He should be on radio and television regularly - the live voice and face of liberation - answering questions from Iraqi reporters in their native language.

"Here come the sons of dogs," one guardsman said to an Iraqi reporter.

His schedule for the day included several interviews with Iraqi reporters and television crews.

Bush said some Iraqi reporters had apologized to him.

An official video was played to a small group of Iraqi and Western reporters more than 13 hours after the hanging.

But these days, men with guns are not Iraqi reporters' only threat.

American diplomats here say they admire the dedication of Iraqi reporters in covering the war and the government's efforts to create a democracy.

An Iraqi reporter described crossing it to go to art school every day.

Do these few agencies really have enough Iraqi reporters on retainer to cover the country?

Some of those cases raise a broader question: how close can Iraqi reporters get to insurgents without being considered the enemy?