War Post

BIDEN: Based on what you’ve said, there’s really no hope — we really should get the hell out of there right now. I mean, there’s nothing to do. Nothing.

ROSEN: As a journalist, I’m uncomfortable advising an imperialist power about how to be a more efficient imperialist power. And I don’t think that we’re there for the interest of the Iraqi people. I don’t think that’s ever been a motivation. […]

BIDEN: [If we withdraw], the good news is we wouldn’t be imperialists in Iraq, from your perspective.

ROSEN: Only elsewhere in the region. (laughter). … There’s no positive scenario in Iraq these days. Not every situation has a solution.

What a refreshing sight… speaking truth in front of Congress and cutting through the political fray on both sides to reveal the hollowness of any so-called exit strategy. Watch Nir Rosen here.

What would you say to people who describe 9/11, its precursors and the years since as part of an inherent clash of civilizations?

Well, for one thing it’s not inherent. Islam and the West have clashed in the past and have not clashed. There is nothing inevitable about it. Also, I think it’s wrong to think of it as a clash between civilizations, because Islam is not really a civilization but a religion that exists in civilizations all over the world. That is a mischaracterization. I think that, for the most part, the clashes come from a clash of identity within civilizations that feel threatened.

In Belgium, for example, the number one name for a child born today is Mohammed, which isn’t that surprising because Mohammed is the most popular name in the whole world right now. But if you were someone of Flemish ancestry, you must be saying to yourself, where is this going? What is happening to my country’s history and language, our precious place in the world? And if you’re Mohammed you’re probably thinking, they speak for someone else; I’m not one of them.

And it’s very likely that Mohammed has never been to Morocco, or may not even speak Arabic. But he’s really lost. It’s not surprising that he goes off to this mosque and associates with other angry and alienated young men and that Islam becomes more than a religion; it becomes a complete identity. That is why I call it a clash of identity within civilizations. It’s different wherever you go. It’s different in Europe than in the Middle East. It’s different in Indonesia. There are many different expressions of these feelings of alienation, rather than this clash of civilizations.

Lawrence Wright, in an interview I did for the Daily Star Egypt last summer, offering a new explanation — not Samuel Huntington’s "Clash of Civilizations," nor Edward Said’s "Clash of Ignorance." A compelling and unique response.

Read the rest of the interview here and another piece I did after talking with Lawrence Wright on the Huffington Post.

…the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority argues that he "was absolutely right to strip away the apparatus of a particularly odious tyranny," including the Baath Party and the Iraqi army. He complains about "critics who’ve never spent time in Iraq" and "don’t understand its complexities." But Bremer himself never understood Iraq, knew no Arabic, had no experience in the Middle East and made no effort to educate himself — as his statements clearly show.

 Nir Rosen on Paul Bremer in the Washington Post.

Time and again, he refers to "the formerly ruling Sunnis," "rank-and-file Sunnis," "the old Sunni regime," "responsible Sunnis." This obsession with sects informed the U.S. approach to Iraq from day one of the occupation, but it was not how Iraqis saw themselves — at least, not until very recently. Iraqis were not primarily Sunnis or Shiites; they were Iraqis first, and their sectarian identities did not become politicized until the Americans occupied their country, treating Sunnis as the bad guys and Shiites as the good guys. There were no blocs of "Sunni Iraqis" or "Shiite Iraqis" before the war, just like there was no "Sunni Triangle" or "Shiite South" until the Americans imposed ethnic and sectarian identities onto Iraq’s regions.

Despite Bremer’s assertions, Saddam Hussein’s regime was not a Sunni regime; it was a dictatorship with many complex alliances in Iraqi society, including some with Shiites. If anything, the old tyranny was a Tikriti regime, led by relatives and clansmen from Hussein’s hometown. Hussein punished Sunnis who became too prominent and suppressed Sunni Arab officers from Mosul and Baghdad in favor of more pliable officers from rural and tribal backgrounds. Local Sunni movements that were not pro-Hussein were repressed just as harshly as the Shiites.

Bremer was not alone in his blindness here. Just two weeks ago, I interviewed John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, about the crisis of Iraqi refugees, who now number more than 2 million. He displayed the same dismal approach to Iraq as Bremer. Bolton claimed that most of the refugees were Sunnis, fleeing because "they fear that Shiites are going to exact retribution for four or five decades of Baath rule."

More.

I talked to Nir Rosen briefly for a newspaper story in January about the launch of IraqSlogger, focusing on the site’s Iraqi-based reporting.

“There’s a dearth of good information about Iraq given the security situation,” Rosen told The Daily Star Egypt.

A founding member of Praedict and IraqSlogger and regular contributor to the website, Rosen added, “What we really need are Iraqis to tell their own stories of survival,” admitting that “at this point there’s really no choice, because Western journalists can’t get around at all.”

“As Iraq becomes more and more difficult to work in, and more and more important in the region, that information vacuum becomes larger.”

More.

 
Warner Plans to Investigate Pentagon’s Ban on YouTube, MySpace, Others

"Last fall the British medical journal "Lancet" published a study done by researchers from Johns Hopkins University estimating that the midrange number of Iraqis dead "as a consequence of the war" was about 2.5 percent of that country’s population, or roughly 655,000 people. Over 90% of those died from violence. Comparable casualty rates in our country would mean that every person in Atlanta, Denver, Boston, Seattle, Milwaukee, Fort Worth, Baltimore, San Francisco, Dallas and Philadelphia would be dead. Every. Single. Person."

Again, via the Angry Arab.

 

Looking for the price of black market goods in Baghdad or a Slate-style daily round-up of Iraq’s newspapers? IraqSlogger has that and more, from a "Kirkuk Police Blotter" to categories about insurgents and journalists that are more substantitive than anything in the newspapers quoted on Slate. For example:

The Sunni fundamentalist website Islam Memo reports that joint U.S.-Iraqi forces are raiding civilian residences in Fallujah and breaking up TV sets of families who are caught watching the banned Zawraa TV satellite channel. At least one resident, Kamel Ahmed Hamadi, of Nazzal district in Fallujah, was detained. One person reportedly asked the raiding force in English about freedom of the press and as a result got a slap in the face by an American soldier, Nazzal district residents said.

"Safavids are Forbidden to Enter" was scrawled under a sign that reads "Welcome to Baghdad" at the Mahmudiya intersection, south of Baghdad, according to an Islam Memo correspondent. Safavid is a reference to the Persian Safavid Empire that invaded Iraq during the 16th and 17th centuries and massacred thousands of Sunnis. It is a derogatory term used by Sunni insurgents and fundamentalists to describe the Shia, their militias, and even Iraqi security forces. Two IEDs that were placed under the sign exploded when a police commando force attempted to wipe out the graffiti, killing and wounding several policemen.

The site went up recently and splits much of its content as "StateSde" anad "IraqiSide." Most of all, the latter includes an "Iraqi Diary;" the most recent post is from a woman in Baghdad writing about her 22 year-old cousin, a Sunni, who was killed because his fiance was Shia. To the question of why it also includes a "humor" link, the editors say they based the decision "in part because Iraqis and U.S. troops have a wickedly morbid sense of humor."

Graphic via Iraq Slogger.

 

What to do between now and eight AM? What if nothing happens at 8 am —-kind of like the Y2K hype? Perhaps four months from now I’ll be sitting in a bomb shelter and trying to lighten up my neighbors with jokes about that that ceasefire deal, way back when, in August –or was it September? And what if it all suddenly ends, if quiet descends upon the land, and people crawl out of their besieged homes and villages to survey the damage, and infighting is once again the order of the day?

How did this all start again?

We’ll just have to wait and see. In any case, the clock is ticking. Rather than reaching the Litani river by land, they have finally realized they can just parachute down on its banks for the grand “Mission Accomplished” moment, the pacifier in photo op form.

Negotiations. Funny how that was on the table as an option 100,000 bombs ago. It feels like forever.

 

Via Anecdotes from a Banana Republic.

 

The Fall of Baghdad by Edmund Candler, Manchester Guardian, 16 March 1917

Our vanguard entered Baghdad soon after nine o’clock this morning.  The city is approached by an unmetalled road between palm groves and orange gardens.

Crowds of Baghdadis came out to meet us: Persians, Krabe, Jew, Armenians, Chaldeans and Christians of diverse sects and races.  They lined the streets, balconies and roofs, hurrahing and clapping their hands.  Groups of schoolchildren danced in front of us, shouting and cheering, and the women of the city turned out in their holiday dresses.

The people of the city have been robbed to supply the Turkish army for the last two years.  The oppression was becoming unendurable, and during the last week it degenerated into brigandage.  I am told that the mere mention of the British was punishable, and the people were afraid to talk freely about the war.

It appears that the enemy abandoned all hope of saving the city when we effected the crossing of the Tigris on February 23.  After that date, the Turkish government requisitioned private merchandise wholesale, and despatched it by train to Samara.  Thirty or forty thousand pounds worth of stuff is believed to have been officially looted, including five thousand sacks of flour.

The German Consul left weeks ago, and the Austrian two days since.  The bridge of boats, the Turkish army clothing factory and Messrs Lynch’s offices were blown up or otherwise destroyed last night, and the railway station, the Civil Hospital and most British property except the Residency, which had been used as a Turkish hospital, were either gutted or damaged.

As soon as the gendarmery left at two o’clock this morning, Kurds and others began looting.  As we entered from the east this morning, they were rifling, and among the first citizens we met were merchants who had run out to crave our protection.

Regiments were detailed to police, the bazaar, and houses and pickets and patrols were allotted, but there was much that it was too late to save.  Many shops had been gutted, and the valuables had all been cleared.  The rabble was found busily engaged in dismantling the interiors, tearing down bits of wood and iron and carrying off bedsteads.  They had even looted the seats from the public gardens.

Our entry was very easy and unofficial, and it was clear that the joy of the people was genuine.  No functionaries came out to meet us.  There was still fear of reprisals.  Our own attitude was characteristic.  There was no display, or attempt at creating an impression.

The troops entered, dusty and unshaven, after several days hard fighting.  Fighting between the 7th and 10th had been heavy, and extraordinary gallantry was shown in crossing the Diala river.

Source: Source Records of the Great War, Vol. V, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923. Find it online here.

Contemporary Baghdad reading can best be found here. The photo is from the Digital Journalist.

Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006

Dear All,

We would like to announce our resignation from Fox News in Amman. Although we never actually worked for your organization, we helped for the past three years in facilitating your work in the Middle East.
We base our decision on moral issues. We can no longer work with a news organization that claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that. Not only are you an instrument of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism. You have crossed all borders and red lines. An Arab mother cries over the death of her child very much like an American and Israeli mother.
Arab blood is not cheap, and we are not barbarians. You ought to be more responsible and have more decency when you take one side against the other. You have a role to play and a responsibility to shoulder for the sake of your very naive viewers.
Throughout the three years we worked with you, and helped you, we thought you would develop a degree of respect to people in this part of the world. But the disdain and blatant one-sided coverage of all Mideast conflicts only highlights your total lack of humanity and bias toward Israel. Your lack of professionalism has made you a tool of ridicule throughout the world. Your inexperienced anchors with their racist comments are not only a shameful scar on the American Media, they simply represent state run Television networks in countries you despise in the Middle East.
Finally, our decision again is based on moral and professional basis and from now on we will no longer help in any Fox related matters.
Serene Sabbagh
Jomana Karadsheh"

via the Angry Arab News Service.

Today on his blog Prof. As’ad AbuKhalil posted a letter from an American soldier stationed in Kuwait. Abu Khalil teaches political science at California State University and guest lectures at Berkeley. Ken Silverstein recently did an excellent profile of the Angry Arab on his Harper’s blog, Washington Babylon.

"Mr. Abu Khalil,
I am myself in a difficult situation. I am in the American military, as you might see from my email address, and am serving in Kuwait. I graduated from Syracuse University where I studied International Relations. My concentration was Middle Eastern studies and conflict resolution (go figure, right?) and I now find myself settled in the middle of a bunch of racists. The images most Americans here on camp have of Kuwaitis aren’t even of Kuwaitis, or even Arabs.
I am emailing I suppose to tell you about how disappointed I have been with the Soldiers and Officers who serve with me. I have tried my best to get them understand the conflicts raging within the area along the Mediterranean, but most wave their hand and dismiss it as a war waging for thousands of years, which you and I both know is not true. I make the effort to explain why we need to deal with conflicts with an even hand, not a biased opinion without facts. I try to give them a glimpse of what it would be like to have an America like Israel. America is not perfect, by no means, but we still have our limits… In America, you don’t get certain rights because you are part of the majority, the white protestant group, or lose them if you decide you would like to follow a different faith. I believe is it completely un-American to support a state such as Israel, yet we are their biggest supporter. What are they, the 18^th richest country in the world? Receiving the most of our tax dollars?
I want to explain to the Soldiers that this conflict is a direct result of the seeds sown by WWI and not of an ancient conflict between Muslims and Jews. The seeds planted by the west are now deeply rooted in the area. Israel exists, and the Zionists continue to exploit those around them, as seen by some of the pictures posted on your “Angry Arab” website. I wanted you to know I am disgusted, and have been since the Iraq War started. There is no one man enough to do the right thing… There is an agenda out there that is so very strong, as you have mentioned. Israel’s plight is shown, but not the innocent bystander Lebanese. It breaks my heart to watch the news because I know what is really happening. It’s no wonder that Americans think the way they do, but somebody must know what is really going on… Or so I keep telling myself.
I believe I will be leaving the military as soon as my commitment is up. What do you think, if you have the time to give me your opinion, is a good course of action once I get out of this military of ours? I want to make a difference in the lives of people and get them to somehow understand what is really happening and also how embarrassed we should be. I wish there were somehow a way to show these people in a light that would make people realize what a crime we are supporting. And even if we’re not supporting, we’re standing by watching and doing nothing, which is most of the time even worse.
Thanks for telling it how it is, and I just wanted you to know, all of us aren’t totally blind."

Barbara Kruger, Untitled No, 1985.