News, photography and analysis by an award-winning independent journalist and select colleagues

The United States has elected a new president, but hundreds of thousands of troops and contractors are still on the ground, Iraq is occupied and in ruins, and questions remain about how the new President Elect will move forward after he is inaugurated.

With over 1 million Iraqi dead, 4 million refugees, 4,000 dead American soldiers and a total cost of 1-4 trillion dollars, the war in Iraq remains the most important fact of American politics, but it has faded from the headlines. The scraps of television coverage that still make the news don’t go far beyond U.S. military press releases and Iraqi politicians interviewed inside the Green Zone. Most mainstream media journalists either cannot or will not leave the confines of an embed or the Green Zone to report on what is actually happening on the ground.

Dahr Jamail is returning to Iraq in January in a collaborative effort with journalist Jeremy Scahill, and independent filmmakers Rick Rowley and Jacquie Soohen, to report from every corner of the country on the eve of the most important election in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003, the Provincial Elections scheduled for the end of January. The plight of the Iraqi people will be showcased in the coverage.

Daily on location video vignettes, documentaries, print, radio, and television will be used to project the information across a broad-spectrum of international media outlets. All stories and reports will be posted on Dahr’s website, along with another site set up specifically for this groundbreaking venture.

From eight cities - including Basra, Baghdad, Ramadi Kirkuk, and Mosul – they will produce stories that illustrate each city’s continuing struggles, issues and fault-lines. Together, these will provide a unique, ground-level picture of the politics and future struggles of the country.

This trip will not be possible without generous financial support from Dahr’s readers. It is more expensive than ever to report from Iraq, and additional funding is required to support the broad multi-media approach of this effort.

Funders will be contributing directly to truthful reporting from Iraq, and donations of any amount will be greatly appreciated, as this work will not be possible without your help.

The first 50 people who donate $250 or more will receive, before it is available to the public, a signed copy of Dahr’s forthcoming book, scheduled for release in 2009: Military Resisters: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq.

There are several ways you can donate:

Want to make a year-end tax-deductable donation?

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, International Media Project (IMP) is providing fiscal sponsorship to Dahr Jamail. IMP is also the non-profit home of National Radio Project and their radio series, Making Contact.

Checks for tax-deductible donations should be made out to “International Media Project.” please write “Dahr Jamail” in the memo line and mail to:

International Media Project/Dahr Jamail
1714 Franklin St.
#100-251
Oakland, CA 94612

Online, you can use Paypal to donate by visiting Dahr’s website here.

Donations can also be mailed to:

Dahr Jamail
P.O. Box 970
Marfa, TX 79843

posted by Dahr Jamail | December 16th, 2008