Eric Westervelt
Eric Westervelt is a San Francisco-based correspondent for NPR's National Desk. He has reported on major events for the network from wars and revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa to historic wildfires and terrorist attacks in the U.S.
For a decade as a foreign correspondent, Westervelt served as NPR reporter and bureau chief in Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Berlin. He's covered the Pentagon, the war in Afghanistan, and the U.S. invasion and troubled occupation of Iraq, including the insurgency, sectarian violence, and the resulting social and political tumult.
He has reported on the ground from North Africa during revolutions there, including from Tahrir Square during fall of Egypt's Mubarak, the front lines during the civil war and NATO intervention in Libya, and the popular uprising in Tunisia. He's also reported from Yemen, the Arabian Gulf states, and the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia, Djibouti, and the Somalia border region.
Westervelt was among the first western reporters to reach Baghdad during the 2003 U.S-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein embedded with the lead elements of the army's Third Infantry Division. He was also among the first western reporters to enter the Gaza Strip via Egypt during the 2008-2009 Israeli ground offensive in the coastal Palestinian enclave known as the Gaza War.
Westervelt has reported extensively across the U.S. on big stories and breaking news, from mass shootings to natural disasters and police use of force. He helped launch NPR's innovative, award-winning education platform NPR Ed, and serves as a guest host for NPR news shows.
Westervelt is currently helping to launch a collaborative team that covers America's criminal justice system, including issues and reform efforts surrounding prisons, policing, juvenile justice, and the courts.
He's been honored with broadcast journalism's highest honors, including the 2002 George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the aftermath; the 2003 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for coverage of Sept. 11 and the subsequent war in Afghanistan; and 2004 and 2007 DuPont-Columbia Awards for NPR's in-depth coverage of the war in Iraq and its effect on Iraqi society. Westervelt's 2009 multimedia series with the late NPR photojournalist David Gilkey won an Overseas Press Club Award. He also recently shared in an Edward R. Murrow RTNDA Award with NPR Ed for innovative education coverage.
In 2013, Westervelt returned to the U.S. from overseas as a visiting journalism fellow at Stanford University with the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship
As Jerusalem bureau chief, Westervelt covered the failed diplomatic efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and the social, political, and cultural news across Israel and the occupied West Bank. He reported from the front lines of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah known as the Second Lebanon War. He was on the ground for multiple Israeli-Hamas battles in the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-Hamas civil war and battle of Gaza City that led to the current political split within the Palestinian Authority.
While based in Berlin, Westervelt covered a broad range of news across the region, including the Euro debt crisis, the rise of far right nationalists, national elections, and more.
Prior to his Middle East assignments, Westervelt covered military affairs and the Pentagon out of Washington, DC, reporting on the major defense, national security, and foreign policy issues of the day. He began his work at NPR on the network's national desk where his coverage spanned the mass shooting at Columbine High School, the presidential vote recount following the 2000 election, and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reporting from the Ground Zero recovery in New York City, among many other stories.
On the lighter side, Westervelt also produces occasional features for NPR's Arts Desk, including for the series American Anthem, as well as Rock Hall Award profiles of blues great Freddie King and an exploration of roots rock pioneer Roy Orbison for NPR's 50 Great Voices series. His feature on the making of John Coltrane's jazz classic "A Love Supreme" was part of NPR's project on the most influential American musical works of the 20th century, which was recognized with a Peabody Award.
Before joining NPR, Westervelt worked as a reporter in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, reported for the broadcast edition of the Christian Science Monitor, Monitor Radio, and worked as a news director and reporter in New Hampshire for NHPR.
Westervelt grew up in upstate New York. He's a graduate of the Putney School and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Reed College. He was a recipient in 2013 of a J.S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University.
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While many Iraqis blame foreigners for the bloody attacks on civilians, the hallmark of the ongoing insurgency, the truth is that many of the bombers are Iraqi citizens.
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One section of southeastern Baghdad Thursday saw two car bombings, one angry mob, one fatal roadside bombing and the capture of a suspected triggerman -- part of a wave of insurgent violence aimed at destabilizing Iraq's fledging government. Eric Westervelt was with U.S. soldiers in that part of Baghdad and reports on the day's events.
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The Afghan government weighs the details of an effort aimed at national reconciliation with soldiers of the Taliban. In some provinces, the process has already begun.
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A Defense Department official says insurgent attacks against Iraqis and U.S.-led forces are up 25 percent since Ramadan began last week. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said insurgents receive some funds from outside Iraq. Hear NPR's Eric Westervelt.
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Paul Bremer, the former administrator of the U.S.-run occupation of Iraq, says there were not enough American troops on the ground to secure Baghdad and stop looting immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Bremer says he supports the current strategy and troop levels in Iraq. NPR'S Eric Westervelt reports.
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The National Guard has not met its recruitment goal for the fiscal year that ends Thursday, a failure it blames on current lengthy deployments. The Pentagon is seeking ways to reduce the strain on the National Guard and other forces. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
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Despite heated campaign rhetoric, proposals on Iraq from the presidential candidates are similar and unlikely to change things soon. President Bush says the United States will exit when the Iraqis can secure their own country. Sen. John Kerry proposes returning troops within four years. Hear NPR's Eric Westervelt.
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An Army investigation finds that more than two dozen members of an intelligence unit at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq played a role in abuses of prisoners there. The head of the investigation says there was "serious misconduct and a loss of moral values" at Abu Ghraib. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
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The new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq tells senators that the insurgency in Iraq is more resilient than had been expected. As Gen. George Casey Jr. spoke at his confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee, fresh attacks in Iraq claimed more than 80 lives. Hear NPR's Eric Westervelt.
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Two U.S. soldiers and several dozen Iraqi militiamen are dead after overnight gun battles in the Iraqi city of Kufa. The continuing fighting in Kufa and in the nearby city of Najaf threaten last week's truce between the U.S. military and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.