War-torn Iraqi Lives

Farnaz Fassihi’s new book about life in Iraq before, during, and after the U.S.-led invasion is about normal people struggling to live their lives amidst chaos. It’s also her own story about life and love in wartime.

Fassihi is a Wall Street Journal reporter, whose 2004 e-mail to friends and family about what was really happening in Iraq ended up on the Internet and caused a sensation. It challenged presumptions about the benefits of imposing democracy in the heart of the Middle East — and described the awful price that Iraqis paid for America’s foreign policy adventure.

This hour, On Point: Farnaz Fassihi and the unraveling of life in Iraq.Guests:
Farnaz Fassihi, deputy bureau chief for the Middle East and Africa for The Wall Street Journal, based in Beirut, she covered Iraq for the Journal after the US invasion. Her new book about that time is "Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq.” (Read an excerpt here)
Larry Kaplow, Baghdad bureau chief for Newsweek magazine.