Gazette is returning to Iraq war for 3rd time

The Gazette is going back to Iraq to cover the stories of Colorado Springs soldiers and airmen at war.

Reporter Tom Roeder and photojournalist David Bitton will leave Colorado on Sunday for Baghdad, where they will embed with Colorado Springs military units working to defeat the insurgency and bring peace to that city after nearly five years of war.

One of the top reasons they’re heading to Iraq is that commanders say this is a critical time in Baghdad and that 2008 is the year when historians will record whether America has won or lost its war.

The journalists plan to focus on the people who have left their homes and families behind to do their nation’s bidding in Iraq. Nearly 4,000 soldiers from Colorado Springs are in and around Baghdad, along with scores of airmen from local bases.

Hundreds of them are in their third yearlong tour in combat.

They’ll be embedded with the 4th Infantry Division, which is moving to Fort Carson from Fort Hood, Texas, after the Iraq deployment. Much of their time will be spent with soldiers from Fort Carson’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, which left for war in November and has soldiers deployed in and around Baghdad.

The Army doesn’t censor reports from embedded journalists or read their work before it is published, but does ask them to agree to rules, which include not reporting information that could harm U.S. troops or reveal operational plans.

The trip is The Gazette’s third to the Middle East since the Iraq war begin in 2003. A reporter and photographer were with Fort Carson troops in the aftermath of the invasion. Bitton and Roeder were sent to Kuwait by the paper in 2004 to accompany local soldiers home from war and document experiences.

Their reports will be available in the paper, on its Web site gazette.com and on a blog, http://iraqnotebook.freedomblogging.com