Eyewitness Interview: "Iraq Is An Absolute Disaster"

[Barrett808]

Journalist Michael Ware is the Baghdad Bureau Chief for Time Magazine. He was embedded in Fallujah during the recent US offensive earlier this month, and has covered the war in Iraq since February 2003. He joins us today with his perspective on the situation in Iraq.

LOPATE: Did you feel that it was okay to leave Fallujah because things have been brought under control?

WARE: No, I mean, I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to confidently say that Fallujah is under control. I guess it depends on what your measure of control really is. There will always be insurgents in Fallujah. Fallujah is the dark heart of the insurgency. We may be able to dominate the city now that it’s been retaken, but whether you effectively control it; whether you stamp out that rising tide of resistance, I don’t think so.

LOPATE: Is this like Groznyy in Chechnya , where the Russian forces have pretty much levelled the city and still face constant resistance?

WARE: Yeah, I mean, there’s things of Groznyy, but certainly it’s not a direct comparison by any measure. There has been widespread destruction in Fallujah in the course of this terrible, terrible battle…

LOPATE: Mosques and homes?

WARE: Oh, absolutely, I mean… For example, the military unit I was with, I mean, the operation in Fallujah involved largely Marines, but also some army elements. I was with one of those elements. The way they proceeded through the city, given that there was booby-traps, improvised explosive devices, riddling the streets everywhere. Entire houses were rigged to blow. The way they proceeded was what they call “Reconnaissance by Fire.” If you’re going to go down a street first you scour it for any potential danger. How do you do that? You do it with a 25mm cannon on an armoured Bradley fighting vehicle. Or you do it with one 20mm tank round. Just blow up everything that looks vaguely suspicious. Then if someone shoots at you from a building, or there’s an explosion near a vehicle, don’t mess with it. Don’t go into the building looking for the guy… just level the building. And then go through the rubble afterwards.

LOPATE: Well, that can’t be pleasing people who are not in support of the insurgents, but who consider Fallujah their home…

WARE: Well, Fallujah, is actually called the City of Mosques . And whether you’re a Sunni, like most of the people in Western Iraq are, or whether you’re just an ordinary Iraqi, it still has some resonance. And to see a city destroyed liked that obviously won’t go without some repercussion.

(more)

http://207.44.245.159/article7484.htm

[LiberalinNC]

1. Is this article running in the same one that picked Bush as the

Man of the year?

[gratuitous]

2. What does Michael Ware know?

Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush have both said today that Iraq is doing just fine and dandy! So who are you going to believe? Our faultless leaders, annointed by God (or someone)? Or an eyewitness and his Bush- and Rumsfeld-hating agenda?

The choice is stark and clear, America, and Guantanamo yawns widely for the fools who choose poorly.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. A happy faced report last night on CNN showed what is involved

with sending daily convoys into Iraq from Kuwait. They prepare for these "missions" as though they were entering unknown hostile country for the very first time. Apparently they are shot at and bombed routinely. On another report, a couple of military guys were being interviewed. On of the gumps let it slip that they really couldn't say very much about what goes on there because they don't want to lose support of the people back home.

[Supersedeas]

12. Honest slips....to bad we can't count on the media for honest slips

Spinning the public office of disinformation...Murdoch style

Rove smiles.

[underpants]

4. He is outnumbered 100 to 1 by callers to RW radio shows

they have either been to Iraq or know someone who has and they all say that the good that is being done is not being reported.

That is all.

[Jacobin]

5. I keep asking them why Faux doesn't report all the 'good news"

they don't have an answer to that.

[underpants]

9. Exactly I have thought the same thing

if there really was so much great news you don't think Ollie North would be gaptoothed grinning in front of it to a Fox camera now do you?

Of course SOME good things are happening but the money isn't being allocated and I haven't seen any reports of all this good that those so well informed and with so much time on the hands love to report about the successes of their great leader.

[secedeeconomically]

8. If they mantioned one more time how they are building

more schools one more time I’m going to go postal I swear. How many fucking schools can I country of 20 million need? If you counted all the schools that Fox claims have been built, it would be a ration of 1 child per school lol. I wonder if that still falls under the parameters on 'One Child left behind"

[secedeeconomically]

6. I have a good friend who is an Iraqi living here in the states

and his own brother, who lives in Iraq, left the country for Jordan because it was too dangerous. His Brother is like in his 60's. Therefore, after all that has happened to Iraq in the past 60 years, he now has decided to leave his homeland. That is indicative of the true state of what’s happening there. This pie in the sky reality that Fox and Bush try to feed us is garbage.

[Barrett808]

7. Another eyewitness to the Fallujah assault

In November 2004, along with International Editor Lindsey Hilsum, he spent three weeks embedded with a unit attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force as it took part in the assault on Fallujah.

A former soldier, Tim filmed and edited a series of powerful reports for Channel 4 News documenting one of the most controversial, and dangerous, military operations of recent times.

His experiences with the marines offers a rare insight into the way America fights its wars.

(more)

http://www.channel4.com/news/2004/12/week_4/fallujah.html

[enough]

10. Well worth reading the whole interview.

Ware speaks with a lot of clarity and passion.

A couple of snips:

LOPATE:     Were they part of some kind of a unified military force?
 
WARE: This is a very complex issue. But in a nutshell, there’s essentially a two track war in Iraq . There always has been. There’s been the high profile terrorist war led by foreign Jihadis, come to fight the Holy War inspired by Osama bin Laden, now led by Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Then there’s the home grown insurgency; former military officers who are fighting a war of liberation. We’ve seen those two wars merge. That happened at the beginning of the year. Now, during the course of this year there was some friction between those two interests. However, as they were saying to me shortly before the operation when I asked, “Is it possible for you to band together again?” They said, “There is one thing that will unify us once more. And that’s an attack on Fallujah.”
 
LOPATE:     Hmm. Well, what separates them is very different visions as to what an Iraq after all this ends would look like…
 
WARE: Yeah, that’s one of the things… I mean it was issues of tactics. I mean, former professional military officers don’t like suicide bombings, don’t accept the collateral damage that the foreign Jihadis accept. Then there’s also the broader issue as you touch upon, the Jihadis want to establish an Islamic state. Not just in Iraq , but throughout the entire Muslim world. The insurgents, the home grown former military officers, they’re fighting to free their country. The most interesting thing though is, that the Jihadis, the al Qaida backed sponsored, inspired, Holy Warriors, have hijacked the entire insurgency. And now the military officers too are seeking an Islamic state.

snip>

WARE: Absolutely, I mean it’s not just turning Iraqis to a religious fanaticism and a lust for Jihad against us within Iraq . It’s also, I mean…. Some of these guys I would speak to would say, “Look, we just want the Americans out of our country, and we want to be left to our own devices. Iraqi solutions to Iraqi problems.” Now these guys say to me, “I’m fighting for Islam.” And I say, “Well, what will you do when the Americans leave?” They said, “Well, we’ll follow them.” And the other thing is , young Muslim men are pouring in over the borders. Bathing themselves in the blood of Jihad in Iraq . And then, going home again. This is Afghanistan . This was what the Al Qaida generation, or class of veterans from Afghanistan did. We’re creating the next generation. We’ve already created their next leader: Abu Muzab al Zarqawi. A marginal figure before this invasion. Now, he has a price on his head that is matched only by Osama himself. And, his place in the Jihad milieu in fact threatens Osamas.

more>

[Erika]

13. A lesson that should have been learned

You can't liberate a populace who doesn't care about being liberated.

You can ensure elections and set up puppets to win. Then you watch the puppets take the wealth and flee the country.

I know W didn't concern himself with the details of Nam and it appears we are paying the price.

[Massachusetts]

11. IraqNam

Same story with a different time, location and characters.

Those who have lived through it know what I'm talkin about, there ain't no happy ending!

I WANT MY/OUR COUNTRY BACK:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: