Absurdistan by Eric
Campbell
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Eric Campbell is an Australian journalist who has
spent years in some of the craziest war zones on the
planet.
Absurdistan
is the memoir of his work.
On March 18, 2003, Campbell arrived in Kurdistan to
cover the opening days of the Iraq war for ABC
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation). At the border,
he met Paul Moran, sent to be his cameraman. Two
American journalists were also at the border:
One of them ... mentioned
he was working with "another Aussie," a Time magazine
writer called Michael Ware. "I'll tell him you're
here," he promised.
Four days later, having traveled from the main city
of Suleimaniyah to a villiage near Halabja that the
American forces had struck in an air raid, a car bomb
exploded as Paul was filming. He was killed
instantly; several others, including Campbell, were
wounded.
After the explosion, Campbell is taken to a hospital
for treatment of the wounds he suffered. Once
bandaged, he borrows a phone from another journalist
and calls his boss, then his wife, then his boss
again. They have been trying to reach Paul's wife
Ivana, but have been unable to reach her...
I wandered around in a
daze, avoiding the eyes of the other journalists in
the hospital. I wanted to keep Paul's name and my
name secret until John contacted Ivana, in case she
heard on the radio that her husband was dead. It was
better that nobody know I was here, better that I
didn't exist.
I slumped on the ground and closed my eyes, feeling
as if I was sinking into a black pool and not caring
if I was drowning. Someone's voice called me back. It
was an Australian man shouting, "Is Eric here?" I
didn't want to answer but he saw my bandages and came
to me, holding my shoulders and looking straight into
my eyes.
"My name is Michael Ware. I'm going to help you."
He gave me his jacket, saying it was to stop me going
into shock. He told me to sit still and stay warm,
saying he would take care of everything. I remembered
dimly he was the Australian from Time magazine who
was working with the Americans we had met. He was
younger than I was but he already seemed hardened by
the work he did. I thought he looked more like a
soldier than a journalist. He had a strong build,
thick stubble and an intense gaze that made him
appear absolutely focused.
A carload of Kurdish soldiers pulled up at the
hospital. They had brought Paul's body in the boot.
The American women told me not to look but I had to
identify him. It was so wrong for him to be loaded in
like baggage. Michael arranged for Paul to be brought
back to Suleimaniyah in another car. I drove back
with Michael. On the way I used his phone to tell my
father I was alive and then let Michael take over
everything. He found the Red Cross, the best hope we
had of getting out of Iraq. "We have one Australian
journalist dead, another wounded," he shouted down
the phone. "They need to be evacuated."
We stopped at the main hospital in Suleimaniyah. All
the victims of the bombing had been brought here, in
varying stages of agony and mutilation. I lay among
them for a while. Then a doctor who spoke some
English took me to a private room.
A French crew tried to interview me but I told them
Paul's wife didn't know what had happened yet so I
couldn't do any interviews. They argued and Michael
threw them out, shouting, "This is non-negotiable.
Fuck off!" An orderly smoked as he re-dressed my
wounds. I thought, what the hell, and began smoking
too.
More air strikes were expected on the Iraqi positions
so Michael had to go back to the front to spend the
night. But he told me I could have his room at the
city's good hotel, where most of the journalists were
staying.
...
Two days later I was back at the border post where
I'd first met Paul. He was now in a coffin in the Red
Cross car behind me.
Paul Moran was the first journalist to die in Iraq.
The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ)
has the following information posted:
Paul Moran, freelance,
March 22, 2003, Gerdigo
Moran, a free-lance cameraman on assignment for the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), was killed
in a suicide bombing when a man detonated a car at a
checkpoint in northeastern Iraq. Another Australian
journalist, ABC correspondent Eric Campbell, was
injured in the incident.
Michael Ware, Time magazine's northern Iraq
correspondent and a witness to the incident, told his
editor, Howard Chua-Eoan, that several foreign
journalists were standing outside a checkpoint on the
edge of Gerdigo, a town in northern Iraq near
Halabja, interviewing people who were leaving the
town in the wake of a U.S. cruise missile bombardment
that began on March 21 and continued until the next
day.
U.S. missiles were targeting strongholds of Ansar
al-Islam, a militant group that the United States
designates as a terrorist organization. The area
where the journalists were conducting interviews was
reportedly under the control of the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK), a rival of Ansar al-Islam that
had just taken over the area.
At around 3 p.m., a taxi drove to the checkpoint near
PUK soldiers and Moran, and the driver then detonated
his vehicle. Most of the other journalists had just
left the scene. Moran, who was filming at the time,
was standing only a few feet from the checkpoint and
was killed immediately. Campbell was injured by
shrapnel.
Chua-Eoan said it appeared that the bomber was
targeting the PUK soldiers, not the journalists.
According to The Associated Press, at least four
other people were killed in the bombing. Militants
from Ansar al-Islam are believed to be responsible
for the attack.
Chua-Eoan told CPJ that foreign journalists in
northern Iraq had recently received warnings from
U.S. State Department and Kurdish intelligence
officials that Ansar al-Islam may target members of
the media, as well as the hotel where most
journalists are staying, the Sulaymaniyeh Palace.