In November 2002, when the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq appeared imminent, Glantz traveled to Istanbul to cover regional reaction to the crisis. When Saddam Hussein was overthrown on April 9, 2003, Glantz traveled to Baghdad as an unembedded journalist to cover Iraqi experience of U.S. occupation. He spent parts of three years in the county, covering the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the attack on radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and the April 2004 U.S. military siege of Fallujah. He also spent considerable time reporting in the Kurdistan region of Northern Iraq.