ATLANTA, Georgia - Not a day goes by when I don't think about January 27, 2004 in some small way.It was the day when two friends, CNN employees Duraid Isa Mohammad and Yasser Khatab, were cut down by insurgents on a dusty highway south of Baghdad.

My last view of my friends was their SUV swerving off the road, the windshield spattered with their blood, as bullets crashed through our own vehicle.

Clearly, I'll never forget the guys, and neither will my colleagues who were part of the two car CNN convoy that was attacked by two carloads of insurgents.

But, every year on this date I make a point of mentioning their lives, and their deaths, to as many others as possible. To honor them, and to remind folks of the enormous contribution Iraqi staff make to the coverage of Iraq by western media. Check the CNN BackStory

Yasser was a young, vibrant man with a cheeky sense of humor (he taught me my first real swearword in Arabic).

Duraid had been my translator on previous tours of duty in Iraq, as he was that day in 2004. A loyal, trusted and talented young man with an infectious smile.

He had two kids roughly the same ages as my own, and I remember evenings in the Palestine Hotel when we'd proudly swap tales of the talents of our respective offspring, the sounds of Blackhawk helicopters following the Tigres River at low altitude in the background.

January 27, 2004 was back when the media could still travel out of the capital to report and not worry too much about not getting back alive. Sure, we had security, but this was before the days of orange jumpsuits and on camera beheadings.

We were returning in our two cars after doing a story in Hilla, south of Baghdad, when the killers struck, also in two cars – gunmen standing out of the sunroofs with AK-47's before opening up. Yasser and Duraid cut down in a hail of automatic gunfire in the first seconds of the attack.

The guy attacking our vehicle wasn't too good, fortunately. In those first seconds, I looked him in the eye, saw Yasser and Duraid's car leave the road, and dived across the seat with Scotty.

Our vehicle was hit multiple times, but the gunman's accuracy was poor – only cameraman Scott McWhinnie receiving a slight head wound before our security guard was able to persuade the gunmen to give up the attack.

Washington-based producer Shirley Hung, our driver Ahmed, our security guard, and myself unharmed, but far from untouched.

The loss of Yasser and Duraid stunned us. Guys we'd been chatting with literally minutes before, who we knew and loved and laughed with and talked politics with. Dead.

Those of us who survived are forever linked by our shared experience that day. We pretty much always reach out to each other every January 27, as we did today.

Me, Scotty, Shirley (who'll forever be known as 'Nurse Hung' for her management of the first aid kit as we treated Scotty). I'm still in touch with our security guard, too, and every time I'm in Baghdad I try to see our driver that day, Ahmed (he works elsewhere these days).

The common thread, of course; Yasser and Duraid. Young men taken too soon, but, no, never forgotten.

Two weeks down, many more to go! 

Any many thanks to those who’ve contacted us via email (backstory@cnn.com), Twitter or Facebook – both good comments and otherwise (especially the viewer who thinks I have ADHD! Might have to get checked out on that one…hmmm).

Our launch period has been enormously satisfying but also a scramble at times, coinciding as it did with world financial markets going into turmoil.

At one point our first show was at risk of being “pre-empted” by events in the markets, but we got through by getting some of our fine financial folks to give us the BackStories on what was going on, helping us deliver on our promise to give you what you don’t normally see. Plus, for market news fans, we've added a Wall Street "closing bell" cut-in at the top of the hour.

We’ve accumulated quite a few of what we’re dubbing FOBS (Friends of BackStory) among our CNN staff.

In the financial turmoil, Ali Velshi, Christine Romans, and Richard Quest have starred several times, breaking down the jargon and showing us how they pull together the sort of complex issues that make the eyes of many of us (ok, me at least) glaze over.

We’ve also uncovered a TV natural who is normally behind the camera. Cameraman Todd Baxter is based in our London Bureau and has filed several witty and droll pieces from the field. Keep an eye out for Todd - we’re planning to make him a regular, whether he likes it or not.

Same goes for several of our producers (not normally seen on camera) who’ve used our “Flip Cameras” to get stories done and have even jumped on air for us.

As we’ve gone through these past two weeks, many correspondents have jumped in with their BackStories – Alessio Vinci from our Rome Bureau, Nic Robertson, Paula Newton, Becky Anderson and Alphonso Van Marsh (London), John Vause (Beijing), Dan Rivers (Bangkok), Harris Whitbeck (Mexico City), Frederik Pleitgen (Berlin), Robin Oakley (Brussels), Arwa Damon (Baghdad), Sarah Sidner (New Delhi), Reza Sayah (Islamabad), Richard Roth (UN), Alina Cho and Maggie Lake (New York), Karl Penhaul in Colombia, Nkepile Mabuse and Robyn Curnow (Johannesburg)…it’s a long list.

Actually, just writing that abbreviated list of contributors makes me realize how much ground we’ve covered in just 10 shows.

The BackStory team has also become a pretty tight group: Steve Tuemmler (Supervising Producer), Vickie Russell (Senior Producer), Ann Roche (writer) and several other folks we "steal" from the newsroom have worked incredibly hard to make this show happen. Senior producer Javier de Diego stepped in admirably to produce in week two. All I have to do is show up with my ADHD and take advantage of their creativity!

It’s a pretty unusual show to anchor - paper scripts, yes, but a lot of ad-libbing (and no teleprompter!). So forgive some rambling on my part.

Stick around as we go forward, and don’t hesitate to tell us what you like (and don’t like!).

Watch BackStory on CNN International Monday to Friday 2000-2030 GMT (1600-1630 EST)

Over the past weeks of preparation and rehearsal for the launch of a new show - BackStory – on CNN International, our correspondents have sent in some fine pieces of work.

Sara Sidner's coverage of the recent flooding in India was outstanding – and tough on her and the crew, both physically and mentally (although of course no one is making comparisons between their challenges and those faced by flood victims.)

Days traveling in flood ravaged areas, bearing witness to bloated bodies, suffering on a staggering scale, and all the while having to actually do your job and file reports can take its toll.

Fortunately, Sara's team chronicled their journey for BackStory – giving us what will be the backbone of the program – the stuff you don't normally get to see.

Sara also gives us an insight into the personal impact – and frustrations – of watching such a tragedy unfold.

I have felt similar frustrations in my career – in the West Bank, in Iraq, and perhaps most notably in Rwanda in 1994, where we bore witness to a genocide and felt the frustration (anger, actually) that grew from the world's inaction.

Arwa Damon has been covering the war in Iraq from the beginning. I've worked with her there on many, many occasions.

She's a good mate, but also a terrific reporter and one of the bravest people I know.

Back in early 2004 I was in a two-car CNN convoy that was ambushed just south of Baghdad, which cost the lives of two friends and colleagues and wounded a third.

It was around that time that what the military calls "unilateral" travel (i.e. traveling independent of the military) became nigh on impossible for safety reasons.

Arwa's report today documents her team's journey to Taji, north of Baghdad.

To the casual viewer, it's just a road trip outside of the capital.

What makes it extraordinary is it was a journey made "unilaterally" – a real milestone event for a western TV crew. For Arwa, producer Mohammad, cameraman Sarmad and the rest of the team, it was the first time literally in years that they'd been able to drive out of the capital to cover a story without military protection.

From her report, you'll get a sense of the emotion of that trip – emotion ranging from nervousness to amazement she's even doing it.

We hope to see a lot more of Arwa and Sara on BackStory. 

Watch BackStory on CNN International Monday to Friday 2000-2030 GMT (1600-1630 EST)