Danielle's Story—Flintoff Story

NPR’s Corey Flintoff Reports on Iraq War

By Danielle Criddle

Wednesday April 16, 2008 NPR war reporter spoke at the Caine? Performance hall about what he has done for NPR.

Covering a war during war time is a huge issue as far as money, resources, and people are concerned.

“So much going on over there you can be assured of at least one car bomb a day,” Flintoff said in reference to the situation in Baghdad.

When talking of the security issues that reporters have to face he said, “even when security was at it’s best, the western correspondents were taking bets on how long you could be in the open before getting shot or kidnapped the best they could come up with was 45 minutes.”

Telling of the real risks of driving through Iraq in an armored car Flintoff said, “every time you pass an abandoned car it could be a bomb; every time you pass a man on the street on his cell phone, he could be giving your location.”

Flintoff expressed concern for risking so many lives in covering the story when covering the war “makes it very difficult for a reporter when the reason for fighting the war is constantly changing.”

With a slightly shaky voice he told of how the father of one of NPR’s reporters was kidnapped and killed last year, “the family paid the ransom and never saw him again,” he said.

Last year the NPR’s business manger who lived in Baghdad all his life was kidnapped, “He was on his way home from work one day and he was car jacked, they beat him savagely and chained him up in a shower stall for 5 days,” Flintoff said.

Flintoff conveyed that covering the war is important however, “working for a United States media is almost a warrant for your death in Iraq.”

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