Kevin Sites in Iraq -- "Toppled"

Grok Headline matches for Kevin Sites in Iraq -- "Toppled"

Kevin Sites: back *from* Iraq, here's
his latest.

Kevin Sites: back *from* Iraq, here's
his latest. 12/08/2003 02:21 PM
Blogger and MSNBC combat correspondent Kevin Sites posted a final dispatch from Iraq before returning home to the US for a brief break. He returns to Iraq shortly after the holidays.

It is the eve of Eid or the end of the Ramadan and the end of the month long dawn to dusk fasting for many Muslims. It is a time of celebration on par with Christmas for Christians. But the night has begun with a bang. Literally. An IED (improvised explosive device) has exploded just outside the north gate of the 4th Infantry Division's headquarters. I hop in the back of Bressette's Humvee as the patrol heads out to investigate. Bressette gets on his two-way and in the guise of a flight attendant giving the pre-flight briefing, tells the squad the plan. (...)

I videotape Bressette as he walks back to his Humvee with the 1-22's commanding officer Lt. Col. Steve Russell. They at the curb to discuss what's next, when Bressette looks down. He sees something strange; wires sticking out of a concrete block. Suddenly this inert object is filled with potential energy.

"Sir, we better back up," Bressette says, already doing the moonwalk away from the block. "We're standing next to an IED!" The Humvee shoots forward away from the bomb, while the rest of back away. The concrete block has been hollowed out and is packed with enough plastic explosives to kill us. Bressette just shakes his head, still in disbelief that all of us, the Colonel, Bressette and his squad, myself and reporter named Betsy Heil from the Pittsburgh Tribune, were all standing next to a device that could've taken our lives within a fraction of a second.

Link

Kevin Sites bl0g from Iraq: Road to
Nowhere

Kevin Sites bl0g from Iraq: Road to
Nowhere 05/03/2004 12:13 PM
Blogging live from Iraq, MSNBC combat correspondent Kevin Sites posts a new entry today. Last week, he and the the military unit with which he was traveling near Ramadi were hit by an IED, also known as a "roadside bomb."

We will take four humvees on this trip, including a gun truck or technical with a mounted 240 SAW, squad assault weapon and about 20 marines carrying M-16 and M4 assault rifles. As the captain speaks, the marines pass out smoke grenades that could be used to obscure a disabled vehicle from enemy fire. They also pass out fragmentation grenades, olive green orbs with strips of red duct tape wrapped around the handles to keep them from exploding in case the pin is pulled inadvertently.

The captain (who doesn't wanted to be identified by name) reads off a checklist that covers everything from the military grid coordinates for our travel to recent intel on enemy forces in the area, radio frequencies and procedures if we come under attack. "I'm not reading this for my own amusement," he says gruffly, "if something happens to me or Gunny you want to know how to get back so you better be fucking writing it down."

Link, discuss

New Kevin Sites dispatch from Iraq:
Under Steel Rain

New Kevin Sites dispatch from Iraq:
Under Steel Rain 06/29/2004 06:50 PM
A new weblog dispatch from NBC correspondent and blogger Kevin Sites, about life in the militarized zone with the distinction of having been mortared more than any other in Iraq -- 400 times in the last three months

[S]oldiers aren't the only ones in danger. Civilian employees of Kellog. Brown and Root -- which provide many of the civilian services on base -- are also at risk. Many of the food service employees, mostly foreign workers from poor nations like the Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh; say theyre very frightened by the mortars. One says he sleeps on the ground pulling sandbags around him, but while the mortars haven't got him yet, the sand fleas have. He shows me the red bites on arms.

Four Philippine workers were killed at the largest Army supply base in Iraq last April when insurgent rockets hit their living quarters at Camp Anaconda. But those inside the camp aren't completely surrounded by hostility. At dusk in Guard Tower 7, soldiers watch Iraqi boys play soccer not more than a hundred yards away. Some Iraqi civilians even live in shacks right next to the massive walls surrounding the base.

"Hi Nora," one of the soldiers says, waving to a shy ten year old Iraqi girl popping her head out from behind a sheet that covers the opening to the mud and clapboard shack. "Hi Michael," she says in a high-pitched voice, waving then quickly ducking back inside.

Link

Kevin Sites bl0g from Iraq: Hilla SWAT

Kevin Sites bl0g from Iraq: Hilla SWAT 09/23/2004 11:14 AM
Xeni Jardin: NBC combat correspondent and blogger Kevin Sites is back in Iraq, and posts a new dispatch with some amazing photos on his blog today.

We've been up since 3am--waiting for Hilla SWAT. It's now 4:30. Despite their annoyance--the Force Recon squad from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit seems extremely patient--at least around Kuni Takahashi, a photographer for the Chicago Tribune and me. Instead they look at their watches--bullshit each other about their individual depravities--like masturbating in sweat socks. Typical life details at a military FOB or forward operating base in Iraq.

These marines at FOB Kalsu still sleep in tents, shit in porta-johns, live in the dirt. This is no Camp Victory green zone paradise with guys chilling in air-conditioned trailers and eating at the Bob Hope Dining Facility--a zeppelin hangar of a building just down the road from Baghdad International Airport. Everyone here has heard the stories--or maybe, been on a convoy through the green zone, briefly glimpsed the way that other half lives. They piss and moan about it--but don't denounce its existence. They are, after all, Americans--it's about aspirations--still believing that hard work and perseverance may someday get you to the Promised Land.

Link, and link to Discuss

Kevin Sites returns to Iraq, new photos
and essays from Baghdad

Kevin Sites returns to Iraq, new photos
and essays from Baghdad 01/26/2004 12:42 PM
NBC combat correspondent and weblogger Kevin Sites has returned to Iraq, and posts two new entries to his blog today: "Coming Home," an essay about the psychological challenge for soldiers to "turn off the killer switch" as they prepare to return to their families in the US -- and a photo essay, excerpted here.

"These families of a rural neighborhood called Albo Eatha, south of Baghdad, were awakened at dawn by the 82nd Airborne's Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon, so their houses could be searched and their cooperation requested in stopping insurgent activities. Despite the early hour, the woman and children seemed cheerful. The imposition became an opportunity for them to socialize -- while helicopters and jet fighters flew overhead."

Links: Photos: Women and Children of Albo Eatha, and Coming Home Essay. Discussion forum here.

Kevin Sites Iraq bl0g: "Paying Back in
Blood"

Kevin Sites Iraq bl0g: "Paying Back in
Blood" 05/10/2004 03:02 PM
Blogger and MSNBC combat correspondent Kevin Sites is in Iraq, and has posted a new entry to his blog today.

When he was nine years old Carlos Gomez crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to the U.S. with his father, mother and two sisters. They had heard stories about the opportunities in America, dreamed about them, wanted them so badly they ran through oncoming traffic on the 805 freeway to get to them. They didn't stop until they reached San Diego. Fear, fatigue and La Migra slowly fading into the southern horizon like their homeland.

They stayed. Dealt with the slurs--beaners, greasers, wetbacks. Overcame them. Paid back America's opportunities with hard, menial labor. Made a fraction of what citizens and legal immigrants made--but never complained.

And 12 years later, in Falluja, Iraq, Marine Lance Corporal Gomez would pay it back again--but this time with his blood.

Link, Discussion Forum

Latest Kevin Sites bl0g-post from Iraq:
Hearts and Mines

Latest Kevin Sites bl0g-post from Iraq:
Hearts and Mines 11/05/2003 12:08 PM
New photos and first-person accounts from northern Iraq, from MSNBC combat corrrespondent Kevin Sites:

"Well sir, it's been a rough deployment. This -- then the stuff at home -- my wife's probably cheated on me 15 times," he shakes his head and takes a long drag from the stub of his cigarette. Many of the men we see tonight are doing a version of the same thing, smoking -- shaking their heads.

"I looked around town today," one lieutenant told me, "I was hoping to find someone doing something bad, somebody I could hurt -- but there wasn't one. Just people that needed my help."

It's just that kind of mission whiplash that has confused and demoralized so many troops in Iraq. Soldiers are ordered to go on a night patrols or raids--where danger can lurk at every corner or behind every door -- and life and death decisions have to be made within the hair-fraction of time it takes to pull the trigger on M4 assault weapon -- then the next day, they're told to monitor the selection of a new local mayor or to rebuild a school.

Link to photos, Link to story.

Live warbl0gging from Iraq: CNN's Kevin
Sites launches bl0g at kevinsites.net

Live warbl0gging from Iraq: CNN's Kevin
Sites launches bl0g at kevinsites.net 03/13/2003 07:32 PM
CNN foreign correspondent Kevin Sites, whose first-person accounts we've posted here on BoingBoing previously, now has a blog at www.kevinsites.net. Recent journal entries from Kuwait are available at this site, and Kevin's now also phoning in live audblog reports via his mobile phone, as he travels throughout the region covering the apparently imminent conflict.

Audb log post: crossing the border into northern Iraq
I'm calling in from the highly-guarded border of Iran and Kurdistan. A truck is waiting for us to transport CNN staff, our personal belongings, and our television gear into kurd-controlled northern Iraq. We're crossing into this region to cover the northern front of a potential war with Iraq, in an area dense with oil-rich fields along the northern no-fly-zone.

Link Discuss

New Kevin Sites dispatch from Iraq:
Dirty for Dirty

New Kevin Sites dispatch from Iraq:
Dirty for Dirty 06/01/2004 02:09 PM
NBC combat correspondent and weblogger Kevin Sites is in Iraq today. He's just posted a new entry on his blog -- a series of interviews with American soldiers.

[O]nce they finally do get home--they will still be faced with the complex task of finding their way in a civilian society again. And while they're eager to leave their weapons and Kevlar behind, the violence they've experienced here will likely be with them in one way or another, always.

Derek Ellyson says his memories have already hardened, fixed in his mind. "You never forget the faces. I can describe to you every dead person I've seen out here. What their faces looked like, the position they were laying in." Sorokin agrees, "War brings a lot of ugly things, you see a lot of ugly things you see other people dead and sometimes when you see somebody dead you see the face of death--the way the guy died. It could be an enemy it could be an ally it doesn't matter."

Yet living with those images of death is part of the job--the same one that requires them to pull the trigger. Before going to war soldiers have always had to ask themselves if they'd be willing to die for their cause. But there is a second part to that question which for some, is more difficult to answer: would they kill for it? For most if not all in the 3rd Platoon--the question is already moot.

Link, Discuss

Kevin Sites Blog

Kevin Sites Blog 03/14/2003 02:52 AM
Kevin Sites' Blog .. blog

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Kevin Sites bl0gging from Thailand

Kevin Sites bl0gging from Thailand 12/29/2004 08:31 PM
Xeni Jardin: Blogger and NBC combat correspondent Kevin Sites was in Southeast Asia on a break from reporting duties when the tsunami disaster took place. He's now in Thailand, reporting -- and back on the blog again, dispatching photos and first-person accounts. Snip:

One-hundred and fifty-nine pine coffins have been stacked in the garage -- many of them big enough to hold refrigerators -- built to accommodate the now bloated and rapidly decomposing bodies inside.

Thai soldiers, wearing surgical masks, race against time to arrest the process -- before the bodies become impossible to identify.

In a well-choreographed drill -- they use hammers to smash square blocks of dry ice, carrying the shards on sheets of plastic and dumping them inside the coffins with the remains. They work at a very high tempo -- almost as if they were trying to rescue the living -- rather than preserve the dead.

On the sides of the coffins are photographs of the deceased as they were found, special attention paid to jewelry or tattoos, anything that can help in identifying who they once were.

The pictures are grisly -- bruised, blackened, bodies misshapen from the ferocious force of an angry ocean and all that travels with it. Old, young, small, large, South Africans, Australians, Canadians, English, Thais –- all victims of the earth's unrest on a day when she seemed to have precious little mercy.

Link.(Photo: Coffins bearing digital photographs of the deceased. image: Kevin Sites.)

Kevin Sites dispatch from Tikrit:
"You're Either With Us..."

Kevin Sites dispatch from Tikrit:
"You're Either With Us..." 11/18/2003 02:03 PM
NBC combat correspondent Kevin Sites has just posted a new update to his blog, live from Tikrit. Excerpt:

So in some ways, embedded in this unit, I begin to feel I've betrayed the people that depend on me to be skeptical; to question the dominant powers and institutions of my nation and the actions it undertakes in the name of its citizens. I am not a military or American cheerleader, not a mouthpiece signed on some institutional agenda whether I believe in it or not. I am here to ask the hard questions of the people who make the hardest decisions; ones that result in people dying or people being killed. I must remember as one journalist advised, "write in your notepad every day 'I am not one of them.'"

But in this room, where every piece of information is broken down quantitatively--number of patrols, number of raids, number of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), number of detainees, number of weapons -- and put back together in the form of a task completed or a mission to be accomplished, Operation Thunder Road, Operation Ivy Cyclone, the problems and solutions seem remarkably clear an seductively simple. (...)

Image above: Al Auja is the birthplace of Saddam Hussein. The community here was very pampered during his rule. But now U.S. forces feels it's a nest of former regime loyalists and anti coalition fighters. It's wrapped the entire town in triple layered razor wire. Male residents must register and carry ID cards. There is only one checkpoint that all four-thousand residents must enter and leave through. This man was already cleared to exit, but spun his wheels in anger on the way out. A U.S. soldier had a bead on him with his M-16 before he stopped his car. The second search was bit more invasive.

Link to esssay, Link to photos

Kevin Sites wins 2005 Payne Award for
Ethics in Journalism

Kevin Sites wins 2005 Payne Award for
Ethics in Journalism 04/13/2005 03:52 AM
Xeni Jardin: I'm very happy to blog the news that Kevin Sites, for whom I have endless respect and admiration, has been honored with a Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism. Bravo, and a huge congratulations, Kevin!

At a time when studies show the credibility of the media in steady decline and sensational stories make headline news, there are journalists and news organizations whose ethical decision-making processes set new standards for the keepers of the public trust. The 2005 Payne Awards for Ethics in Journalism will honor The Denver Post, freelance journalist Kevin Sites, and Arizona State’s independent student newspaper The State Press for exemplifying the highest standards of their profession in the face of political or economic pressures.(...)

Kevin Sites, a freelance photojournalist for NBC and military pool reporter, is the Payne Awards’ professional winner for his “courage, deliberate thinking and outreach” after filming a U.S. soldier killing an unarmed Iraqi man. Sites, an experienced war reporter, shared the videotape with the military, then worked with NBC to create a well-nuanced story that aired 48 hours after the incident. As was required, the footage was also given to others in his pool. When he became a lightning rod for those reacting to the story and for foreign journalists using the footage without context, he responded by using a web blog (www.kevinsites.net) to explain his decision and its reasoning to the public. The judges felt the blog and reactions to it added a new dimension to the story.

Winners will be honored in a ceremony on May 12 at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Link to award info, and Link to Kevin's blog.

Capital tower block to be toppled

Capital tower block to be toppled 04/17/2005 04:06 AM
A 17-storey tower block in Edinburgh is due to be demolished in front of television viewers.

Canada to deport man who toppled
minister (Reuters)

Canada to deport man who toppled
minister (Reuters) 02/05/2005 09:24 PM
Reuters - A Canadian judge has ordered the deportation of an Indian man whose allegations of impropriety helped bring down a federal cabinet minister.

Toppled Power Lines Everywhere Are
Posing a Herculean Task

Toppled Power Lines Everywhere Are
Posing a Herculean Task 08/18/2004 10:48 PM
Five days after the storm, on both the east coast of Florida and the southwest, more than 400,000 customers remained without power.

Toppled Power Lines Are Posing a
Herculean Task in Florida

Toppled Power Lines Are Posing a
Herculean Task in Florida 08/19/2004 12:23 AM
Five days after Hurricane Charley struck Florida, more than 400,000 customers still lack electricity.

Inspectors: Iraq weapons sites destroyed

Inspectors: Iraq weapons sites destroyed 06/07/2004 03:35 PM

TiVo unveils portable transfer service
Troops stationed in Iraq turn to gaming
Internet sites allow

TiVo unveils portable transfer service
Troops stationed in Iraq turn to gaming
Internet sites allow 01/03/2005 03:06 AM
Seattletimes.nwsource.com - Mon Jan 3, 06:32 am GMT

Troops stationed in Iraq turn to gaming
Internet sites allow gift card exchanges
Indian state eyes f

Troops stationed in Iraq turn to gaming
Internet sites allow gift card exchanges
Indian state eyes f 01/04/2005 02:30 AM
Seattletimes.nwsource.com - Tue Jan 4, 06:36 am GMT

Scam sites start spoofing secure sites

Scam sites start spoofing secure sites 12/12/2003 10:26 AM
Personal Computer World Dec 12 2003 9:16AM ET

"KEVIN"

"KEVIN" 06/17/2004 10:44 PM

Congratulations, Kevin

Congratulations, Kevin 03/17/2005 03:47 AM

So Kevin Martin has been named the new Chairman of the FCC. This is not exactly a surprise, although I'm a bit curious why it took so long -- there must have been some Congressional horse trading in the background.

As a told a reporter earlier this afternoon, Kevin has all the tools to be a successful FCC Chairman. He knows the agency and the White House, and he's more flexible and intellectually sophisticated than people give him credit for.

On the other hand, Martin has his work cut out for him. Michael Powell is a tough act to follow. And many critical issues raised during Chairman Powell's tenure -- from regulation of voice over IP to spectrum policy to universal service reform -- remain unresolved.

Moreover, to be an effective FCC Chairman in the 21st century, you have to grok technology. Deep down, you have to appreciate how quickly the world can change, and how many of the assumptions the communications industry is based on will likely be overturned. This doesn't mean being a professional technologist. Powell got it. So do some executives who come from the telephone business, like Jim Crowe and Dave Dorman.

Martin is certainly smart enough and interested in what the tech sector thinks, but the question is whether he's willing to step out of the FCC's Beltway box. Listening to what the telcos say about fiber deployment isn't the same thing as promoting technological innovation. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

"Kevin Aylward"

"Kevin Aylward" 05/12/2004 05:27 PM

" Kevin Drum "

" Kevin Drum " 05/22/2004 02:19 AM

"Kevin Drum"

"Kevin Drum" 01/22/2004 02:49 AM

Kevin Kelly -- Help Wanted:

Kevin Kelly -- Help Wanted: 10/30/2003 09:22 PM
Kevin Kelly -- Help Wanted: who rejects technology?...

Live On the Web: Kevin Mitnick

Live On the Web: Kevin Mitnick 01/22/2003 12:33 PM
Mitnick then visited a series of sites -� the Screen Savers, Slashdot, Google News, Wired News and The Register, among others �- mostly to see what others ...

Three Questions for Kevin Drum

Three Questions for Kevin Drum 06/05/2005 11:17 PM
(Number One: Is the press, properly understood, a political animal?) "It's not clear to me what big news organizations would do if they took Drum's advice seriously and started 'fighting back.'" Plus: Matt Taibbi hits a triple.

An Evening with Kevin Smith

An Evening with Kevin Smith 09/15/2004 11:30 PM
I just finished watching the first DVD of the two DVD set An Evening with Kevin Smith (get it via Netflix). If you're a fan of Kevin Smith movies, I can't recommend it enough. It's mostly composed of clips from Q&A sessions from his visits to various college campuses. Not only is it very entertaining, but you also get some real insight into what shaped bits of his movies. That reminds me, I need to buy several of his...

Zap Video: Kevin J. O'Brien

Zap Video: Kevin J. O'Brien 12/30/2003 12:03 AM
"Kevin O'Brien, of Prince Edward Island's home-grown ISP, Island Services Network, told us a bit about himself while a slideshow of his impressive photos played behind him. Kevin J. O'Brien speaks at Zap 15.6MB QuickTime - 5min - Kevin O'Brien of Island Services Network speaks at the Zap..." (53 words - posted by steven) no replies

"Calpundit (Kevin Drum"

"Calpundit (Kevin Drum" 01/26/2004 03:28 AM

kevin takes an interesting look at
webmail

kevin takes an interesting look at
webmail 04/10/2004 09:38 PM
obviously, required information is only part of the story, but it's worth evaluating gmail on this basis

Kevin Kelly's obsession continues

Kevin Kelly's obsession continues 12/02/2003 06:30 AM
Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools

kk.org/cooltools/index.php
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Kevin Mitnick--intruder alert

Kevin Mitnick--intruder alert 12/19/2003 03:55 PM
ZDNet Dec 19 2003 2:25PM ET

Why Kevin Doesn’t…

Why Kevin Doesn’t… 04/10/2005 05:17 AM

grupo-utopia.com/blog/isou/archives/2005/04/why_kevin_doesn.html
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Complete Kevin Maney column

Complete Kevin Maney column 06/06/2005 12:07 AM
Usatoday.com - Wed Jun 1, 08:13 pm GMT

Kevin Kelley's Catalog of the Cool

Kevin Kelley's Catalog of the Cool 12/03/2003 12:36 AM

wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,61394,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1
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Kevin Spacey sorry for mugging confusion

Kevin Spacey sorry for mugging confusion 04/19/2004 12:36 PM

Grok Description matches for Kevin Sites in Iraq -- "Toppled"
GrokA matches for Kevin Sites in Iraq -- "Toppled"

Kevin Sites in Iraq -- "Toppled"