] Iraq's only independent newspaper is run by high school
] and college students out of an alcove in the lobby of
] Baghdad's Al Fanar Hotel. Working with a $5,000 grant
] from the nonprofit peace group Voices in the Wilderness,
] 14 unpaid writers, editors, photographers and publishers
] labored for a month to create the debut issue of
] Al-Muajaha, the Iraqi Witness, which hit the streets a
] week ago. In its pages, budding reporters and essayists
] examine the violent, chaotic but cautiously hopeful world
] being born around them, expressing outrage at the
] Americans even as they revel in their newfound freedom.
]
] Newspapers have proliferated in postwar Iraq, but most
] are the organs of political parties. Al-Muajaha's staff,
] though, treasure their autonomy. They learned journalism
] during the war, working as translators and fixers for the
] legions of foreign reporters who descended on Iraq. Some
] of them have been interview subjects as well, and they
] studied the way professionals found their angles and
] formulated their questions. Now they're turning these new
] skills back on the Americans, demanding accountability
] from their would-be rulers.