American Freelance Journalist Shelly Kittleson Kidnapped in Baghdad
American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson, renowned for her courageous and low-budget assignments in some of the world's most dangerous regions, has been kidnapped in Baghdad. The 49-year-old journalist vanished on Wednesday after being forced into a car by two men at a busy intersection in the Iraqi capital, as captured by surveillance camera footage.
A Career Built on Gutsy, Independent Reporting
Kittleson, who had lived abroad for years with Rome as a former base, built a respected journalism career across the Middle East by often working without formal assignments from editors and operating on a shoestring budget. She frequently took shared taxis to lawless corners of Iraq where militia rule outweighs government control, embedding herself in local communities and sometimes staying with families rather than in hotels.
"She is a great reporter and always wants to go to areas where no one wants to go," said Patrizio Nissirio, a former editor at Italian news agency ANSA, who has known Kittleson since 2011. "I said to her, 'You don't need to be in a war zone to do good journalism,' and she told me, 'I think my work is worth something when I am in those areas.'"
Friends Describe a Determined and Spiritual Reporter
Friends and fellow journalists describe Kittleson as a determined, gutsy reporter who spent over a decade reporting from Iraq, Syria, and the wider Middle East for outlets including Al-Monitor. Deeply curious and self-directed, her independence meant she often worked alone, traveling long distances and carrying heavy belongings with her at all times, without the backing of a larger news organization that might have offered protection.
The Wisconsin native was kind and spiritual, having embraced Islam, and was a vegetarian—a lifestyle her close Iraqi friends said was difficult to accommodate in meat-heavy Middle Eastern countries. She was frequently teased for her backbreaking bags and distrusted leaving them behind at the modest hotel in Baghdad where she stayed.
Warnings and Financial Strain Before the Abduction
In her final conversations before the abduction, Kittleson asked colleagues and friends about transport routes between cities while continuing to seek access to do stories. Hours before she was kidnapped, she met a friend in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood and revealed she had received a warning: U.S. officials had told her a militia group intended to target her, but she did not believe the threat was credible.
Kittleson had been stopped before by security forces and militias at checkpoints, Iraqi colleagues said, and had always managed to secure her release. "They will not hurt me," she told her friend that afternoon before she was taken. Instead, she spoke of mounting financial strain, saying she had no assignments while in Baghdad and had long struggled financially, living a frugal existence as a freelancer who often relied on the support of Iraqi journalists.
Recent Travels and Last Published Work
On March 9, Kittleson was in Syria, seeking to enter Iraq at the border crossing in al-Qaim. Border police gave her a visa, but she was soon stopped by Iraqi intelligence officers, who turned her back citing kidnapping threats, according to three different accounts from people she called that day. She then went to Jordan and entered Iraq from there with little issue.
"She always complained of the treatment of freelance journalists, saying they are not paid enough. She was always trying to make ends meet and said she would sleep on any couch she could find, unlike the big foreign correspondents that sleep in fancy hotels," Nissirio said. "Her job has always been difficult, but she had a burning passion for it that I respect and appreciate."
Kittleson published her last story with Il Foglio on Monday, March 31, focusing on the effect of the Iran war on Iraq's Kurdish region. Three Iraqi friends and acquaintances of Kittleson spoke about her on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal from armed groups if they were publicly linked to her.
