DECATUR - Jackie Spinner loves Iraq.

Despite the threat of being kidnapped or killed, and the nation's descent toward possible civil war, Spinner is glad to be in the most dangerous place on Earth.

Spinner, 35, a Washington Post reporter who returned to Baghdad in September for her second stint, said she was miserable during her recent six-month hiatus in the United States.

"I felt disconnected from my family, from my friends," Spinner said during a phone interview from her home in Baghdad. "I felt that Iraq had become so much a part of my life. I just wanted to be here."

She expressed her desire to her editors, who apparently were also glad someone still wanted to work in the war-torn nation.

"I begged them to let me come back," said Spinner, who grew up in Decatur and frequently returns here to visit her family.

Spinner said she has been working at a grueling pace since returning to Baghdad.

For example, one recent day's workload included stories on police recruits being killed, a suicide bomber entering the heavily guarded Green Zone and the killing of Al Qaida's second highest man in Iraq.

The Post's acting Iraq bureau chief, Spinner manages a staff of 40 Iraqis, who serve as bodyguards, translators, cooks and stringers (auxiliary reporters). Iraqis risk their lives to work for Americans. Spinner has been working recently to help a stringer who has received two death threats in two different cities to gain safe passage out of the country.

"We have people throughout Iraq," Spinner said.

Spinner has experienced firsthand the terror of living in a nation in which killings and kidnappings are routine. Last year, she was rescued by U.S. Marines as two men tried to drag her into a car outside the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

During her recent hiatus in the United States, Spinner completed a book on her first stint in Iraq, from May 2004 to March 2005. The book is expected to be released early next year.

Upon her return to Baghdad Sept. 20, Spinner was treated like a returning hero by Iraqis and American journalists with whom she shares a house.

"When she came back, she brought back happiness, life, encouragement, inspiration and joy," an Iraqi translator/reporter wrote on his blog.

He said Spinner is like a sister to him. He credits her with lifting him out of his depression after witnessing much bloodshed and helping him to understand that his country needs him.

"She is our Angel that came back to Baghdad," he wrote.

Spinner said friends such as this have drawn her back to Iraq.

"I'm here because of the Iraqis," Spinner said. "Despite everything happening in this country, the Iraq people remain hopeful. They have this will to live."

Their will shall be tested in the days to come.

Spinner said increased violence is expected in the days and weeks to come, due in part to the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which runs through Nov. 2 and the Saddam Hussein trial, scheduled to begin Wednesday.

She explained that some extremist Muslims believe they will receive additional rewards in heaven for acts committed during Ramadan, the holiest month. Insurgents are also expected to disrupt the trial.

Spinner said she is very nervous about covering Saddam's trial, which Saddam loyalists apparently considered as their D-Day.

"They are going to come after us," Spinner said. "Sitting in the courtroom is going to be a death wish. All the reporters are nervous about it."

Spinner said the morale of Iraqis in general has deteriorated in recent months. Ordinary Iraqis kiss their families good-bye when they leave home, believing they might not see them again.

"No one can go to a bus stop without being afraid of being blown up," she said.

Even dressed in Iraqi garb, covered head to foot, Spinner will not walk down her own street without an armed bodyguard.

While Spinner reports on events in Iraq, she gets upset when readers back home, in the safety of their living rooms, question her truthfulness.

"When you're the media in Iraq, (American readers) don't believe what we're telling them," Spinner said. "They think we are distorting the picture. We are not telling the truth. They think we're against the American soldiers."

Spinner - who received an e-mail from one reader saying he wished she had died instead of a Marine - said people assume she is biased.

"They have no idea what my politics are," she said. "I am a deeply faithful Christian. Most of the people who attack me don't believe that.

"My father was a union pipe fitter in Decatur. My mother was a parochial schoolteacher. They make assumptions because I work for the Washington Post. That's the point that drives my nuts."

Spinner said she has never had an editor tell her what to write, or change her copy for content.

"I'm here in Baghdad. I'm going to the street, I'm going all over the country. I'm interested in the truth and I'm telling it. I'm risking my life. Nobody is censoring me."

Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.