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Naperville Covenanter Sees War Through Camera Lens
By Craig Pinley
KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT (April 2, 2003) - Like many, Casey Klaus watches a lot of
television to find out about how the U.S. military is faring in its war
against Iraq.
But while most of us have worked a 9-to-5 job and come home for dinner,
Klaus has been near the action, serving as a photojournalist and editor for
ABC Television's Chicago affiliate (Channel 7). Klaus, on-air broadcaster
Chuck Goudie and producer Barbara Markoff have been working out of a
Marriott Hotel in Kuwait while preparing material
 for the station's 5
p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts. The team has produced stories about Chicago
area residents preparing for war and about daily life in Kuwait as the war
continues. Last Friday, the ABC team was scheduled to travel to a military
base for its assignment.
Klaus, who is from Naperville Evangelical Covenant Church in Naperville,
Illinois, is usually working from the morning hours until 1 a.m. to get
news footage edited for the station. Another photojournalist coordinates
the live shots of Goudie while he is reporting the daily newscasts. He has
been working at ABC for three and a half years.
In recent weeks, Klaus has served as a unilateral journalist - he is not
covering any particular unit - out of Kuwait. He went to Doha, Qatar, (a
strategic military command center) on Saturday and will remain there this
week before heading back to Chicago. The good news (for Klaus) is that he
hasn't been in any danger from fierce fighting. "I, like most of America,
am watching that (fighting) on the 24-hour news stations," he said. The
bad news (from a job standpoint) is that he usually doesn't know what he
will be covering from one day to the next.
"Every morning we wake up and our producer Barb (Markoff) makes her daily
phone calls looking for the day's adventure," Klaus stated in an email.
"Most mornings she gets nothing out of the military and Kuwaiti Ministry of
Information and we then go out and find something on our own. The other
morning . . . someone in the Ministry of Information let her know that a
bus was leaving as part of a relief effort for the Iraqi
people in 30 minutes. We scrambled and made the bus, but were disappointed
that it was not a humanitarian aid truck, but rather a field trip to a site
where an Iraqi missile of some kind had missed its target and landed in the
desert."
During the opening day of the war, SCUD missiles were fired at Kuwait and
Klaus said that the group put on gas masks and prepared for the worst.
Since then, there have been many threats and the group is getting used to
alarms going on and off, although he admits, "With every warning
thereafter, it has become more difficult to remember that this time the
threat may prove to be real."
Klaus sends a daily email to family and friends and asks for prayer,
especially for the innocent people living in the crossfire of this war. He
recently visited a Christian church in Kuwait - his perception is that
those who believe in Jesus there are accepting the events calmly. "The
pastor asked that we let America know that, yes, they are concerned, but
they are not afraid," Klaus said. "They know that Jesus is in control,
watching over them, and His plan is perfect."
Klaus is one of many Covenanters in the Middle East, either serving in
military duty or working on projects or assignments pertaining to the war.
To learn more about Klaus and others in the Middle East, regularly visit
www.covchurch.org for updates. Information also is available on the ABC
Chicago website at www.abc7chicago.com.
A prayer list of service men and women is being formulated. To submit names
of military and civilian personnel for inclusion in the prayer list, send
them by email to newsdesk@covchurch.org.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
