Reporting The Iraq War
Cami McCormick started reporting on the war in Iraq before the first American soldiers entered the country. Her coverage began from Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar before the invasion.
Since then, she has covered the action from Baghdad and from numerous embedded missions with U.S. troops for CBS News Radio and CBSNews.com.
In a telephone interview from New York, where she is presently on a short break from the battlefield, McCormick talked about covering the war — how it's changed in the last four years, and what the distinct challenges are to working in Iraq.
On the four-year anniversary of President Bush's announcement that the war was under way, McCormick talked to Brig. General Joseph Anderson, Chief of Staff for the Multinational Corps, about the current operations and the challenges ahead. Links to the audio of both interviews is below.
Before heading home for some rest, McCormick most recently reported from the increasingly dangerous Diyala province, north of Baghdad.
Her story and photos highlighted the mounting violence in the region, and the growing danger faced by U.S. troops, as coalition forces focused on the Baghdad security crackdown and chased insurgents out of the capital. McCormick's story was one of the first to highlight the problem of a highly mobile insurgency, which seems quite capable of relocating to avoid overwhelming force.
Earlier in February, McCormick spent several days embedded with the U.S. Army in Baghdad. She filed a story for CBSNews.com on the difficulties facing American soldiers as they try to train an Iraqi police force riddled with cops who have more allegiance to outlawed militias than the national government.
The lengths that U.S. forces have to go to in order to ensure the Iraqi police brigades are truly free of influence from the deadly militias was the topic of her previous report,from south of the capital city, in Baghdad province.
Next, McCormick headed to Iraq's border with Iran. She filed her report on the big push to secure the borders ahead of the Baghdad security crackdown. American military teams were working overtime to get Iraqi border guards better equipped, and up to the task.
Back in Baghdad province, but not in the capital city, a major problem immediately to the south has been motivating Iraqi Army soldiers — a mostly Shiite force — to back up the American troops serving in the predominantly Sunni region.
McCormick filed her story after going on patrol with the Army and witnessing first-hand the risks posed by roadside bombs, snipers and an enemy that could vanish into the trees as quickly as it appeared.
It hasn't been all bad news. In early January, she reported some encouraging news from the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, in Anbar province. American commanders in the area said they had seen a dramatic rise in the number of Iraqi men volunteering to fight against the insurgency.
McCormick will be back in Iraq, doing what she loves, within a month. She genuinely can't wait.