Andrew Scutro wanted to see how well American troops communicated with Iraqis when he went to the suffering Middle East nation but confronted some communication barriers of his own. He would have loved to accompany an Iraqi handyman to his neighborhood but was warned that being seen with an American could endanger the man. Freelance writer Whitney Joiner interviews Scutro about the weeks he spent embedded with a civil affairs unit.
A reporter known for his environmental coverage expressed concern in an article last March that alternative newsweeklies were criticizing mainstream press coverage of the war but hadn't sent their own reporters to Iraq. "If you want to go, go," Coast Weekly Editor Eric Johnson told his reporter, Andrew Scutro. Scutro left for Iraq on Dec. 15.