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Words & Reflections‘Baghdad Blues: A War Diary’A photojournalist documents daily life during war.Baghdad Blues: A War DiaryDavid TurnleyMagowan Publishing LLC and The Vendome Press. 160 Pages. $25.“… In February I was given an extraordinaryopportunity by Eason Jordan ofCNN to go [to] the gulf region, whereI served as a correspondent mixingvideo, photography, and on-air reporting.My brief early on was to work in thesurrounding countries and along theborder of Iraq to tell stories of peoplewho were in some way affected bySaddam Hussein’s regime, and to put ahuman face on the population of theregion.“For the first month and a half of mythree months in the Middle East forCNN, I worked in Syria and then inTurkey in the Kurdish-controlled areaalong the border of Iraq. As the warapproached, our plan was to be in aposition to enter northern Iraq, whichwas held by the Kurds, and to eventuallyget to Baghdad to cover the warfrom there. The only two ways to getinto northern Iraq were through Iranor through Turkey, but both routeswere shut off––officially, at least. Icouldn’t get a visa from Iran, and theTurks would not allow me to crosstheir border legally. For the first timein my 20 years of covering conflict, Iresorted to being smuggled, first inSyria and from there into northernIraq. This is where my story begins. …“The photographs in this book weretransmitted to CNN in Atlanta everyday of the war, and many were seen ontelevision, with me as narrator.‘Baghdad Blues’ is the culmination ofmy personal experience during thistime. As a photographer, I am accustomedto communicating about theworld visually, but in this book mywords and images work together toconvey the immensely human story oflife during the war in Iraq.” ■David Turnley, a 1998 NiemanFellow, is a Pulitzer Prize-winningphotojournalist.Kurdish children stand in the doorway of a home in the village of Handek in Turkey along theborder with northern Iraq. Photo by David Turnley.Nieman Reports / Winter 2003 83