TIKRIT, Iraq -- We made it inside the city limits, about 5 km from the city center, before we got shot at.
We had decided to get an early start and headed out to Kirkuk and then to Tikrit. Along the way, we agreed to meet in Kirkuk to form a convoy of other journalists. While we were waiting for the other guys -- mostly Italians and Germans -- to show up, we talked with some of the Kirkukis.
The appearance of calm is deceptive, they said. During the day, the police keep a semblance of order, but at night, roving gangs with guns have been terrorizing people in their homes. The people we talked to also said they had had no water for four days.
"Why doesn't America do something?" asked Salima Abdul-Kadir Abdula, a nurse at the hospital in town. She can't drive to work because she's afraid of carjackings.
More ominously for the future, perhaps, was Sham Sideem Hassan, 45, a charismatic teacher who was working the crowd that had gathered.
"These Arabs here, they are Saddamists!" he yelled. "They have to go! They cannot stay! Kirkuk is Kurdish and Turkomen. Get those Arabs out!"
The last line was the money line, causing the crowd to burst into applause. Another man tugged my sleeve, pointed to Hassan and said, "This is good, this is good!"
Figures vary, but there may be as many as 100,000 Arab families who were trucked up to Kirkuk under the Ba'athist regime's policy of Arabization since 1977. It's unclear how widespread Hassan's ideas are, but they don't bode well for the future.
After we finally hooked up with our convoy, we set out. They all had combat vests and four-wheel drive vehicles. But we soldiered on, even when they stupidly stopped at a crossroads about 10 km from the city limits.
"We heard something about this crossroad," said their translator as he stepped out of the car. There was no cover anywhere and we were easy targets.
"Why the hell are we stopping?" J. asked and Freydoon gunned the engine.
The route to Tikrit is ugly and tiresome. Not quite desert and not quite fertile, dust rises at the slightest breeze and gets everywhere. The hills are jagged and dimpled with craters, some outlined in scorch marks. The land is blasted away in many places. Even in April, standing in the sunlight for a few moments was uncomfortably warm.
The road was thankfully spotted with peshmergas, but their presence was light, so we were wary. Along the way, we passed an overturned mobile missile launcher with the missile still attached. To my and J.'s untrained eyes, it looked like a surface-to-surface missile.
Entering the city was tense. We had no idea who was friendly and who wasn't. The peshmergas told us that Arabs were shooting at any Kurds they saw. The streets on the outskirts were mostly deserted. The few men who were on the street carried Kalishnikovs.
Our convoy stopped on the outskirts so some PUK peshmergas could stage a little media event. A large billboard of Saddam in Bedouin dress greeted visitors. They doused it with gasoline and set it on fire, posing in front of the burning portrait for our troupe's cameras.
While we were standing around admiring the flames, a man in a dark car, coming from the direction of Haweja Uja, Saddam's birthplace, pulled up. He watched the billboard burn silently and then waved at me. I was about 20 meters away. I waved back warily. Then he beckoned me closer.
No way. I shook my head at him and called out to J., Freydoon and Sabah, our translator. "Let's go."
Smoke from the direction of Haweja was a black smudge in the sky. We could see, off in the distance over Tikrit, an American helicopter gunship buzzing low over the rooftops. Every few seconds a muted BOOM rolled over us. Reports from our short-wave BBC pickup said U.S. troops were meeting little resistance.
We moved further into the city along a four-lane highway with a median. Two of the other SUVs were in front of us. Suddenly another SUV pulled in front of our train and stopped. The man in the passenger side draped a white flag out the window at arm's length. Another dark car pulled up on his side blocking the way. Something smelled really bad about this situation.
"Back up, back up!" we demanded of Freydoon, and he pulled back far enough to spin the wheel and force us through a gap in the median. We heard shouting behind us and then the sharp crack of gunfire. We all ducked and Freydoon floored it north out of town. I don't know what happened to the Germans and Italians and I'm worried.
We drove back to the ruined missile launcher before I made the call to try again. But on the way back in, we saw many, many cars streaming from the direction of Tikrit, including a number of media cars. Several drivers motioned for us to turn around and by the third time, I was sufficiently freaked out to pay them some heed. We turned around and caught up with a truck full of men. As we sped along the highway, they told us the Arabs had started shooting at everyone in sight, and that Tikrit was not safe.
I decided we should head back to Kirkuk to work out our next move.
RE: It’s unclear how widespread Hassan’s ideas are, but they don’t bode well for the future.
I wonder if it’s humanly possible to bring any kind of peace to this region. It looks to me like it won’t happen until they want it, and all of the different entities living in the middle east want their own way worse than they want peace. Are they going to accept any “peace” that is forced on them by the U.S. or any coalition? This is not criticism aimed at anybody, I just truly wonder about this.
wow. be careful.
Way to use your head and stay safe. Thanks for the great reporting from the area.
Did you read about Kevin Sites four hour capture?
Read: http://www.kevinsites.net/411transcript.php
I like your ideas about leaving Iraq, not through Turkey. Will you keep us posted on your egress? The thought of you going south offers a different insight for us, your readers.
Chris, this seems like a silly question but, do you have a flak jacket (is that what the bullet proof things are called?) If not, can you obtain a couple for you and J? I think its well warranted to find them, yes? Jeez, this posting of yours really brings the instability and danger into clear focus. You’ve made all the right choices and decisions so far. Please keep up the intriguing and excellent reporting and certainly be thinking about the safe exit.
Great updates, Christopher - glad you’re still safe!
amazing report chris, thank god there’s someone like you going out and telling us this stuff, and thank god you know when it’s smart enough to back off. Any clear idea who it was firing at you, and how much resistance the Americans have REALLY met at Tikrit?
also, from where you are what seems to be the view on what will happen next, does Syria seem a realistic target (Wolfowitz, Pearle and co. certainly seem keen, and to have been planning for it all along)?
Have you seen anything of the foreign fighters that have been reported to be fighting in the area, and idea where they are coming from (other than the obvious candidates that Rumsfeld will point the finger at)?
where are you off to next? can’t wait to hear about it,
keep smart and safe, it sounds like it’s getting worse out there by the minute
Chris,
Did the convoy you were with have a film crew? I have just seen an ITN report showing journalists fleeing from Arabs shooting at them on the road to Tikrit. They described it as a convoy of journalists under fire and didn’t mention whether there were any casualties.
They also didn’t say whether the film was ITN or from another agency or company.
Irritating Pedantry Tangent: Swiss Air went bust over a year ago, and Swiss are still running flights to/from Turkey, so if you can get back there I can’t see why you can’t fly with them (a little irrelevant, I suppose as you can’t get back in).
Irrelevant comment at this time but an afterthought (after I wrote my comment above): why doesn’t this blog have a site meter? It would be interesting to see how many hits you’ve had already.
Just asking. Stay safe and thank you.
Just an FYI…
That overturned missile you saw, and linked in the above post, is not a surface-to-surface missile.
It is an SA-2 anti-aircraft missile, of Chinese or Russian make.
Note that the SA-2 is not a prohibited missile (a la “the Scud”) and it is inherently a defensive weapon. This example appears to be so old — decades old — that it’s functionally obsolete, even if operational. However, 30 years ago, these missiles were generally considered very effective in defense of Hanoi. They are very fast, and can attack planes at extreme altitude. (I believe they were originally designed in response to U.S. U-2 overflights of the U.S.S.R during the Cold War.) However, as with any anti-aircraft missile system, the effectiveness of the SA-2 is contingent upon the missiles being networked into a web of early-warning and guidance RADAR — which the Iraqis have been very good at doing, especially not now, after we’ve been bombing their radar systems for more than 10 years.
So, not much to worry about here.
Here are the specs on a SA-2 anti-aircraft missile:
Length: 10.7 meters
Diameter: 70.0 cm
Tail Span: 54.0 cm
Weight: 2300.0 Kg
Warhead: 130 Kg High Explosive
Propulsion: Solid Propellant Booser with Liquid Propellant Sustainer
Guidance: Radio Command
Max Speed: 3.5 Mach
Max Range: 60 KM
Ceiling: 85,000 feet
Compare your photo of the Iraqi missile:
http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/Files/missile_1-11.php
with this photo of a Pakistani SA-2:
http://www.pakistanidefence.com/images/Support%20Pics/SA2_SAM.jpg
or these:
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/cmtonline/Sam2.htm
…and in particular this photo of a SAM-2, showing the same distinctive control fins, and cone-shaped external exhaust nozzle:
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/cmtonline/images/Sam2/Sam2missile10.jpg
(It appears you’ll have to cut and paste that last URL — I guess it’s too long for the commenting software to parse, or something.)
Regardless, keep up the good work Chris. And stay safe! Ish.
Isaac Taylor
Cambridge, Massachusetts
It sounds like and looks like, that the people in Tikrit don’t really care for the U.S. troops or for any outsiders for that matter. It really isn’t safe to go into Tikrit unless you are protected by U.S. or other friendly troops. I say just go straight into Baghdad! Take care.
Good instincts, Chris. I always figured Tikrit was the most dangerous area, though I suspect areas nearer the Syrian and Iranian borders may now be riskier, as some may flee.
If the Kurds retake their homes and force many of the Ba’athists out, do you expect that area to go the way of southern Afghanistan? Or are the US forces deployed in such a way to prevent that?
wow, great reporting! what an experience! be safe.
So glad you used your head there Chris, that could have been disasterous, as I’m sure is all too obvious. Have you heard anything about the Germans and Italians?
Cheers
Chris:
A big deal is being made in the left community in the states that all of Iraq’s museums have been turned to rubble and everything looted. How about a section on your site devoted to the museums and antiquities?
Good Luck. Stay Safe.
Ok, this might be a strange request, on the first night the Marines entered Tikrit, there was a hellacious firefight and about 10 reporters were caught right in the crossfire. Luckily they all escaped, one Italian female reporter was carried out by our Marines. One reporter captured most of this on his hand held recorder. The reporters laid in a tight bunch on the side of the road until it was safe enough to go back and get your equiptment, does anyone remember this? write me back with info, I would desperately love to talk with the reporters to find out there side of the story. I was the Marine who escorted the reporters after the melee.
Has anyone ever thought that Saddam Hussein could be found traveling with, or hiding out with the Bedouins in a large tent. I would suspect near Tikrit.
Deanie,
Has anyone ever thought that Saddam Hussein could be found traveling with, or hiding out with the Bedouins in a large tent. I would suspect near Tikrit.
Someone took a picture of him near the Paris Eiffel Tower as a terrorist…oops, I mean tourist.
In answer to post from Ron in November. I guess your humorous post doesn’t hold water anylonger. And where was he found ???
Oops my apologies to Ron. It my comment was intended for Glen re: post of November 2, 2003 06:24AM
hi chris,
my son is near tikrit
email me any info
hi
i am from canada.
i
i need some pakistan pic.
if you like sed me pic sed some pic need for school
i want all people what is pakistan and Kashmir.