WELCOME KPFK's JERRY QUICKLEY HOME!

DEPORTED FROM BAGHDAD:

UNEMBEDDED PACIFICA RADIO REPORTER RETURNS HOME TO LA ON MONDAY

THE B-BOY IN BAGHDAD: Jerry dodged bombs to bring us the truth.

WHO: Join fellow KPFK 90.7 FM listeners and anti-war activists to welcome home Jerry Quickley, host of the popular *Beneath the Surface*.

WHEN: 7 PM Monday , March 31, 2003

WHERE: Jet Blue Airlines, Long Beach Airport

DIRECTIONS From the 405 Freeway: exit on Lakewood Blvd. and go north. Turn left at Douglas Drive. The airport is small, so just park anywhere and go to the Jet Blue terminal.

BRING: Large bold signs welcoming him home, and making it clear that he is an "Unembedded Reporter" for Pacifica Radio. Or put 90.7 FM KPFK on your sign. If you get lost or have questions call (562) 208-5534.

NOTE: On Monday morning, March 31- Jerry Quickley will be a guest on Pacifica Radio’s *Democracy Now!* (democracynow.org) hosted by award-winning journalist Amy Goodman. The national show is broadcast on KPFK 90.7 FM Radio in Los Angeles from 5 a.m. - 7 a.m. - repeated from 9 a.m, - 11 a.m. It is broacast on television on Free Speech TV (DishNetwork Channel 9415)

BACKGROUND: Jerry Quickley, KPFK 90.7 FM/Pacifica Radio host and reporter based in Los Angeles, spent several weeks in Baghdad at the Palestine Hotel before he was deported the day after the war began on March 20th.

Below is an excerpt from an e-mail native New Yorker, Quickley sent his colleagues at KPFK/Pacifica and family members: “Tomorrow I will be forced to leave Iraq. This is not good news . . . It is anywhere from 6 - 12 hours (600km) from Baghdad to the border. None of it is safe at all. I am in no way assured of surviving this trip through open country as a very visible target on deserted Iraqi highways. I will speak with you all when I can. Love each other deeply. “

The next morning, at about 9 a.m. PST, KPFK FM/Pacifica Radio got word that Quickley, host of the popular *Beneath the Surface* had made it safely to the Jordanian border. In his next interview, Jerry described the harrowing journey in a vehicle with Iraqi authorities, traveling past U.S.-bombed buses and cars with burned corpses. The trip took him past bombed bridges, gas stations and the rotting carcasses of dead camels.

The 600km drive to the border was terrifying. It was the same road he'd taken to Baghdad before the war started and gas stations that had been there before had been bombed, bridges had been bombed, in fact the road had been heavily bombed. At one point, they were running low on gas and when they approached a gas station that now had no gas (as it had been bombed), his escorts started arguing about what they should do now. They were no more than 100 yds from the gas station. Jerry said "Let's take this argument a little further away from the gas station" just when US plane dropped another bomb on the targeted station. It exploded less than 100 yds from them.

After arriving safely in Amman, Jordan, Quickley was able to visit some of the refugee camps prepared for Iraqis. He remarked in interviews that those refugee camps were practically empty, most likely because Iraqis were not able to leave because of the U.S. bombing.

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