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Ted Rall wants to go back to Afghanistan
Jan. 6th, 2010 05:35 pmTed Rall, cartoonist and author of Silk Road to Ruin and more recently The Year of Loving Dangerously had the idea to do a follow-up to his 2002 book To Afghanistan and Back. Of course, this would mean going back to the country in question, which is an expensive feat. To raise money, Rall has taken a cue from PBS stations across the nation and started a pledge drive.
Why would Rall do this? From the pledge page:
Despite the hazards, there is no substitute for traveling as an independent reporter. Journalists embedded with the military are insulated from local people and often find themselves writing favorably about the soldiers upon whom they depend for security and personal protection. And they can't go wherever they want. And staff writers for major newspapers and broadcast networks are subject to editing and self-censorship, more often than not downplaying incidents that make the United States look bad.
Now that the war in Afghanistan is a hot topic in the American press, I would like to return--to see what has changed and how life is going for Afghans, especially those in the remote provinces in the southwest where Western reporters never venture. I would like to report on the situation in comic and essay form, and compile the results in a book that would be a follow-up to "To Afghanistan and Back." Unfortunately, there aren't any newspapers, magazines or radio stations willing or able to cover the extremely high cost of travel to, from and within the Afghanistan war zone. Among the expenses are internal transportation and housing, security, and bribes to corrupt local officials in order to move about unmolested. I am extremely stingy, but inflation prevails during wartime and many expenses are covered with US$100 notes.
My publisher NBM would be willing to publish the book, but not to cover the travel expenses required to get in and out of Afghanistan. Hopefully, that's where you come in.
I think this is an important project, both for Americans and Afghans. Americans need the unvarnished truth from "Obama's War" but they aren't getting it. The Afghan people need us, the people who pay the army that is occupying their land, to learn their story--what they need, what they don't, and what they want from us.
And there you have it. Good journalism isn't free...or safe.
