Reporters on the Job

• Locally Groomed: Staff writer Dan Murphy went to the Sadr City section of Baghdad Wednesday to test the court of public opinion about Saddam Hussein's pending trial (page 1). During his visit to Majid's barbershop, he had to politely decline the persistent offers that he get a trim. "Unfortunately, I'd just gotten a haircut earlier in the day, mostly for security reasons," he says.

Dan says his longish hair marked him as a foreigner in Iraq, so he decided on getting a local coif in order to help him stand out less in an Iraqi crowd. The barber shaved it close on the sides with a bit more hair on top than he's accustomed to having.

It's the sort of fashion sacrifice that he didn't feel was necessary a few months ago, but with the more dangerous reporting environment, he decided it was time for a change. "I've got dark hair, which is a plus. I'm probably kidding myself that the haircut and the beard I've grown are going to keep me out of trouble," says Dan. "But every little bit helps."

• Still in Denial? In 2002, the Serb government released an incendiary report that said no more than 2,500 Muslims, and only soldiers in the line of duty had been killed at Srebrenica. The report was condemned by survivors, various political parties, and the international community. In April, the head of the Srebrenica commission was fired.

The new commission head, Milan Bogdanic, was at the exhumation that was witnessed by correspondent Beth Kampshorori (page 7). "When the workers in the hole started uncovering bodies, Mr. Bogdanic shouted down to them, 'Are they in uniform?'

'No,' they shouted back. 'They're civilians.'

"That indicated to me," says Beth, "that Bogdanic was still clinging to the hope that maybe the Serbs hadn't committed war crimes against civilians there."

David Clark Scott
World editor