"Iraq is lost" - Wall Street Journal Reporter Farnaz Fassihi

[AdD 1]

***Published on Thursday, September 30, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
From Baghdad
A Wall Street Journal Reporter's E-Mail to Friends

by Farnaz Fassihi

Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under virtual house arrest. Forget about the reasons that lured me to this job: a chance to see the world, explore the exotic, meet new people in far away lands, discover their ways and tell stories that could make a difference.

Little by little, day-by-day, being based in Iraq has defied all those reasons. I am house bound. I leave when I have a very good reason to and a scheduled interview. I avoid going to people's homes and never walk in the streets. I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can't and can't. There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive. In Baghdad I am a security personnel first, a reporter second.

It's hard to pinpoint when the 'turning point' exactly began. Was it April when the Fallujah fell out of the grasp of the Americans? Was it when Moqtada and Jish Mahdi declared war on the U.S. military? Was it when Sadr City, home to ten percent of Iraq's population, became a nightly battlefield for the Americans? Or was it when the insurgency began spreading from isolated pockets in the Sunni triangle to include most of Iraq? Despite President Bush's rosy assessments, Iraq remains a disaster. If under Saddam it was a 'potential' threat, under the Americans it has been transformed to 'imminent and active threat,' a foreign policy failure bound to haunt the United States for decades to come.

Iraqis like to call this mess 'the situation.' When asked 'how are thing?' they reply: 'the situation is very bad."

What they mean by situation is this: the Iraqi government doesn't control most Iraqi cities, there are several car bombs going off each day around the country killing and injuring scores of innocent people, the country's roads are becoming impassable and littered by hundreds of landmines and explosive devices aimed to kill American soldiers, there are assassinations, kidnappings and beheadings. The situation, basically, means a raging barbaric guerilla war. In four days, 110 people died and over 300 got injured in Baghdad alone. The numbers are so shocking that the ministry of health -- which was attempting an exercise of public transparency by releasing the numbers -- has now stopped disclosing them.

Insurgents now attack Americans 87 times a day.

A friend drove thru the Shiite slum of Sadr City yesterday. He said young men were openly placing improvised explosive devices into the ground. They melt a shallow hole into the asphalt, dig the explosive, cover it with dirt and put an old tire or plastic can over it to signal to the locals this is booby-trapped. He said on the main roads of Sadr City, there were a dozen landmines per every ten yards. His car snaked and swirled to avoid driving over them. Behind the walls sits an angry Iraqi ready to detonate them as soon as an American convoy gets near. This is in Shiite land, the population that was supposed to love America for liberating Iraq.

For journalists the significant turning point came with the wave of abduction and kidnappings. Only two weeks ago we felt safe around Baghdad because foreigners were being abducted on the roads and highways between towns. Then came a frantic phone call from a journalist female friend at 11 p.m. telling me two Italian women had been abducted from their homes in broad daylight. Then the two Americans, who got beheaded this week and the Brit, were abducted from their homes in a residential neighborhood. They were supplying the entire block with round the clock electricity from their generator to win friends. The abductors grabbed one of them at 6 a.m. when he came out to switch on the generator; his beheaded body was thrown back near the neighborhoods.

The insurgency, we are told, is rampant with no signs of calming down. If any thing, it is growing stronger, organized and more sophisticated every day. The various elements within it-baathists, criminals, nationalists and Al Qaeda-are cooperating and coordinating.

I went to an emergency meeting for foreign correspondents with the military and embassy to discuss the kidnappings. We were somberly told our fate would largely depend on where we were in the kidnapping chain once it was determined we were missing. Here is how it goes: criminal gangs grab you and sell you up to Baathists in Fallujah, who will in turn sell you to Al Qaeda. In turn, cash and weapons flow the other way from Al Qaeda to the Baathisst to the criminals. My friend Georges, the French journalist snatched on the road to Najaf, has been missing for a month with no word on release or whether he is still alive.

America's last hope for a quick exit? The Iraqi police and National Guard units we are spending billions of dollars to train. The cops are being murdered by the dozens every day-over 700 to date -- and the insurgents are infiltrating their ranks. The problem is so serious that the U.S. military has allocated $6 million dollars to buy out 30,000 cops they just trained to get rid of them quietly.

As for reconstruction: firstly it's so unsafe for foreigners to operate that almost all projects have come to a halt. After two years, of the $18 billion Congress appropriated for Iraq reconstruction only about $1 billion or so has been spent and a chuck has now been reallocated for improving security, a sign of just how bad things are going here.

Oil dreams? Insurgents disrupt oil flow routinely as a result of sabotage and oil prices have hit record high of $49 a barrel. Who did this war exactly benefit? Was it worth it? Are we safer because Saddam is holed up and Al Qaeda is running around in Iraq?

Iraqis say that thanks to America they got freedom in exchange for insecurity. Guess what? They say they'd take security over freedom any day, even if it means having a dictator ruler.

I heard an educated Iraqi say today that if Saddam Hussein were allowed to run for elections he would get the majority of the vote. This is truly sad.

Then I went to see an Iraqi scholar this week to talk to him about elections here. He has been trying to educate the public on the importance of voting. He said, "President Bush wanted to turn Iraq into a democracy that would be an example for the Middle East. Forget about democracy, forget about being a model for the region, we have to salvage Iraq before all is lost."

One could argue that Iraq is already lost beyond salvation. For those of us on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any thing could salvage it from its violent downward spiral. The genie of terrorism, chaos and mayhem has been unleashed onto this country as a result of American mistakes and it can't be put back into a bottle.

The Iraqi government is talking about having elections in three months while half of the country remains a 'no go zone'-out of the hands of the government and the Americans and out of reach of journalists. In the other half, the disenchanted population is too terrified to show up at polling stations. The Sunnis have already said they'd boycott elections, leaving the stage open for polarized government of Kurds and Shiites that will not be deemed as legitimate and will most certainly lead to civil war.

I asked a 28-year-old engineer if he and his family would participate in the Iraqi elections since it was the first time Iraqis could to some degree elect a leadership. His response summed it all: "Go and vote and risk being blown into pieces or followed by the insurgents and murdered for cooperating with the Americans? For what? To practice democracy? Are you joking?" ***
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0930-15.htm

Funny how this stuff doesn't show up on Fox News.

Life is ez
On the dz
Every jumper's dream
3 rigs and an airstream

[TheAnvil 0]

I have several friends who are in Iraq as we speak. My brother - who just returned from Afghanistan - has been to Iraq a couple of times as well in the past year. All of them disagree with Mr. Fassihi.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[pajarito 0]

Wars and battles are never won by people with defeatist attitudes. If you've already given up on the inside, everything else is a futile effort. You're done. I'm grateful that our current leadership and military don't share these views. I believe wholeheartedly in The United States of America's ability to prevail and succeed.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

There is a new book in the stores now. It is full of letters from troops that disagree with your brother.

You think this country would have learned how imperialism doesn't work. Rome failed, the UK failed, and we failed as well in the Philippines. If our previous experience is any sign of our success - then we are looking forward to well over 40 years of issues.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[rhino 0]

The only think missing from your post is,

"I am Senator John Kerry, and I approve this message."

lol

[pajarito 0]

Quote

There is a new book in the stores now. It is full of letters from troops that disagree with your brother.

The vast majority of the military are for the President and his policies. They are loyal to him and believe in the cause. That book you referenced doesn't reflect the opinion of most.

[AdD 1]

Quote

I believe wholeheartedly in The United States of America's ability to prevail and succeed.

Of course America has the ability to prevail, they're the world's only superpower fighting what is essentially a desperate bunch of 3rd world guerrilla insurgents intermingled with elements of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations drawn to the country. I'm more interested by the fact that before the invasion, Iraq was not as Harvard's Jessica Stern says, the "Terrorist Haven" it is today. http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/news/opeds/2003/stern_terrorism_nyt_082003.htm

Now that we know Iraq had no WMD's in the first place and in reality posed very little threat to the US, objectively it would seem that the invasion has actually mobilized the ME in hatred of the US and has seriously increased the threat of repeat terrorist attacks on Americans.

Life is ez
On the dz
Every jumper's dream
3 rigs and an airstream

[TheAnvil 0]

Though I'd agree with you that an analysis of the US rise to its current world status along Gibbon-esque lines is quite interesting, here your comparison of the current US position in Iraq with that of Rome and the UK of years past really isn't apropos.

We're not colonizing Iraq nor are we making it part of an American empire as a subservient state. We're rebuilding it and turning it back over to its indiginous people so they may determine their own destiny as a sovereign nation.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[billvon 2,467]

> Wars and battles are never won by people with defeatist attitudes

Nor are they won by people who believe in fantasy over reality. If people keep believing that everything in Iraq is great, the people love us, only a few hundred evil terrorists have any problem with us etc then we will find ourselves in a world of hurt.

Wars and battles are won by using wisdom and intelligence to outsmart the enemy, not by pretending he doesn't exist, or hoping reeealy reaaaly hard that there won't be any more bombings. We have the best military in the world, and they can win any given military battle. We're beyond that now; we need smart leaders who can turn a group of people who are beginning to hate us into a free country we can get along with. And killing people until they start loving us just ain't gonna work.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

So do you feel that there are no lessons to be learned from the mistakes made in the Philippines that cannot be transfered to this scenario?

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Quote

Quote

There is a new book in the stores now. It is full of letters from troops that disagree with your brother.

The vast majority of the military are for the President and his policies. They are loyal to him and believe in the cause. That book you referenced doesn't reflect the opinion of most.

I've been trying to weed out the noise and see how many troops vocally support the war and the CiC. However, as the war goes on I am hearing more on a daily basis that are against it (some of them I see in my office). It is usually true that the angry have the loudest voices and those that support are too busy working to say anything....but maybe that should change. If the troops over there that were supportive of this war would release stories of the love that the citizens of Iraq show them, and how much they love GW, then they should come out and say it.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[Jimbo 0]

Quote

However, as the war goes on I am hearing more on a daily basis that are against it (some of them I see in my office).

What do you do?

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Quote

Quote

However, as the war goes on I am hearing more on a daily basis that are against it (some of them I see in my office).

What do you do?

-
Jim

I work in education - both IT and Medical (and formerly I did Culinary as well). I see a dozen former troops on a weekly basis as they look for education after they leave the military.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[rushmc 18]

Quote

> Wars and battles are never won by people with defeatist attitudes

Nor are they won by people who believe in fantasy over reality. If people keep believing that everything in Iraq is great, the people love us, only a few hundred evil terrorists have any problem with us etc then we will find ourselves in a world of hurt.

Wars and battles are won by using wisdom and intelligence to outsmart the enemy, not by pretending he doesn't exist, or hoping reeealy reaaaly hard that there won't be any more bombings. We have the best military in the world, and they can win any given military battle. We're beyond that now; we need smart leaders who can turn a group of people who are beginning to hate us into a free country we can get along with. And killing people until they start loving us just ain't gonna work.

The appeasement of those who want to kill us will not work! Only freedom of those countries will work IMHO

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 18]

Quote

> Wars and battles are never won by people with defeatist attitudes

Nor are they won by people who believe in fantasy over reality. If people keep believing that everything in Iraq is great, the people love us, only a few hundred evil terrorists have any problem with us etc then we will find ourselves in a world of hurt.

Wars and battles are won by using wisdom and intelligence to outsmart the enemy, not by pretending he doesn't exist, or hoping reeealy reaaaly hard that there won't be any more bombings. We have the best military in the world, and they can win any given military battle. We're beyond that now; we need smart leaders who can turn a group of people who are beginning to hate us into a free country we can get along with. And killing people until they start loving us just ain't gonna work.

....another thing....Beginning to hate us??!! When did you start paying attention. They did not hate us before 911??

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[nigel99 151]

In history has any terrorist group been defeated using the "military" option?

Genuine question as I do not know and I know that you were anti-war (certainly in the case of Iraq) and yet you appear to be implying that the US military can "beat" the terrorists. I realise that you directly refered to a "milatary battle" and not terrorists directly though.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[nigel99 151]

The majority of the US military that I have dealt with over the past 18 months have usually expressed one of the following sentiments:

a) Iraq was a mistake and distraction
b) It is a quagmire that they don't see the end of (this sentiment from includes a guy sitting next to me on the plane to Washington - just finishing his tour of duty in Baghdad and it was said in November 2003!)

Not a single member of your armed forces that I have spoken to are not "loyal" to your president though.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[chuckbrown 0]

Quote

In history has any terrorist group been defeated using the "military" option?

Ask the Brits. I think the SAS did a pretty good job on the communist terrorists in Malaysia, as well as against the IRA. In Vietnam, the VC were largely destroyed during the Tet Offensive; after 1968 the war in South Vietnam was fought almost exclusively by NVA regular army troops.

[markd_nscr986 0]

***The vast majority of the military are for the President and his policies. They are loyal to him and believe in the cause. That book you referenced doesn't reflect the opinion of most.


That's been my experience as well,Pajarito,talking to family and friends in Iraq,of course,most of them are Marines or in Marine units

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[nigel99 151]

Quote

as well as against the IRA

having worked near London for the past 7 yrs the disruption from the IRA significantly dropped off after the Good Friday agreement - a political and not military solution.

I am not denying that the SAS/British military did not minimise the terrorist threat but do not think that it solved the problem.

I will have to research on the Malaysia terrorists as I do not know - but thanks for the lead.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[gemini 0]

Quote

Nor are they won by people who believe in fantasy over reality.

Gosh Bill does this mean you recognize possible defeat since you could be believing in fantasy instead of reality?

Blue skies,

Jim