Posted on 04/14/2007 3:05:42 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BERKELEY, Calif. - Jane Stillwater is an unlikely war correspondent. She's 64, a self-described Berkeley "flower child, 40 years later" and broke. So how did this mother of four grown children end up in Baghdad, churning out commentary ranging from shock at Thursday's bombing of the Iraqi parliament cafeteria, to the weirdness of touring Saddam Hussein's bathroom?
Inspired by a sense of outrage and determined to blog from inside the war zone, Stillwater ate peanut butter sandwiches for months to save up for a ticket to Kuwait. She got a small Texas newspaper to help her secure press accreditation, and eventually boarded a troop transport to Baghdad.
"I'm really glad I came," she said Thursday by phone from the Coalition Press Information Center in Baghdad's Green Zone. "I don't know whether I would ever come back."
Some of her entries deal with everyday life during wartime. Others are strongly political, musing on issues like using violence to fight violence in what she sees as the "broken egg" of Iraq.
"It's like being on an adventure with somebody," said W. Leon Smith, editor of The Lone Star Iconoclast, the Texas newspaper that sponsored her request for press accreditation. "She's like an ordinary person that's over there ... people can identify with it."
To some, the idea of a grandmother with no formal journalistic training dropping everything to report from Baghdad seems far-fetched. But not to her friends.
"Having known her for many years and having seen her do things that nobody else would think of taking on ... she's a pretty irrepressible force of humor and passion mixed together," said Kriss Worthington, a Berkeley city councilman.
Stillwater said Baghdad "is insane. The Green Zone, it's like East Berlin in 1955. And outside, it's like 'Blade Runner.' People are trying to lead normal lives, and there's so much going on and there's firefights."
Many of Stillwater's postings have dealt with her frustration at being relegated to the U.S.-protected, fortified Green Zone. She said she has twice been stood up by Iraqi Army officials who promised to take her on an excursion outside the area.
When she went to Iraq, Stillwater was for immediate troop pullout. Now, she's not so sure what's the best way forward.
"What I realized is it's just very, very complex," she said.
She said the troops are "really nice, they're really doing a good job. It's just that they've been assigned a job that's screwed."
Reaction to the blog tends to be love it or hate it. "People will say, 'Hey, you're an idiot,' or, 'Hey this is wonderful and we're so proud of you'," she said.
Major Armando Hernandez, left, Major Vincent Mitchel, rear, and Jane Stillwater pose in a press room, Tuesday, April 10, 2007, located in the Green Zon of Baghdad, Iraq. Inspired by a sense of outrage and determined to blog from inside the war zone, Stillwater ate peanut butter sandwiches for months to save up for a ticket to Kuwait. She got a small Texas newspaper to sponsor her, and eventually boarded a troop transport to Baghdad. (AP Photo/Stars and Stripes, Monte Morin)
Jane you ignorant...
“What I realized is it’s just very, very complex,” she said.
Duh...
Many of Stillwater’s postings have dealt with her frustration at being relegated to the U.S.-protected, fortified Green Zone. She said she has twice been stood up by Iraqi Army officials who promised to take her on an excursion outside the area.
I've talked to say that it's more like a small-scale Siagon circa 1970. The parties aren't as good, though.
Welcome to the adult world, you looney old hippie.
Amen
She should have went before the invasion and enjoyed Saddam’s insanity for comparison.
Did she wish that tyrants and islamo facists dictate the course of human history?
Then there is struggle to be made.
Simple stuff. But reaching a liberal with the obvious is impossible at times.
Whenever I read that line it stikes me as odd...
BERKELEY WOMAN'S IRAQ QUEST: Sleeping bag in tow, she hopes to embed with Army and blog
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/29/7 | Joe Garofoli
Posted on 03/29/2007 10:27:17 AM PDT by SmithL
Jane Stillwater is a 64-year-old Berkeley woman who left for Kuwait on Wednesday, hoping to embed with the U.S. military there and in Iraq as a blogger. And if she is refused? She's got a sleeping bag and plans to sleep on the beach in Kuwait until her return flight in three weeks. . . .
Loonie is right. Now, will we be responsible when she gets herself captured ?
Does she think this is San Francisco in the 70’s? Go to H...you old bored narcissist! Nothing new here....Libs..”Its always about ME...ME...ME!!!”
While I like to think of myself as superior for having figured this out without taking a trip to Iraq, let's not be too critical of this lady. She no doubt comes from a social milieu where her original view was basically the only view anyone seriously considered. She's taken the time and effort to go find out first hand (apparently at her own expense), and has been big enough to admit that seeing things first hand has changed her thinking, and that things are much more complicated, and the best route to take much less clear than she had originally thought. The way she's gone about this, she has probably changed more voters minds in the right direction than most of us FReepers have. This is a GOOD thing.
It’s not for nothing that we locals call Berkeley (and specifically UCB) “the open ward”.
These people aren’t smart and they are brainwashed by jingos that they are repeated over and over again by the media.
Brace yourself! This is another old ugly Cindy Sheehan in the making. She’s now garnering credentials. We’ll hear her “expert” opinions now for years to come.
Good post.
That’s the local paper in Crawford.
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