BAGHDAD -- This is the farewell note, both to Iraq and to you, the readers. Tomorrow I will drive to the Jordanian border through Baghdad and thence to Amman.
The war here is winding down, and the long, laborious process of rebuilding has started. Much of the activity in Baghdad involves the U.S. command looking for qualified people to help get the city back on its feet. Water and power still have to be restored. A state economy now lacks the state, so people have no jobs; no one is there to pay them. Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen in Kirkuk are a hair's breadth away from Yugoslavia-style ethnic clashes. Mosul is still savage, with little order. One reporter who returned from there yesterday described it to me as "like Mogadishu" with the city divvied up into territories for armed gangs and almost no civil authority. There are fewer than 300 American troops for a city of two million peoplel. This has gone almost completely unreported from what the journos in Arbil are hearing from editors back home. No one seems to care about Mosul, they say.
"They [the Americans] have given up on Mosul," said one reporter, who asked to remain anonymous. "It's terrifying." He could have been talking about his editors, too.
At the same time, other cities are calming down -- at least during the day. Kirkuk sports traffic lights that work, cops in the street and a bustling street merchant community. At night, however, there is still shooting and thuggery.
All of this will settle down eventually -- or explode into civil war -- but the question is how long will it take? I think the violence will continue at a low throttle for months, but even that would be a welcome contrast to 35 years of Ba'ath Party systematic terror and three wars since 1980.
Whether Iraqis gets the government they deserve, however, is a different story. Their neighbors don't wish to see a new American client state in their midst and can be expected to meddle most mischievously. Also, the fractured nature of Iraqi society, thanks the Ba'ath Party's repression and playing one group off another will take a long time to heal. Free-wheeling democracy is not in the cards for quite a while, if ever, thanks to the majority Shia population and the ethnic divisions in the north. If elections were to be held in the next few months (not likely) they would probably bring to power a government friendly to Iran and hostile to the United States and everyone else in the region. The Kurds would walk out and demand de facto -- or even de jure -- independence. The United States can not allow this.
Still, many Iraqis are optimistic about the future. "We are happy," said Hoshang Sadraddin, 22, a Kurd in Arbil. "We want a democratic government, a future. And for all the people in Iraq to live in peace."
"I look for a better life in the future," said Jasim Khidhir, 18. "I look forward to success in life, getting an education, that is my dream."
And in Baghdad, an Arab who wouldn't give his name smiled at me and said in halting English that he was happy that democracy had come to Iraq. The sentiment was genuine, if a little premature.
We'll see. The Kurds I've talked want the United States to stay "forever" as Assan Ahmen Awla, 30, a taxi driver, told me. America is seen as the Kurds' insurance against control by Baghdad and Arab violence. The marchers in Baghdad demanding a quick end to American occupation, he said, were incited by Ahmed Chalabi and the INC to stir up trouble against the Americans, so they will leave and the INC can seize complete control. Chalabi, obviously, isn't popular up here. Neither are Arabs in general.
"I think forever I will chose American troops to keep us away from the Arabs," said Taha Muhammed Hassan, 30, a fruit vendor. "We know what the Arabs will do if they have control."
Sentiments like these, as well as threats against Kurds in Tikrit, Baghdad and the southern part of the country are ominous signs, both for a coherent country and a democratic future. Delshad wrote me to tell me his thoughts:
"The heavy heritage of more than three decades of dictatorship and oppression will need many, many years to be overcome and Iraqis to get a better understanding of what is liberation and its limits. And if the Americans keep in their current role [of] being only observers standing aside then things can't get better!!"
Others suggest democracy isn't that big a deal to them, that jobs are a priority rather than self-government. "We choose jobs, not democracy," said Hemin Sultan, 28, a translator.
Given that much of the country is working at subsistence levels, even in the relatively prosperous cities of Iraqi Kurdistan, his opinions are understandable. But I worry that unless the Iraqis demand democracy for themselves the United States won't give it to them... I believe the White House would prefer a docile Iraq to one that can say no to American interests. But of course, I'm constitutionally inclined to oppose the idea of an American empire based on commercial ties, so I do hope the Iraqis realize that real democracy -- unruly, nettlesome and untidy -- is in their long-term best interests.
But while the Iraqis have just started a long journey into the future, the Back-to-Iraq.com journey is coming to an end. B2I has succeeded beyond what I expected or envisioned when I began writing it in September 2002. Through the months, the site has managed to provoke, entertain and -- hopefully -- enlighten people. It's garnered some attention and people have said it's a new form of journalism and that it's history making.
I don't know if it's all that, but I'm certainly flattered by the compliments and the accolades. This was journalism without a net (although it was on the Net.) I've stumbled a few times, almost losing my balance, but looking back over the site, I hope it was good enough.
Now I'm going home. The stories that I'd like to do require money and time that I simply no longer have. The looming ethnic conflict in northern Iraq, the role of the Turks, the treatment of women, the fate of the political prisoners and the new government's faltering first steps are all stories that I would love to pursue, with the style and techniques I've developed on the site. I'd also wanted to find Salam Pax.
As for the future of B2I, I'm working on that. The site and listserv will remain up for as long as the server has power, but I'm still undecided on what to do next to push forward the concept of independent, reader-funded journalism. I will use the site and the premium email list to announce anything new, so stop in every now and then to say hello.
I do plan on returning to Iraq in a few months to check in on how things are going. Those dispatches will also be published here and on the listserv. Donors who have donated will continue get premium content and photos whenever the site is active.
A note about donations: I am no longer actively soliciting them. The mission is over -- for now. Save your cash or donate it to other indy journalists. It's important to develop this genre of journalism, and reader contributions are key. We all proved that this kind of endeavor is possible. I may be the first, but I sincerely hope I'm not the last. I believe other independent journalists will soon strike out and cover major events alongside the major media. I hope they break more stories than I did, and challenge their mainstream colleagues to keep up.
A few of those mainstreamers here -- most enthusiastically from Fox News, oddly enough -- think the ideals that B2I brings to the table are grand and think something like this site could be the future of the craft. They bemoan the top-down editorial control and like the idea of readers' input in deciding what to cover.
That can wait for a bit, however. For now, I must bid you farewell. I'm disappointed and sad to do so, as I feel like I'm leaving early. The reality of a limited budget is an inconvenient fact of life, however. I hope you all don't hold it against me.
It's been a truly fantastic journey and I am sincerely grateful to everyone who donated, read, sent in feedback, argued on the comment boards or wished me well. While truth may be the first casualty in war, I hope I was able to save a small shard of it. But it's hard to say. Many times since I've been here, listening to the claims of Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen or Assyrians, I've thought that there is no such thing as Truth, only myths that people tell their children to get them through to the next generation. History doesn't exist here, at least not in the American sense; the past is never really past and history isn't something that happened long ago; it's very much alive and kicking. In this ancient place, a land of empires, gods, gardens, wars, blood and beauty, at the heart of it, you will find only stories. I hope I've been able to bring a few of them home to you.
Sincerely,
Christopher
hey chris,
thanks a lot for the information, its been very helpful…i really like ur conclusion about truth and history.
get home safe
cheers
sabah
Happy Easter Christopher. You certainly have kept a good many of us up-to-date with how this war was delivered to iraq without the constraints of military censorship. I wish to thank you on behalf of all of us here back in the States for your wonderful coverage. Good luck!
Your journey was amazing, interesting, informative, and incredibly important. You definetely shared the truth with us - and also started a great community on this site. Have a safe trip home.
not bloody likely. :) just proving that it’s possible is a pretty singificant achievement in itself, and the perspective you brought was invaluable. thank you.
Thanx a lot Chris!
You did great over there.
Have a safe journey and best of luck in your next venture.
Thank you Christopher!
I shall miss reading your posts from Iraq, as one of my few sources of excellently written, on-the-ground information from the country (particularly now that Salam Pax has been AWOL — I pray to God he’s alright out there). This has been a revolutionary exercise, in my opinion, really making the point that if you want democracy and truth (or someone’s honest best stab at reaching that elusive beast), the Internet is the future. Have a safe journey back. Look forward to your next project!
It’s not “goodbye”, just “see you later”.
Please keep in touch.
Thank you very much, Chris. I am saddened that you are bidding us farewell on this site. I have thoroughly enjoyed your kind of journalism and I will miss reading your reports which lately, have been pretty much part of my day. Anyway, Happy Easter to you and I wish you a safe journey. So, we still haven’t heard/seen from Salam Pax?
Job well done, Thank you!
Happy Easter Christopher and thank you kindly maybe its Kismet that you bid your farewell on Easter as a way to inspire others to begin something create something. You not only provided a sincere eye in Iraq you gave us an example of independent initiative and character marked by resilience. What a guy!
Happy Easter Christopher and thank you kindly maybe its Kismet that you bid your farewell on Easter as a way to inspire others to begin something create something. You not only provided a sincere eye in Iraq you gave us an example of independent initiative and character marked by resilience. What a guy!
Happy Easter Christopher and thank you kindly maybe its Kismet that you bid your farewell on Easter as a way to inspire others to begin something create something. You not only provided a sincere eye in Iraq you gave us an example of independent initiative and character marked by resilience. What a guy!
Happy Easter Christopher and thank you kindly maybe its Kismet that you bid your farewell on Easter as a way to inspire others to begin something create something. You not only provided a sincere eye in Iraq you gave us an example of independent initiative and character marked by resilience. What a guy!
Happy Easter Christopher and thank you kindly maybe its Kismet that you bid your farewell on Easter as a way to inspire others to begin something create something. You not only provided a sincere eye in Iraq you gave us an example of independent initiative and character marked by resilience. What a guy!
Great conclusion, good luck on getting more funding and hopefully reporting more, you’re posts are amazing.
Well done, Thanks.
Well, there never is really an ending…and as you said, you’ll be going back.
This Mosul thing…it seems to be written off as just too tenuous for us to ess with vis-a-vis the maddened populace. Plus, the Kurds don’t seem to want it and hey, if the Turks ever get the gumption to try and come to Kirkuk, they have to come through Mosul…
And ah, interesting to note on the Shiite’s voting a pro-Iranian government…the influence of the mosques I wondered about that and you answered. So, it would be Iran. Despite the old war, religious similarities are the order of the day. You should go back and work on this!
Cheerio,
Tony Chopkoski
Thank you Christopher. Your reporting of this war, both from your personal experiences and that of the people that you traveled with and the Iraq’s you spoke to, had a balance that’s not been experienced before. American media and El Jessera are both either left or right of the truth, which is where you were standing. I will miss your posts, but you’ve earned a long break. You have ended your project as beautifully as you started. I urge your readers to go back to Sept. 14, 2001, in the archives, and read the last paragraph of your first post. Best of Luck in the future Christopher.
Chris: “Many times … I’ve thought that there is no such thing as Truth, only myths … “
I think, truth is more than facts and for that reason there are as many truths as people living on earth - and that´s the problem.
Thank you Chris for taking the risk of reporting from northern Iraq on your own. I definitely hope to hear from you again.
Christopher,
Thanks for putting your life on the line and sharing this amazing journey with us. I selfishly wish you had another $20,000 or so; where else will we get the news that otherwise remains so hidden?
I appreciate your work very much & wish you a safe journey home.
Bravo and congratulations! You’ve done more than provide an independent perspective on this ghastly drama: you’ve shown that journalism free of large scale corporate structures is possible today.
May this be not only the first of many such projects for you, but that you are the first of many more journalists who seek to write directly for their readers, free of the invidious pressures of advertisers and corporate influence.
Chris,
Have a save trip home - I almost cannot wait to read the adventure story …
See you - on the web.
PS
http://www.command-post.org/archives/005948.html
Thanks Christopher, have a safe trip home!
It was a beautiful trip with you, Chris. I will be looking in on you whereever you go in the future. Take care…
Christopher, I applaud and thank you for your tremendous efforts!!! You have truly been an inspiration as well as a wealth of information. It was great to be able to be confident that the truth was being spoken through you and your stories. Thanks again….and have a safe journey Home!!!!
Jeanne
I REALLY enjoyed your posts and will definitely miss hearing from you. Your closing paragraph was very insightful. Thank you.
How may we continue to keep in touch with you? Do you mind if we do?
Thank you and have a nice Easter.
I hope one of this days we’ll have Back to Iraq - Part III.
Chris
Excellent job and concept. It works and you showed that it can effectively. It was personal, honest and informative. You are the future and this is a good thing!!
Tim
Brooklyn
Dude, what am I going to read now ??? I haven’t been watching CNN for weeks, so now, for me the war is REALLY over.
Thanks for all your hard work. Very much appreciated.
Interesting concept, amazing execution. Well done, Chris. B2I was a valuable part of my obsessive newsgathering during this invasion. Hopefully others will fill in, and we will see other journalists pick up on the idea. Too bad CNN made Kevin Sites shut down. He and others like him would be another interesting source of first-hand info. Let’s hope Salam Pax survived the attack on Baghdad, and we hear from him soon.
Thank you, Chris, for your great work. Go home now, get some rest, and let those toenails grow back.
Chris, I hope that you call on us soon to fund your next reporting venture. Your voice was an authentic antidote to the servile pap served up by the lackeys of America Uber Alles.
Best wishes, and congratulations on such an impressive accomplishment.
There are no good byes, Chris. Only momentary partings before we meet again. Your site has been a real center of hope for me in a world of cynical manipulated media. Thank you for all your work, honesty, and integrity.
Safe travels home.
Say it isn’t so! I came upon your website many weeks ago, searching for people’s guesses on when the war in Iraq would start. And I decided to comment here on your statements, and now I have become a part of this great website created by you. I guess there was a reason why I came across this place, for everything happens for a reason. May God bless you.
I will miss reading your always brilliant entries and the comments from the readers that go along with them. Have a safe trip home and thanks for doing what you have done. I only wish I would have had the chance to do it myself.
Thanks Chris. Yours was definitely among the best war reporting I’ve seen and I’m proud to be one among many who helped to fund your trip.
Thank you so much Mr. Christopher! You did such a good job. I enjoyed traveling with you through your eyes. I hope you very much success in the future! I hope you do more jobs like this one!
I’ll miss this site. It was good, immediate information. I’ll be keeping an eye out for your next assignment.
Thanks Christopher, be safe back home…
But, please, do not give up with free - reader supported - journalism. Your endeavour is remarkable !
Keep us posted with your new ideas or opportunities…next time you could team up with a photographer and that’ll be perfect !
The truth is that your eyes and ass have been there and that with your “own private idiom” you managed to bring us with you. An invaluable input in our vision…
From the heart : thank you…
Good luck. and Simply thank you just being there.
I’m from spain and i knew one of the guys that tank blasted. And i wouldn’t like to see ppl like u going down.Again Good luck….
Christopher -
Well done. Very well done. I think you (and Salam Pax) turned the corner on the marketed versus the personal journalism. I think that’s what the media has missed. We readers are not a “market”, we are a collection of persons.
Will there be any others following in your path?
Thanks for the great work and insights,
Ben
Bravo!
This is a real independent journalism.
Thanks a lot,Chris.
I hope you come back safely.
Chris,
Glad you are returning safely. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your site. Best wishes in future endeavors.
Madeleine, Boston
Thanks Chris,
Inspiring, humane, thoughtful and insightful.
Looking forward to your next project.
Good job sir!
Chris, you’ve done a great job. You’re my hero. Thanks for doing what you’ve done.
I am really going to miss my favorite procrastination tool :), but thank you thank you thank you for your self-sacrifice and determination to find truth. It it so important for those of us sitting in our cushy chairs to have access to what is really going on, and I hope you get to go back and do more investigation. Your writing is amazing and your stories are moving. Good luck, and I hope your trip out is easier than your trip in! Congratulations on an incredible journey, and not just the physical one.
Thanks to you, Chris, from another former AP staffer.
ditto to previous positive comments. job well done. thanks.
very great job Chris. Take care of you
Laura
Chris, at least let us know when you’re safely back in the US, would you?
Bravo, Chris. Like a great book one gets so thoroughly absorbed in, when the end comes and the story is done, you still want more. I’m already having withdrawal.Your perspective and writing were artful. You have brought Iraq, and some of its culture, closer. You unfolded the scenes and events with a balanced truth…a dangerous, exciting and historical trek and I thank you for sharing with us. Do post and let us all know when you’ve returned home. Please include me on your list for support in your next endeavor. Peace and safe journey,
Dawne Belloise
Thank you so deeply Chris, for the amazing journey you shared with us. Please know that you and the job you did are greatly appreciated.
Have an easy return and a good rest! Do let us know when you have returned so we can know you are home safely.
sweet blessings
Christopher,
Thanks a lot for all.
I write from the chihuahuan desert,Mexico
You were a honest alternative point of view to me and many fellows here.
We appreciate your human insight in this confuse and terrible in-human drama.Your job probes that an alternative way is always possible toward human conflicts.
Peace to your home trip.
Guillermo.
Sorry to see you leave, but as someone said further up in this long list, it’s not “goodbye” merely “see you later”. I too will miss your reports and your innate style of journalism. The world needs more of you, and hopefully soon. Good luck and au revoir.
See Banfield’s work if you want to see how Myth controls a society… but I would argue there is a ‘truth’. It may be different for everybody, but we got closer to it with Chris’s ‘You Are There’ blog than any other form of reporting.
Good Luck and Best Wishes for the future! Again, YOU ARE OUT THERE!! :-)
Sincerely,
/eeeb
Thanks Chris,
we definitely need truth, whatevere it is.
All sins could be forgiven, except the ones against truth…
Grazie
Matteo (from Italy)
Top effort mate,
have enjoyed your site.
Regards
Tony
Top effort mate,
have enjoyed your site.
Regards
Tony (Australia)
Chris,
Though I’ve spent but a short time here in Iraq, based on what I’ve observed here, your farwell post demonstrates the kind of insightfulness that one can only hope will be employed in the rebuilding of this country and this region. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to see you off. Hemin tells me you made it safely to Jordan. I’ll be following behind you shortly and will see you back in the states, Aensha alah (God willing).
J. Jason Warner
Thank you, Christopher. I found your site a quite by accident right after the war started. It made me feel much closer to the truth than one could ever get with corporate media and this service you provided is an invaluable gift. Good luck in your future!
I thank you, too for providing excellent coverage without the trappings of mainstream media. I believed what you wrote and was skeptical of all the other news. Good luck on your journey home and in whatever you decide to do. I’m sure going to miss this.
Chris,
Lucia just showed me that you got mentioned along with Kevin’s site in the Spanish paper Elpais.
Weblogs sobre la guerra
Son muchos los usuarios de Internet que han decidido seguir el conflicto bélico en Irak a través de la información ‘más personal’ de los weblogs. Y es que, realmente, algunos de estos ‘diarios’ ofrecen una visión alternativa a la de los medios de comunicación muy interesante. Así, Kevin Sites, un ex corresponsal de la NBC, relata en su blog (http://www.kevinsites.net/) la cobertura del conflicto en primera persona. Por su parte, Cristopher Allbriton (http://www.back-to-iraq.com/), ex periodista de AP (Associated Press) y del New York Daily News con años de experiencia en Irak, pide apoyo económico para poder volver a ese país en condición de periodista independiente.
Thanks a lot Christopher,
the sense of complexity, that’s exactly what you have given back to journalism. As an historian, I deplore that the majority of journalist never put events in perspective, even in newspaper. Not only details of the event but also geographical, historical, sociological and religious context…
I think there’s 2 reasons to that. First, they think that’s not their own role, they think it’s already interpretation, like giving their own point of view to the reader.
The major reason in my opinion, despite of a mere lack of time, it’s the lack of continuity. they pass from an event to the other whithout a true global vision. the fact that journalism is a team job is supposed to prevent the risk of subjectivity and therefore to keep the truth closer.
you have done exactly the opposite. for the first time, the same guy is reporting the events day after day, taking time to record the atmosphere of the places he is crossing, never afraid to give his own opinion and sentiment.
Its not only a style change but a change of method. almost live history
It was really intellectually exciting and enlightnining to follow you in Irak.
Thank you for your journalism. I don’t have words to thank you enough.
Thanks for all of the info, I really enjoyed it.
nj, thank you.
BRAVO !
Truth and history: about what Bernard Lewis says about history in the arab world. The west, he says, by the way, has become amnesiac, forgetting history in order to live in peace together, but condemned to make the same mistakes over and over again.
I read your posts religiously throughout the war. I can only say there weren’t enough of them.
I felt guilty for not contributing to your fund, (I’m unemployed) but will do so when I’m flush and you need to get out and about again.
One suggestion is that you start an independent e-zine with contribution based corresondents posting from various hot spots.
hola: gracias por todo, que excelente trabajo espero que no sea lo primero ni lo ultimo. de nuebo GRACIAS.
I got a hoola hoop.
today