5th Anniversary Report
Voices of the War
Listen to personal accounts of the conflict in Iraq from the men and women who know it firsthand.
TIME's World Editor, Bobby Ghosh, was the longest serving print journalist in Iraq until he moved to New York City six months ago. On the eve of the anniversary, Ghosh returned to Baghdad to write a follow-up piece to his 2006 cover story, Life in Hell. (Excerpt Here)
9/11 Survivor
Laith Yousif
Yousif left Iraq in 1998 and moved to New York City in 2001 to take an IT job at the World Trade Center. He was running late on the morning of 9/11 and reached the lobby as the first plane hit. He later witnessed the entire structure's collapse from less than a block away. Since then, he has applied for U.S. citizenship and launched several blogs about Iraqi news and culture. (Excerpt)
Documentary Filmmaker
Alex Gibney
Last month, Gibney's film Taxi to the Dark Side won the 2008 Academy Award for "Best Documentary" for its exploration of the Bush administration's policy on torture and interrogation at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram Detention Centers. He dedicated the film to its central character, a 22-year-old taxi driver from Afghanistan who was detained and later beaten to death by American soldiers in December 2002. (Excerpt Here)
Parliament Official
Layla J. Alkhafaji
Alkhafaji, an Iraqi citizen, spent a decade in prison after refusing to join Saddam Hussein's Baath party. She escaped to Toronto in 1993, but returned to Iraq after Hussein's fall to join the newly re-formed government. Alkhafaji actively works to improve the status of women in Iraq and recently attended a UN conference in March for the commission of the status of women. (Excerpt Here)
Aid Worker
Basma al-Khateeb
Al-Khateeb is a humanitarian worker based in Baghdad, where she works for the non-profit group Iraqi AlAmal Association. A former program coordinator for the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), she rallied women to participate in Iraq's first elections and now uses her twelve years of technology experience helping local women learn e-business software. (Excerpt Here)
Baghdad Native
Ali al-Shaheen
Shaheen left Iraq as a teenager to attend school in the United Kingdom. After graduation, he returned and served in the Iraqi Army as an officer for three years. He began working as a translator when U.S. forces invaded in 2003. He currently works as TIME's Baghdad bureau manager. (Excerpt Here)
Soldier on the Ground
Army Lt. Sean Walsh
Walsh was a student at West Point when Congress first authorized the 2003 invasion, and remembers thinking the war would be over by the time he graduated. He deployed last August and spent the first six months in Baghdad patrolling the city's southwest side as a Stryker Rifle Platoon leader before becoming a project manager in the country's reconstruction effort. (Text Only)
Democrat
Senator Russ Feingold
Feingold was the only Senator to vote against The Patriot Act in October 2001, and was one of 23 Senators to vote against the Iraq War Resolution in 2002. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he has visited Iraq and Afghanistan twice, once with fellow Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton. Feingold advocates immediate withdrawal of the troops. (Excerpt Here)
Republican
Senator Johnny Isakson
Isakson represents the state of Georgia, where most of America's troops are trained before being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Isakson has visited Iraq every year since the 2003 invasion and supports Gen. Petraeus' surge strategy. (Excerpt Here)
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