American freelance journalist Shirley Kitson Often without formal assignments from editors and with limited budgets, they travel in shared taxis to the lawless corners of Iraq, where militias rule beyond government control.
Kitson, 49, spent years living abroad, at one point based in Rome, and built a respected journalism career around the world. middle East. Surveillance video showed she disappeared on Tuesday after being forced into a car by two men at a busy intersection in Baghdad.
“She was a great journalist who always wanted to go where no one else wanted to go,” said Patrizio Nissirio, a former editor at Italy’s ANSA news agency who has known Kitson since 2011, when she worked as a translator for the agency.
“I said to her, ‘You don’t need to be in a war zone to do good journalism,’ and she told me, ‘I think my work is valuable when I’m in those areas,'” Nisilio said.
Curious reporter who often works alone
Friends and fellow journalists describe Kitson as a determined, courageous man reporter He has spent more than a decade reporting on Iraq, Syria and the entire Middle East for various news outlets, including regional news site Al-Monitor.
Curious and self-directed, she often immerses herself in the local community, sometimes staying with her family rather than staying in a hotel.
Also read: Who kidnapped American journalist Shirley Kitson in Iraq? Was she warned? Key questions answered
Her independence meant often working alone, traveling long distances, carrying heavy items with her, and operating without the support of a larger news organization that might have provided some protection.
Friends said the Wisconsin native was kind, spiritual and religious.
She left Wisconsin in 1995, when she was 19, and first went to Italy, where she went to school and worked as a nanny, according to her mother, Barb Kittleson. She added that she spent about ten years in Italy before eventually settling in Iraq.
In recent weeks, Iraq has been caught in the crossfire of Iran’s war, becoming the only country to face attacks from both sides. Iran-backed Iraqi militias have frequently launched attacks on U.S. facilities there since the fighting began.
Kitson’s mother said she had not seen her daughter in person since 2002, but they exchanged emails several times a week, including on Monday when her daughter sent her several photos.
“She said, ‘This is a picture of me now,'” her mother told The Associated Press. “That’s what she always does, and fast.”
She is a vegetarian, a lifestyle often difficult to adapt to in the meat-heavy Middle Eastern country, her close Iraqi friends say. She was often teased for the luggage she carried, which she was unwilling to leave behind in the shabby Baghdad hotel.
Three Iraqi friends and acquaintances of Kittelson spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals from armed groups if they publicly linked to her.
In one of her last conversations before the kidnapping, she asked colleagues and friends about transportation routes between cities while continuing to pursue avenues of reporting.
Also read: Shirley Kitson kidnapping: Last post before US journalist kidnapping case comes to light
U.S. officials warn of militia threat
Hours before she was kidnapped, Kitson met a friend in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood and said she had received warnings: U.S. officials told her a militia group was planning to target her. She didn’t believe the threat was credible.
Iraqi colleagues said Kitson had been stopped by security forces and militias at checkpoints before, but always managed to get her released. “They’re not going to hurt me,” she told her friend that afternoon before being taken away.
Instead, she spoke of growing financial pressure and said she had no assignments while in Baghdad. She has been financially strapped for a long time and has lived a frugal life.
As a freelancer, she often relied on the support of Iraqi journalists.
On March 9, Kitson was in Syria seeking to enter Iraq from the Qaim crossing. Border police gave her a visa, but she was quickly stopped by Iraqi intelligence officials, who rejected her because of the threat of kidnapping, according to three different people she called that day.
Kitson then traveled to Jordan and from there entered Iraq without incident.
“She always complained about the treatment of freelance journalists, saying they were not paid enough. She always struggled to make ends meet and said she would sleep on any couch she could find, unlike the big foreign reporters who slept in luxury hotels,” Nisilio said.
“Her job has been difficult, but she’s passionate about it, and that’s something I respect and appreciate.”
Kittelson published her latest story in Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Monday. It focuses on the impact of the Iran war on the Kurdish region of Iraq.
“Journalism was something she really wanted to do,” Kitson’s mother said. “I hoped she wouldn’t do it when she got home, but she said, ‘I’m helping people.'”
