He was driving to work when he was shot and murdered without reason.[14] An unnamed American freelance journalist also working in Basra was killed in August 2005, a month before Haider was brutally murdered.[13] In July 2005, Stephen Vincent, an American freelance journalist, published an opinion editorial in The New York Times and was abducted and murdered a few days following the publish date.[3] Baghdad was considered a death trap spot during the war.[4] Countless journalists and media reporters risked and lost their lives to cover and relay information to people around the world.