«We were the only westerners in our neighbourhood, ... Our goal was to cover the realities of the occupation on the ground and we had not got the same security concerns as, say, CNN. Maybe at some levels they don't trust Iraqis with their security. There's a part in the book where I'm trying to take CNN to a refugee camp, and they wouldn't go. And so no one sees Falluja refugees.»

«At times it is hard to ignore the comparisons between Baghdad (where I was less than a month ago and have spent more of the last two years) and New Orleans: The anarchy, the looting, some of it purely for survival, some of it purely opportunistic. We watched a flatbed truck drive by, a man on the back with an M-16 looking up on the roofs for snipers, as is common in Iraq. Private security contractors were stationed outside the Royal St. Charles Hotel; when asked if things were getting pretty wild around the area, one of them replied, ?Nope. It's pretty Green Zone here.'»

«It is not safe to be in Baghdad, it is patently unsafe and that's true for whatever political persuasion you are. They will kill you if you are Republican, they will kill you if you are Democrat,»

«I'm sick of doing stories that make me want to drink myself into a stupor, ... We want stories to reflect the daily life for people in Baghdad ? unfortunately, it?s a terrible existence.»

«The men here say there was a progression. First, they became afraid to travel to Baghdad for work, which took them through largely Sunni suburbs on the west side of the city, where people were frequently attacked on the road.»