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Pulitzer winner who covered Iraq War to speak at Uni next week
Posted Wednesday, March 1, 2006, The OG, news
Washington Post reporter Anthony Shadid will speak at Uni High on March 8 during seventh and eight periods in the South Attic.
Shadid won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for international reporting for his coverage of the Iraq War and its aftermath. In 2005 he published a book, “Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War,” based on his experiences in Iraq.
The local organization AWARE (Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort) invited Shadid to Champaign-Urbana to speak about Iraq and the larger issues facing the United States in the Middle East.
English teacher Suzanne Linder arranged for Shadid to include Uni in his itinerary. Students from several classes, including journalism, English, and history, are expected to attend Shadid's talk, but other students and faculty are welcome.
An American of Lebanese descent who reports on issues in the Middle East, Shadid is especially known for his work in exposing the hardships of common people and the burdens of war.
The Pulitzer Prize judges who selected Shadid in 2004 cited “his extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended.”
The 10 articles for which he won the award, which can be viewed at www.pulitzer.org, have proven eerily prescient when read in light of recent events in Iraq.
In a March 23, 2003, story titled “‘We're in a Dark, Dark Tunnel,'” which he wrote while in Baghdad, Shadid looked at Iraq's future through the eyes of a local family:
“Iraq is ready for change,” the father said. “The people want it; they want more freedom.”
But family members expressed anger at the U.S. government, which has promised to liberate them. They criticized President Saddam Hussein and his dictatorial rule, but insisted that pride and patriotism prevent them from putting their destiny in the hands of a foreign power.
They spoke most fervently of a longing for routine — the most mundane rituals of going to work, sharing dinner on a quiet night and sleeping at a set hour. They predicted little of that stability ahead. From a bloody battle for the capital, to lawlessness, to the humiliation of an occupation, they braced for a future that hardly anyone in Baghdad dares predict.
“Everything is turned around,” the daughter-in-law said.
Fluent in Arabic, Shadid has also written “Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats, and the New Politics of Islam,” originally published in 2001.
He drew much of his material for that book from his work as an Associated Press Middle Eastern correspondent from 1995 to 1999. He then covered the State Department for The Boston Globe for two years before joining The Washington Post.
— Matthew Freeman & Gargoyle staff
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A well-written advance
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