Last week, news broke that Shelly Kittleson, a Middle East reporter and Mount Horeb, Wisconsin native, was kidnapped while reporting in Iraq.
The New York Times is reporting that an Iraqi militia group allied with Iran is demanding the release of militia members in exchange for Kittleson. Iraqi authorities have one person in custody, but Kittleson is still being held captive.
Kittleson freelanced around the region for multiple outlets, including Al-Monitor.
WUWM’s Jimmy Gutierrez talked with Al-Monitor’s Editor-in-Chief, Joyce Karam about the work Kittleson was doing. He asked who Shelly is, to the people who know her the best.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Joyce Karam: She's very diligent. She's very determined. If she wants to go to Sadr City, Iraq and we tell her "The security situation is not great, you may not be safe going without a fixer," she's like, "I'll be fine. I'm going to go there. I can even send you photos. I can do this and that." So she was very determined, even when the Middle East was erupting, when Iraq was erupting in chaos.
I think she also loves the Middle East. Many reporters pass through the Middle East, many anchors go to the Middle East when there is a war, they parachute in and out. You see them on major TV networks and all of that. But that's not Shelly. Shelly genuinely wanted to bond with that region. She wanted to cover the people of the region.
Jimmy Gutierrez: What do we know and what can you share about what happened to Shelly?
We read the news like many of you did. I tried to call her, I texted her, I got no answer. We suspected that her safety was an issue. I think the State Department statement that she received warnings that maybe do not go to Iraq now because your safety is at risk, you could be a target — that was communicated to her. She knew it.
But she's not somebody who shies away from danger. She thought perhaps that maybe because she loves this country and they know her, that this won't happen, that this won't happen to her. So when we saw the news, it wasn't a complete surprise. But it's obviously a shock. Still, it's very troubling.
Can you share why people like yourself and Shelly Kittleson see the risk as being worth it to share these stories?
No, that's a very good question. And it's, in this day and age when you see attacks on the media and undermining of journalists, from the very top of leadership, not just in the U.S., but elsewhere, it's very disturbing because many put their lives on the line to do this job. I come from Beirut, Lebanon, where I had colleagues blown up, held hostage, some by Syria, others by Israel. Others were blown up in Beirut.
So it's really important that we tell the story through the voices that live there and not sit behind our computers in Washington, D.C. or wherever and pretend to be pontificating about that region.
