Abstract

Beat the Devil

Most American reporters had cleared out by the time the first bombs began to fall on Baghdad, Iraq. The first week in January, the Al-Rashid Hotel was stuffed with news people; then, as the January 15 deadline drew near, the numbers swiftly thinned out. Marie Colvin of the London, England-based "Sunday Times," recalls this deadline eve as a moment that made one think. The Americans told their European colleagues that their editors were getting calls from the White House telling them to get their people out. Some American reporters tried hard to stay. Others were eager to leave, while protesting that though they yearned to remain they were reluctantly following orders from home base. Most of the British stayed, including Brent Sadler of independent Television News and John Simpson of the BBC, who defied direct orders to leave, saying he'd resign and work as a freelance.