Summary

Rita goes back to Beirut in Chapter 8, but first she must escape Iraq. The plane from Baghdad to Amman takes a corkscrew route to avoid rocket-propelled grenades. Rita feels bitter about leaving Iraq and blames herself and her drinking for the loss of her job. Murphy leaves Rita on the plane and jumps into a flashback that narrates how she got there.

Rita thinks about waking up after getting drunk and writing Sami an email about the horrible conditions in Iraq. After waking up late, Rita then finds an email from Sami imploring her to publish her real thoughts, the thoughts in the email she wrote to him. Sami claims she has a responsibility to publish her observations. Rita writes back that the email was only a drunken rant. Then, as she is interviewing and Iraqi official, Claude, the photographer, sends her an email...