooting,” Associated Press, October 8, 2007.
28 Ibid.
29 Videotaped interview with Ali Khalaf Salman; Jennifer Daskal, “Blackwater in Baghdad,” Salon, December 14, 2007.
30 Sudarsan Raghavan, “Tracing the Paths of 5 Who Died in a Storm of Gunfire,” Washington Post, October 4, 2007.
31 Ibid.