Reporters on the Job

• TIGHT SECURITY IN SHARM: Reporter Philip Smucker has covered several Arab summits at the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. But never has the security been this tight at the Mövenpick golf resort where President Bush and Arab leaders are staying. "The beefed up security is particularly noticeable. I saw two Egyptian military patrol boats off the beaches where people are sunning and swimming. All other watercraft have been banned. I saw a group of easily identifiable US soldiers - close-cropped hair, smoking cigars, speaking in American-accented English - strolling on the main drag downtown," says Philip. But, the Mövenpick golf course was still open for business. "At $75 a round, it was too rich for this reporter's budget. I'm sure that the battered Egyptian tourism industry would love to get a photo of President Bush on the links."

• PHONETIC REPORTING: The Monitor's Ilene Prusher attended a press conference in Baghdad Monday given by the top US civilian administrator in Iraq. She was sitting next to an Iraqi political scientist, who made reference many times to 'Mr. Breemeer.'

"At first I thought he was saying, 'Mr. Premier,' because in Arabic there's no 'P,' so many Arabic speakers, when speaking English, will turn their 'P's into 'B's," says Ilene.

"So, I was wondering, who is it that he is referring to? Is there someone who has ascended to power here and is being nicknamed 'Mr. Premier' already? Am I behind the political curve? Does he mean Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi?

And then I realized, oh, he's saying Paul Bremer, except that the way it's written in the newspaper, people here are liable to pronounce it 'Breemeer.'"

David Clark Scott
World editor