On the Ground in Iraq

BACK IN THE EARLY DAYS of the Iraqi insurgency, a journalist friend showed us an anti-American propaganda DVD that had been circulating among the local population in Baghdad. In it, there's footage of teenagers walking around with big knives set to ominous music. But the most jarring images had to be the portion of the DVD that showed a convoy of Americans being ambushed near a mosque in the Iraqi capital.

As Iraq becomes more and more dangerous for journalists to travel safely, it's rare to get such a close-up look at combat on the ground. But the Post's Nelson Hernandez captured some amazing video footage of a water convoy being ambushed.
Image from video taken by Nelson Hernandez/The Washington Post
» "For Water Truck 103, a Perilous Path to the End" [WaPo]
» "'Wash Post' Reporter Shoots Video of Ambush in Iraq" [E&P]

» SOME OTHER EYE-OPENING VIDEO: The Defense Department has officially released surveillance video of American Airlines Flight 77 slamming into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. [BBC]

» NOTICE ANYTHING DIFFERENT? There's something wrong with the clock on Fox's hit show "24." The number "1" now has serifed flourishes. Did you notice the change? The Panopticist did, and wrote nearly a thousand words about the subject. [Panopticist via Boing Boing]

» OH PETE: For those who didn't think British rocker/drug abuser Pete Doherty could do any worse, you were wrong. Doherty has plenty of tricks up his sleeve, so to speak. Apparently, an MTV video crew wasn't prepared when Doherty squirted a syringe full of blood at them, a syringe that he had just used to inject himself with heroin, according to Britain's The Sun. You must wonder how he's been able to escape serious jail time so far for his drug-themed antics. [The Sun via Pop Sugar]