“Greetings from Baghdad” begins a blog post from CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.
“I was not looking forward to the road from the airport, having heard so many stories about how dangerous it was. It’s about a five-mile stretch, a straight shot to the so-called Green Zone (which is really called the International Zone), and it’s pretty much a mess … concrete barricades everywhere, lots of barbed wire, and many checkpoints, some manned by Iraqis, others by U.S. troops.”
Couric also writes about the irony of reporting from New Orleans last week, and Baghdad this week. The Katrina-devastated city “seems like nirvana compared to Baghdad,” Couric writes. She also gave thanks to the troops: “[A]ll U.S. and Iraqi soldiers patrolling the streets have my renewed respect and appreciation. One-hundred-and-ten degrees with full-body armor and heavy uniforms. I don’t know how they do it. But they do, and we should be grateful.”