December 13, 2003 - American soldiers pull Saddam Hussein out of a hole in the ground near his hometown of Tikrit. The next day the world's media fly in to inspect the orifice and hear how the Ace of Spades was captured. Then they fly out again. But a handful of reporters get left behind in the dictator's palace.

Camp Britney, Tikrit, is a record of their struggle to pluck stories from a post-Saddam, post-news limbo. Rory Mulholland's journal depicts the parallel universe of under-employed journalists 'embedded' with the US Army's Fourth Infantry Division, and lifts the lid (a bit) on the workings of the international news media.

This site contains extracts from the book Camp Britney, Tikrit: The Genteel Art of War Reporting, an account of a month spent as a reporter 'embedded' with the US Army in Saddam's palace complex in Tikrit. Written by Rory Mulholland, an Irish journalist working with AFP news agency, Camp Britney is illustrated with photographs by photojournalist Jewel Samad.