at least it did in Iraq . It was called the Battle for Baghdad . It was one of the most bloody periods of the war . The moment just before the Surge where hundreds of people -- hundreds of Iraqis -- were dying every day . I say we snuck into the country because we did . We had been trying to obtain permission to get into the country legally , but it was proving very difficult . We heard through a friend that you could fly into Erbil through Germany . So we did . Without any papers we bought one-way tickets in cash from Erbil to Baghdad . To me it was a really bad sign : who was in charge of the -LRB- expletive -RRB- show down there ? There was a real feeling of desperation in the air when my friend Suroosh and I landed at the Baghdad International Airport . Someone in Iraq even told us that there was a rumor floating around that the U.S. forces were seriously considering building a moat around the city . Once inside , we aligned to our mission : to find and interview the only heavy metal
Editor 's Note : The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn , New York . VBS.TV is Vice 's broadband television network . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a very transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Brooklyn , New York -LRB- VBS.TV -RRB- -- Several events converged recently that conspired to take me back to the summer of 2006 , the summer I snuck into Iraq . The first event was the Iraqi elections . The second was the Oscars . The third was a concert at a little bar tucked into a hip corner of the hippest neighborhood in the world -- Williamsburg , Brooklyn . These events all brought me a little closer to that time , a little closer to recalling the way things were back then . And I realized how much I had forgotten . The summer / fall of 2006 had a name --