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MUMBAI:
Almost 50 months into the war in Iraq, CNN plans to air ‘On
Assignment: Month of Mayhem’, a personal account of what it’s
like to report in Iraq during one of its bloodiest months since
the war began. This dramatic hour-long report goes beyond what is
presented in a typical newscast by letting viewers see daily life
in Iraq through the eyes of a reporter.
 CNN
International anchor and reporter Michael Holmes has been to Iraq
seven times since 2003, but it is just as unnerving on the eighth
tour to Baghdad as it was on the first. Little did he know that
within 10 minutes of arriving at CNN’s bureau on January 9,
he would be on the air reporting on a battle at nearby Haifa Street,
thus beginning the month of mayhem.
“The
previous seven ‘tours’ had allowed me to witness a steady
deterioration in the level of security and services – despite
my hopes, it was always, always worse. And I knew this trip would
likely be no different,” Holmes said.
It
really becomes a matter of how bad it’s going to be. Before
leaving the airport – before leaving home, for that matter
– I know there will be bodies, and there will be bombs –
it was only a question of who and how many.”
Throughout
his assignment, Holmes films behind the scenes inside the CNN bureau
where he lives and works, on embedded trips with the military to
neighborhood sweeps and wherever else a story takes him. With the
conditions in Iraq worsening, embedding with the military has become,
in some cases, the only way for reporters to safely meet with residents
to get their first-hand accounts, putting a human face on the war.
“These
are people; they are not numbers on a board.”
 Holmes
arrives in Iraq in early January, just as President George Bush
announces his new “surge” plan to send thousands of additional
U.S. troops to pacify Baghdad. What follows is one of the deadliest
months of the war. Hundreds of people are killed in bombings at
universities, markets and other places where civilians gather. Several
American servicemen die in a string of insurgent attacks on U.S.
military helicopters. Sectarian fighting rages and bodies showing
signs of gross torture are dumped in neighbourhoods on almost a
daily basis. The CNN bureau, where the team grapples with how to
tell the stories behind the death counts, even takes a stray bullet
from a fight in a nearby neighbourhood. In one sequence, Holmes
shows viewers the whiteboard on which they record the date, location
and circumstance surrounding each violent episode.
”This
a depressing board, the daily running total of casualties...but
they are people, not involved in the violence itself,” Holmes
says. “Every now and then you stop and you gotta remember that
these are people - they are not numbers on a board.”
Despite
the tragic stories, Holmes is also able to show the dignity of the
Iraqi civilians, living and trying to work in very difficult circumstances.
On one embedded sweep with the U.S. military, he shows how a family
was so generous and hospitable even though 12 soldiers had just
searched their house for weapons.
But
for Holmes it is the Iraqi children, who follow him around when
walking the streets with the military, which bring a smile to his
face. One of the few opportunities for joy during this month of
mayhem in Baghdad. The children are smiling, laughing and asking
for his name. For a brief moment, Holmes feels like the ‘Pied
Piper’.
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