The American people have been hearing that the "Surge" has been the main reason why Baghdad is "safer" and why violence has dropped down. But have Americans really known if they have been deceived or not? From what I see and hear here in the U.S. is that they do. Five years after their country's occupation to Iraq, there are Americans who still believe that what their government is saying is true. And the worst part is that there are Americans who have no idea what the hell happened in Iraq, and have no intention to know. Their lives are better off without knowing Iraqis and Americans are dying.
This post is dedicated to the Americans who still believe that the "surge" has "improved" the country's situation. They can see what I -an Iraqi from Baghdad- was shocked to see. I couldn't even recognize my own neighborhood surrounded by walls. Here, I would like to refer to a three-series video reporting by the Guardian's Iraqi reporter, Ghaith Abdul Ahad. Ghaith managed to capture in photos and videos what his British and American counterparts have failed to do: the real story of how Baghdad has turned to be five years after a bloody, ongoing war. (Thanks to BlogIraqi and another friend of mine who blogged about it.)
This post is dedicated to the Americans who still believe that the "surge" has "improved" the country's situation. They can see what I -an Iraqi from Baghdad- was shocked to see. I couldn't even recognize my own neighborhood surrounded by walls. Here, I would like to refer to a three-series video reporting by the Guardian's Iraqi reporter, Ghaith Abdul Ahad. Ghaith managed to capture in photos and videos what his British and American counterparts have failed to do: the real story of how Baghdad has turned to be five years after a bloody, ongoing war. (Thanks to BlogIraqi and another friend of mine who blogged about it.)
For the fifth anniversary of the US/British-led invasion of Iraq, the Guardian's award-winning foreign correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad has teamed up with ITV News to bring us a series of extraordinary films for the ITV News and guardian.co.uk. In these unprecedented films he, as an Iraqi, goes where foreign journalists can no longer go - to the heart of Baghdad's most dangerous sectarian zones. He uncovers Iraq's own killing field where only the 'killers and the killed' can visit; and he reveals the desperate truth of the trafficked children of Iraq.
The Series is as follows:
Baghdad: City of walls: In the first of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's extraordinary series of films to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, he investigates the claims that the US military surge is bringing stability to Iraq. By travelling through the heart of Baghdad he exposes how, by enclosing the Sunni and Shia populations behind 12ft walls, the surge has left the city more divided and desperate than ever.
Baghdad's killing fields: In the second of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's series of three films he visits Baghdad's killings fields on the edge of Sadr City. The scene of thousands of sectarian murders over the last three years, it is a desolate and evil place: 'Only the killers and the killed ever come here' says Abdul-Ahad. Here in the thousands of unmarked graves lie the victims of the Shia militia gangs Baghdad's Killing Fields was made by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad with GuardianFilms for ITV News.
Iraq's lost generation: In the final instalment of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's series of films to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, he travels to an orphanage in Sadr city, where children speak of their hatred of America. A generation of Iraqi children have been radicalised and anti-westernised by the war Iraq's lost generation was made by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad with GuardianFilms for ITV News.
22 Comments:
BT, I am sure you are right that a lot of Americans don't know and don't care about what is happening in Iraq. I heard today that the war in Iraq is now like number five on the list of American's concerns. The number one issue is now the economy in America. The violence in Iraq is down, so it no longer leads the news programs. Well, as you have written, some of this lessening of violence has been accomplished by essentially imprisoning people in their neighborhoods.
I am very concerned about "Iraq's Lost Generation". Iraq's children will bear the physical and mental scars of this war for the rest of their lives. I wish I knew what could be done to make things better.
The films are amazing and awful. I dont think I have ever been so troubled about anything in my life. It is difficult to grasp the destruction and waste of life and potential that has happened, but I thank you for sharing it. I want to help in whatever way I can, but fear that, as an American, my hands would be seen as covered in blood, no matter that my heart is for the Iraqi people.
The other day I read that like 3% of the newsstories in February were about Iraq, I think that's a large part of it, the information is not there, but yes of course the kind of information matters a lot as well. Aljaz(english) did a report on how immigration is the most talked about issue in the election campaigns, despite it being named 4th most important in polls.
Indeed the work done by Gaith Abdul-Ahad was exceptional, and definitely needed to evaluate the situation on the ground.
Some of what he cleared out was not even clear to even some people living in Baghdad, because with the sectarian violence and the walls not every one can see the places he'd gone to.
One important thing we must not forget, and I have noticed that in my 4 months in baghdad last year, is that the drop in deaths is also contributed to the fact that people are now aware of each neighborhood's sect, so they would not risk going to the other sects area. No Sunnis until now can wander around Sadr City, Hurriya, Kadhimya, Shu'la, Washash, and some other places around Baghdad without the risk of getting killed because of the sect. And on the other hand, no Shiaa can freely move in all parts of Adhamiya, Amirya, Dawra, and Jami'aa St., without the risk of getting killed because of the sect.
There is a lot of work need to be done. I hope walls were the answer.
BT, have Americans really known if they have been deceived or not? From what I see and hear here in the U.S. is that they do.
i agree w/this. i think most americans know they are being deceived intentionally. however there are still many americans who are attracted to endless streams of meaningless promotions by the media, as it sometimes becomes a sort of elevated jerry springer show looping thru stories designed to distract us.
david, The violence in Iraq is down, so it no longer leads the news programs.
david, to be sure the media is very important in directing american thought. however, the level of violence is not closely related to what leads the news. iraq only leads the news when they need to direct public opinion wrt it. the whole point of controling information to keep people from hearing about violence, is to direct their attention away from the war, so they can keep waging it their way.
it is very important that stories such as the winter soldiers are telling do not infiltrate into the american psyche, the media does a very good job perpetuating a myth that we are not over there killing people, but we are. it is very important we don't grasp what war does to soldiers, but it changes men just as the war changes these children's lives and psyches.
i think in our hearts, most people know how painful this is, and it is happening in iraq. how could they not?
on another forum about this film some of the pro war posters we are all so familiar w/said 'it is better than before' type statements. but this walled life is a tactic just as peace thru civil war is a tactic. it is the zionofascist tactic we see in palestine. it is no way to live. no way to bring peace, will never lead to peace. but then, peace is not the point of why we are there. ultimately we are there to divide the middle east into small segregated regions divided by religion. for this reason religion and the religious must be empowered.
it leads to extremism which is promoted until it becomes the predominant reality. once it becomes the reality, which it has, it is no longer a strawman, it is the enemy and justifies what comes before it.
a strange perverted way of waging war. a horrible tactic waged against society. creating terrorism to fight against it.
it is devastating listening to these children, watching the boy cry over the loss of his parents. the pain of loosing ones parents for a young child seems insurmountable. for most of these children, it will be. we are fueling hatred. it is our gift to the iraqi people that will keep on giving.
http://last-of-iraqis.blogspot.com/2008/03/celebrations.html
People watching the news forget that it is a business. If they showed stuff like this on TV, who would advertise, who would pay for the air time? NBC is a business, etc. Business exist to make money, for the most part. NPR would receive an immediate funding cut by Congress.
Treasure,
My comment is, "What goes around, comes around". I am sure that what America sews in injustice in Iraq will be reaped in America, not necessarily by blood but in other ways. The only question I have is ,when will God's justice fall on us (Americans)? As you know I believe we all share at least a portion of of the blame.
Take care,
Steadfast regards from Japan,
The only question I have is ,when will God's justice fall on us (Americans)? As you know I believe we all share at least a portion of of the blame.
I'd prefer to see Americans start a dialog on what they owe Iraqis now, instead of just feeling guilty.
"B Will Derd"
It's so ironic you are referring to a post that includes a video of Iraqis chanting "With our souls and blood we sacrifice ourselves for you SADDAM."
Are you now a supporter of Saddam?
Oh! Also, have you noticed Saddam's version of the Iraqi flag being carried and hung everywhere?
The problem with you and millions of Americans is that you look at the surface. You have no idea what the deep story is and you never will because things for you are either black or white, just like your president.
For now, Kuntz agrees with Bochco: "We're bombarded by information about [Iraq] 24 hours a day," he says. "We already know plenty about it. We don't need to learn more about it from the movies. Right now, it's something people want to forget and escape from. I speak for the American public when I say, 'What a bummer.' "
This is from WP. commenting about the reaction of Americans to movies about Iraq. What do you think about his analysis of the American public?
edoriver, i don't agree w/it. kuntz makes the point that most of the successful vietnam movies were made years after the end of the war. i think that this reflects people's willingness to absorb the information. hollywood is full of propaganda. many people don't really want to see rah rah troops movies that make soldiers heros. they also don't want to see americans slaughtering iraqis. i would guess they don't trust hollywood for anything more than propaganda/entertainment in a time of war.
ultimately, i think filmakers often try to humanize war in the context of showing the conflictions in people's minds wrt the war. in this stop loss war movie (i haven't seen it) i've read it presents this duality.
we are faced w/this all the time, this grappling of the dual nature of the ptb making us feel we are being traitors for not 'supporting the troops'. i don't really think there are many americans on the fence. in many ways i think BT is right when he says The problem with you and millions of Americans is that you look at the surface. You have no idea what the deep story is and you never will because things for you are either black or white. we don't want to be told what to think because we have already made up our minds.
in terms of this war, it is a tricky situation because the more you try to rationalize it, the uglier it becomes. of course iraqis need help protecting them from this terror. but the reality is, the terror wouldn't be there if we hadn't invaded, and the people we have entrusted w/saving the situation, are being ruled by a bunch of criminals. so how can these 'saviors' who essentially have to become desensitized monsters to carry out their orders, who have to get this 'i am there for my brothers' mentality, to find the juice to keep on going (from the review 'who would have killed in order to protect his men ').
i think americans feel powerless. i think many of us have figured out this mission is really about corporate genocide (i recommend this article by Nofa Khadduri, a young iraq student living in canada), a genocide perpetuated by the constant influx of conflicting sentiments the media bombards at us.
it leads to a solidifying of emotion, a shutting off of deep thought. i don't think it is a matter of 'What a bummer.'
i think it is the likelihood we know we are powerless. this is why i think the only thing powerful enough to right the wrong is americans suffering, which will probably be most widespread thru the economic hit of trillions extracted to feed the beast. i wish it wasn't so, i wish people didn't feel powerless, i wish we weren't subject to an onslaght of propaganda, but we are. so, do we go to the theatres and shell out big bucks to hear more propaganda?
no.
on another note, last night i watched frontline : bush's war. the second part of the series is on tonight. although i found many inaccuracies, for the most part it was accurate, and information that ANYONE following the war already knows. what i kept thinking tho is, with all these people knowing this stuff, why didn't anyone step up and scream it back then? it isn't as if we went to war in 5 days. it was a long drawn out process of lies w/media complicity, and nothing has changed. journalism is still screwed. truth is still garnered by dissecting the lies after the fact.
20 years from now we will look back and acknowledge we have committed genocide. now those voices are drowned out, people like carter, a PRESIDENT for god's sake, is demonized for using words like aparthied. nobody want to be called a conspiracy theorists but in reality, we all know it was a conspiracy. even frontline, as it documents lie after lie, will never say it was a conspiracy.
'bummer', no. complict in war crimes? how can you get a nation to accept this? we shut our eyes not because we don't care, but that we cannot face the truth, it is too ugly and challenges the exceptionalism we have been bred with, that fuels our culture.
sorry to go on so, i think about this stuff all the time.
BT, i saw this interview (video) on charlie rose and thought of you immediately.
fifth anniversary Iraq show
the entire interview -- with Sinan Antoon and Ali Fadhil, an Iraqi professor and journalist, respectively, currently living in the U.S.
The significance of the interview lies as much in what it says about the American occupation of Iraq as it what it illustrates about the American media. In the American media's discussions of Iraq, when are the perspectives expressed here about our ongoing occupation -- views extremely common among Iraqis of all types and grounded in clear, indisputable facts -- ever heard by the average American news consumer? The answer is: "virtually never."
.....
ALI FADHIL: ..... They're going back to Saddam's policies in everything. . . . If you, you know, name it, name the most successful project of the surge -- outcome of the surge, the (INAUDIBLE) councils. You know, these insurgents, the Sunnis, even Shiites.
CHARLIE ROSE: The so-called awakening.
ALI FADHIL: Awakening council, exactly. They're giving them money to protect their own neighborhoods. Isn't that the same what happened under Saddam? . . .
Anything [Americans] do -- probably even in good intentions -- is bad for us, everything they do, everything. There's nothing they're doing is right.
And that's what is going to happen. It's just prolonging the diaspora of the Iraqis. We're suffering more and more every day. We need, you know, to start the salvation (ph). . .
SINAN ANTOON: The president today said something really obscene to my mind. He said Iraq is witnessing the first Arab uprising against al Qaeda.
We did not have al Qaeda in Iraq before.We had a ruthless dictatorship.
it gets very firey , emotional in the interview, i recommend.
The US military has dropped all charges against one of the marines accused of involvement in the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November 2005
Five of the eight men initially accused have now had all charges dismissed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7319708.stm
Annie,
Burned out from studying Japanese, so I read your comments. and I thought of a baseball song, with the line
"Say it ain't so, Joe" meaning a little fan was addressing Shoeless Joe Jackson about the Black Sox scandal, and this was to say that the myth of baseball being pure until the corruption of baseball by a gambler and a one or two White Sox players. As though there is really someone to blame, and once that person is punished, then we can get back to the fantasy (which some look back on and think was reality.
Annie I agree with your sentiments, always have, but I venture into the "land of incomprehension" at least from your point of view, because I hold all of us, this means, you me, TB/BT, and his family and friends and Saddam , and on and on. Of course there is a law of diminishing responsibility.....I mean how much can we blame the butterfly wing's for the hurricane in Fla.? ;=)
Still, everything is connected. The great Teachers have been telling us this for 1000's of years. ONly difference is that now there are structures in place to do something about it, rather than just talk and meditate.
The only way we are going to get out of this mess, or that mess (which ever one you want to name) is DO SOMETHING. Deeds. The only thing that really counts in this physical world.
Regards from Japan, time to sleep.d
For now, Kuntz agrees with Bochco: "We're bombarded by information about [Iraq] 24 hours a day," he says. "We already know plenty about it. We don't need to learn more about it from the movies. Right now, it's something people want to forget and escape from. I speak for the American public when I say, 'What a bummer.' "
Yeah, I'd say this sums up the sentiment over here either
A)They came to the conclusion that they are against the war but have no interest in actually doing anything about it other than voting for a democrat.
or
B)Aren't really paying attention and accept the stories about the violence being down.
BT
It has been way too long since I have visited your blog. I like the new look. As always this is a splendid entry. I can confirm that many of my fellow Americans do not know what is really going on in Iraq and do not really even care. Their are blind, deaf, and mute. They live meaningless lives chasing their material pursuits. They hardly care about themselves let alone people half way around the world. It is a sad state of affairs.
Nadia I think you got that right. The general American feeling is, "Ok, things are pretty bad. So I'll sit back and let somebody else do something about it, after all that's what they're paid/elected to do." Not really my problem. I can relate to that. ;-( And so I moved to a society that is even more passive! Here (in Japan) we say, "let America handle it. And we'll support most of whatever they want to do. BUT don't ask us to get involved; After all, we're for Peace."
Hmmmmmmmmmmm
I also think a part of it comes from being demoralized by experiences with the protests in 2002/3 that didn't really accomplish much, but I think there's a lot more to it than that.
Actually it's funny I just happened to come across a long article about Japanese/Iraqi relations today.
BT, nyt frank rich has written an article i thought pertinent to the thread.
It would take another column to list all the movies and TV shows about Iraq that have gone belly up at the box office or in Nielsen ratings in the nearly four years since the war’s only breakout commercial success, “Fahrenheit 9/11.” They die regardless of their quality or stand on the war, whether they star Tommy Lee Jones (“In the Valley of Elah”) or Meryl Streep (“Lions for Lambs”) or are produced by Steven Bochco (the FX series “Over There”) or are marketed like Abercrombie & Fitch apparel to the MTV young (“Stop-Loss”).
As The New York Times recently reported, box-office dread has driven one Hollywood distributor to repeatedly postpone the release of “The Lucky Ones,” a highly regarded and sympathetic feature about the war’s veterans, the first made with full Army assistance, even though the word Iraq is never spoken and the sole battle sequence runs 40 seconds. If Iraq had been mentioned in “Knocked Up” or “Superbad,” Judd Apatow’s hilarious hit comedies about young American guys who (like most of their peers) never consider the volunteer Army as an option, they might have flopped too. Iraq is to moviegoers what garlic is to vampires.
This is not merely a showbiz phenomenon but a leading indicator of where our entire culture is right now. It’s not just torture we want to avoid. Most Americans don’t want to hear, see or feel anything about Iraq, whether they support the war or oppose it. They want to look away, period, and have been doing so for some time.
.....
In the largely unwatched House hearings on Wednesday, Representative Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat,....asking what some 4,000 “sons and daughters” of America had died for.
The best General Petraeus could muster was a bit of bloodless Beltway-speak — “national interests” — followed by another halfhearted attempt to overstate Iraq’s centrality to the war on Al Qaeda and a future war on Iran. He couldn’t even argue that we’re on a humanitarian mission on behalf of the Iraqi people. That would require him to acknowledge that roughly five million of those people, 60 percent of them children, are now refugees receiving scant help from either our government or Nuri al-Maliki’s. That’s nearly a fifth of the Iraqi population — the equivalent of 60 million Americans — and another source of our shame.
reminds me of something i said upthread
we shut our eyes not because we don't care, but that we cannot face the truth, it is too ugly
Images like Ghaith's certainly communicate volumes; if anyone is interested in seeing more, he has more photos from Iraq in the Battlespace exhibition.
Yeah, we who beleived the Surge was working and was putting Iraq on the path toward peace and a functioning sovereign government had it all wrong, didn't we?
So why have you chosen to ignore the remarkable process your countrymen are making? So many of you blogging Iraqis seem to have had so much invested in chaos, you don't know what to do with the current turn of events. I really am interested in your take.
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