High-tech hell in the field

Technology for journalists may be something of an oxymoron -- or in my case, just a moron. We have a voice satellite phone and a data (photos and stories) phone. We should be in high-tech heaven. But instead, for about three nights in a row we've been up into the a.m. just trying to get our equipment to send our photos and stories.

To make matters worse, until we reached Basra in southern Iraq, I couldn't get the voice satellite phone to stay connected for more than two minutes.

Right now it's about 4 in the morning and we just sent out our day's work -- after maybe three hours of struggle with the equipment and our respective patiences. We couldn't make the data satellite phone work from our room so, after trying the hallway, the stairwell and our balcony, we headed upstairs to the roof.

As I'm writing, a young man with an AK-47 is looking over my shoulder. Luckily, he is on my side. Iraqis have started posting armed guards at stores, restaurants and hotels to scare away the thieves.

Still, it is a little unnerving, sitting in the dark, high on a roof with only the glow of the computer to light my way.