What It’s Really Like “Over There”: Finding the Heart and Soul of Iraq
Americans have become accustomed to the familiar scenes of destruction in Iraq. Television and news stories tend to focus on the violence and we rarely hear about the human side of this war. How accurate are these images we see on the news every night? What really goes on there?
(PRWEB) August 17, 2005 -- Americans have become accustomed to the familiar
scenes of destruction in Iraq. Television and news stories tend to focus on the
violence and we rarely hear about the human side of this war. How accurate are
these images we see on the news every night? What really goes on
there?
“Iraq is not what you see on the daily news,” says Anna Prouse,
author of Two Birthdays in Baghdad: Finding the Heart of Iraq. “There are a lot
of good things happening there also that people don’t know about.”
An
Italian journalist and an emergency medic, Prouse arrived in Baghdad to work at
the Italian Field Hospital in June, 2003. Despite the danger and devastation,
she ended up staying for fourteen months and through two birthdays. What she saw
and heard during her time there has produced a story unlike any other to emerge
from Iraq since the war began.
Disappointed in the international media
depictions of Iraq, Prouse returned to Italy to write of the Iraq that is not
seen in the mainstream media. “Right now, Iraq seems like a place where everyone
gets killed and no other message seems to get through,” says Prouse. “Although I
do not deny it is dangerous, I want people to look beyond the chaos to see the
Iraqis as the real people they are.”
She found the Iraqis to be a group
of people who are struggling and coping with desperate conditions, filled with
dreams and aspirations for their families and their futures. Prouse fell in love
with the people, and came to develop lasting friendships with them. “To know
what is going on in Iraq, you need to know the people, and to be able to know
the people you need time to let them open up, to rely on you,” says Prouse.
By spending a year and a half in the middle of a war zone, Prouse was
able to gain a unique perspective by observing the Iraqis as they worked
alongside foreigners in order to bring forth a new nation. “These people, called
upon to cast their ballots, rushed to the polls regardless of the danger that
was involved,” says Prouse. “Because, unlike us, they are used to
danger.”
In her book, Prouse presents the stories you don’t hear in the
press: American soldiers sharing Mountain Dews with Iraqi children, the nervous
waiting game that takes place every night in the emergency rooms of Baghdad, and
the wild volley of “celebratory fire” that was unleashed when Saddam’s two sons
were captured. Prouse seeks out the heart of Iraq that has somehow escaped the
cameras.
Undaunted by
the continuing war and the all-too-frequent bombings, Prouse is currently
gearing up to return to Iraq to once again work with the Ministry of
Health.
For a review copy of the book or to set up an interview with Anna
Prouse for a story, please contact Jay Wilke at 727-443-7115, ext. 223.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb273205.htm