The Two Baghdads
Monday, December 17 2007
The Two Baghdads
Dick became friends with Ahmed Abdullah in 2003 when Ahmed was his interview "fixer" and translator. Since then, the two have remained friends, and Ahmed has been keeping an audio diary since The Story's inception.
Ahmed's latest entry is a study of the two Baghdads that he sees in Iraq. During the day, the city has become somewhat calmer, but at night, the city itself becomes the biggest fear weighing on its citizens' minds.
- Listen to all of Ahmed's audio diaries
the wounds of war
Heidi in Iraq
In January of 2004, Heidi Kraft was working as a clinical psychologist at Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. when she suddenly got orders to go to Iraq. Leaving her 15-month-old twins behind in the care of her parents and her Marine Corps husband, Heidi spent seven months at the surgical hospital of Al Asad airbase in western Iraq.
Faced with caring for Marines living through intense psychological trauma, Heidi soon realized she couldn't also provide emotional support for her family back home. So she deliberately sealed herself off from feelings about her family. Heidi talks with Dick Gordon about how that complicated her homecoming and how she dealt with her own war trauma after she got home.
Learn more about Heidi's book, Rule Number Two
