Why one and not another

I would like to express my condolences to the family and friends of Dmitry Chebotayev, 29, who was killed Sunday while traveling in a vehicle with American troops on a road between Baghdad and Baqouba, I made it home safely last week from my one month embedding with the US troops in Iraq but he did not. I met this young inspiring hard working photographer at the Cpik in the green zone in Baghdad where we spent many days camping out with other journalists . He was friendly, helpful..you know the kind of person you can bond to within 5 minutes .He had been kept waiting for nearly 5 days there for his request but he made use of every hour and utilized the down time to edit and uploading his pictures . He loaned me his cell phone charger and then it got misplaced . That did not even upset him .He told me that he had planned to stay in Iraq for another two months. He spoke a lot about his girlfriend and her new job back in Moscow. She is also a photojournalist. After several days of waiting his embed request came through and mine did as well. It is difficult to comprehend that we both set out on similar goals but took different roads patrolling the greater area of Baghdad. My patrols must have had a guardian angel along who protected us from the deadly IED’s but his did not and he died along with 6 American soldiers. I have sat up the whole night trying to comprehend his death and it is nearly morning. Days and nights can pass and I will still not be able to describe why I felt this invisiblity to his fate. I thought that covering Iraq would give me somehow a break from feeling so personally connected to a story such as the two decades coverng the Palestinian Israeli conflct but yet I met two people during my brief assignmet in raq who have have died within the four days I have been back. Perhaps it is the two decades of covering the Palestinian Israeli conflict whch had me in this surreal state of invisibly where the sound sof horn honking has become more annoying than the crack of gunfire. This has been an emotional harsh reminder that all it can take is the choice of direction or a split second to end someone’s life. I am so sorry that it took Dimity’s death to slap reality across my face.
Heidi Levine
Sipa Press