In February 2003, Lorna Tychostup, a single mother and Chronogram editor, knowingly risked her life, imprisonment, and a million dollar fine by traveling to Iraq under the threat of war.
On a mission to “bring back the face of the Iraqi people” to the American public, Lorna returned with images of ordinary Iraqis she hoped would sway people against the invasion. Her controversial journey is challenged in a live television broadcast as FOX News lambastes her efforts as “villainous and bordering on treason” and accuses her of aiding and abetting the enemy… on the brink of war.
Deeply affected by her time spent with Iraqis, Lorna returned to an occupied Iraq intent on uncovering the untold stories. Traveling without security in local taxis, she stayed in small unprotected hotels outside the safety zones where mainstream journalists lodged.
Returning to the US after each trip with stories she believed were not reaching American TV sets, Lorna traveled around the country giving lectures, presenting her slide show, and appearing on innumerable media outlets. The more she uncovered and revealed the realities of Iraqis and American soldiers, the more she was forced to question her original agenda and what she began to see as her own naive idealism.
Lorna’s story, and those she crafted about the issues and people most directly affected by the war in and occupation of Iraq, raise larger questions about good and bad, left and right, Republican and Democrat, and where America and Iraq connect at this juncture in history.
