INSIDE SADDAM HUSSEIN'S PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND IN TIKRIT, Iraq -- The road into Tikrit today is tense, but passable. Arab clans are setting up checkpoints to make sure that Kurds dressed as peshmergas aren't entering the city to loot. At one checkpoint, Jason, a photographer buddy from Los Angeles I'm traveling with, backed up a little quickly and we got a warning shot. Nothing serious. Once they realized we were press the gunmen smiled and let us through.
Inside Tikrit, at the roundabout where we came under fire yesterday, a group of Arab men were guarding the way. They were angry about possible looting and they were determined to see that what happened in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Mosul didn't happen here.
Zaid Ibrahim, a man at the scene, was barefoot. He said not five minutes before, a group of Kurds had stolen his car and even his shoes.
"Tell Jalal [Talabani] these are not peshmergas," said his friend, Adil Ahmed. "They are thieves. If they come here to steal, we will kill them." Then he smiled warmly, shook my hand and bid me welcome.
Once the Arabs realized we hadn't come to steal their stuff, they were quite friendly. They were so friendly, in fact, that they brought me over to show me the bodies of two dead peshmergas. (WARNING: Graphic image.) They lay in a ditch where they had died. They would have looked almost peaceful except for the gaping bullet wounds and the blood.
In the distance, past the bodies, a factory of some kind burned fiercely, sending black smoke high into the sky, while the sun tried to creep through the blackness, giving the scene a post-Apocalyptic feel. Bits of glass, dust and metal crunched under our feet as we walked.
While Jason and I were shooting pictures in this Mad Max landscape, the crowd scattered, leaving us alone with the dead peshmergas. The silence was the worst. The city is deserted, and there was no sound of life. Suddenly, we heard a thump-thump and two Apaches Cobras and a Blackhawk Bell Huey chopper began to circle low over us. Jason and I held out our arms and our cameras to show the pilots and gunners we were unarmed journalists. They circled us about seven times or so, getting lower each time. We could feel the rumbling of the choppers' engines vibrate inside our chests. They were warning us to get the hell out of there and finally, we got the message and split.
Once inside the city, we crossed the Tigris over a bomb-damaged bridge on which Marines in humvees squatted and kept the locals behind a line of concertina wire. We got into the media line and passed through while city residents, waiting to return to their homes after they had fled the American bombardment, looked on plaintively. Later in the afternoon, after the media had passed, the marines would open up the bridge and let people through to return to their homes.
After that, we drove through the mostly empty streets. The few locals we saw on the street were friendly, and waved and said hello, but we'd been advised by other journalists to be careful. Finally, we drove up to the palaces. It's a surreal feeling to merrily tool around the sprawling Tikrit presidential compound of Saddam Hussein. We've explored two small homes that have been picked over by looters or the former residents. Broken glass was all that remained in the first building, but the second was less ransacked.
The tastes of the residents tended toward Louis XIV kitsch, with ornate and brocaded chairs and sofas. While I was in the second palace, I bumped into a couple of kids looting. We all started, jumpy and edgy in these empty cathedrals to Saddam's power. When they saw I meant no harm, they smiled, said "Hello!" and went on their way. I didn't try to stop them. One of them was munching on Sumer crackers lifted from the kitchen. Outside we could see the detritus of the U.S. military: wrappers from MREs.
One of the major palaces on the grounds was heavily damaged in bombing. The upstairs was demolished by several bombs and had collapsed into the lower floors. But we encountered incongruities in the destruction. A mosaic running up the wall of a demolished, curving marble staircase seemed untouched. A wall ornamented with polished cedar and inlaid mother of pearl panels was untouched while on the other side of the wall the room was reduced to ash and rubble.
This palace was abandoned before the war even started. There wasn't a trace of furniture in the rooms that were mostly undamaged -- no tracks in the dust left by dragged furniture, either.
We've hooked up for the night with the Marines' 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, based in front of the bombed palace. I let them call home on my satellite phone and they hooked us up with a case of MREs, a couple of blankets and some water. They were hungry for news from the United States, since they're just as cut off as the people of Kirkuk were before the peshmergas entered that city. They don't know anything about what's going on except that Tikrit is mostly secured, except for some minor looting in the south part of the city, which is still being bombed. At the moment, as if to emphasize the point, a huge boom filled the air. We try to fill them in on the news as best as possible, but they want to know about Syria. So do I.
Cpl. Bryon M. Hightower offered us an AK-47 but I refused. I did let him give me a knife, since he was concerned that Jason and I had no protection. We're going to camp out here tonight, either in one of these abandoned palaces or tucked up behind their trucks and sleep in the back of the pickup that Jason rented. For tonight, we're unofficially embedded with the the 1st LAR. It's probably one of the safest places in the country at the moment.
Note
Isaac Taylor wrote in to say the missile we saw was an SA-2, a surface-to-air missile, not a surface-to-surface missile as I mistakenly thought. Thanks for the correction, Isaac!
Chris, is it just the 2 of you traveling in a rented truck with no guide? Is this …wise? Is there a language barrier for you?
What were the reactions or opinions of our troops towards the focus now on Syria?
Your palace photo is eerie. Belies tranquility.
It must feel pretty comfortable to be able to sleep with the protection of the 1st LAR! Sweet dreams.
hey B2I is listed in NY Time Out this week!
Why not sleep in Saddam’s house? Saddam Hussein is a thug, you look at how the people there live like, and then see how comfortably Saddam and his buddies live. Glad to know that you are finally in the protection of our brave troops. I guess Baghdad is next for you…take care.
Interesting that you were offered an AK-47…CNN has apparently hired armed escorts for its crews. Are you safer unarmed or armed?
Chris:
You have genuinely brought this war into my living room. The immediacy of your writing is almost overwhelming.
You’ve been in Iraq for awhile and thus have a vantage point most of us cannot share. In our safe world we see such images as: pictures of wounded and dead innocents and soldiers, Iraqi’s cheering Coalition forces, looted hospitals and museums, huge stores of weapons (but no WMD’s!), jails with torture chambers, etc.. Perhaps you could share your thoughts on the justice of this war.
If you can spare a few words, what was up with the US helicopters buzzing you? Did they not want you taking pictures of the dead peshmergas?
I take it J. is not the same person as “Jason?”
Does anyone know of any travel companies offering Iraq vacations? Seriously, this should be a real growth market by now! I swear one day I will walk along the banks of the Tigris and drink a degenerate American capitalist carbonated beverage in honor of Saddam’s demise. :-)
How about a ‘Mecca Cola’?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2640259.stm
Incredible job!
Jason is not J. J. asked me to keep his name out of B2I (but he had no objection to me running his picture … go figure.) Jason has no objection. I usually hook up with journos I’ve come to know here in Arbil as we all like traveling with company. As for pissing matches, they don’t really come up anymore. Most people just kind of shrug if I tell them about B2I, then they act kind of impressed by the $10,000. All in all, most of the freelancers/independents stick together and don’t judge any one. At least not out loud. The networks, FOX, CNN, BBC, etc., keep to themselves, mostly, since they have entire crews with which to keep company. But even they’re pretty cool to other journos. There’s a real sense of looking out for one another, and Arbil Towers and Sireem Palace, the two cheap-o hotels full of journos, have become communities. Luckily, Arbil Towers has a bar, and I’ve purchased lemons in the market to teach the Kurdish bartenders how to make gin and tonics. (No limes available, alas.) I realize that sounds very stiff-upper-lip colonial, but it’s really not. I just like my gin and tonics a certain way, and a lemon wedge is a necessity.
OK, you are annoying me by constantly italicizing the word “Peshmerga(s)”. What are you expecting of us? To somehow pronounce the word differently? Is the word “Peshmerga” somehow more important than the word “Arab” when used in the same sentence?
So please refer to them at face value. Call em Peshmergas all you like, but drop the italics, ok?
And not to say that the recent stories are not great…they are. The best journalism is when you simply tell us what you’ve been through and what you’ve seen. I’m really glad you’re not so caught-up in regurgitating the reporting of others…All the other journalists try so hard to embellish their own experiences with the hand-me-down experiences of others they are with. Keep up the good work. It’s the simple stuff that counts.
Patrick,
Aren’t loan words supposed to be italicized?
Chris,
You asked about Syria. I’m assuming you don’t have time to read all the news that we do, so maybe some armchair analysis is worth a second.
First of all, no one knows what is going to happen. What we do know is that there was a concerted diplomatic effort on Sunday from every corner of the administration to put pressure and focus on Syria. The government there has been called a “terrorist state” and “awful,” and an oil pipeline has been shut off. At the same time, military action in the short term seems unlikely: two aircraft carriers are being withdrawn and our stock of precision-guided weapons is low. Also, Syria seems to be a much more willing partner with the UN than Iraq was.
It seems, if anything, that what’s going on now appears to be diplomatic rhetoric with the possibility of trade sanctions sometime down the road. It doesn’t seem like the logistics are really being put into place for anything approaching a “rolling invasion.” However, the paranoid part of me says they could be taking a breather for the summer and be back in action come September. Only time will tell.
Syria -
Powell is saying no US military aims on Syria.
Rumsfeld is echoing same, but less emphatically.
US forces have cut an oil pipeline leading to Syria from Iraq, citing violations in UN oil-for-food program, contraband oil shipments etc.
US strongly telling Syria not to harbor Iraqi Baathists.
Bush rapidly re-focusing on domestic economy. Must be getting history lesson from dad.
Hope that’s helpful.
Chris,
Thanks for this site and these reports. I have travelled on the ground in Morocco, and remember the openness and kindness of the locals very well with many other great memories. I can only imagine Iraq and it’s environs. Your writing is much more vivid than the packaged/marketed reports of the regular media. Please keep it up and be safe. Many Thanks, Ben
All of you people wringing your hands about Syria can collectively reach up and pull your panties our of your ass. There is not, nor will there be in the near future any need to make war against the Syrians. However, boy-assad is dumber than dog dirt, so we are in the process of bitch-slapping him. This may take some time.
Since all of Saddam’s palaces were emptied before the looting, it’s obvious he and his family moved out before the war started. Question is, where did they go?
Move over John Simpson!
Your journey has been amazing, and I hope it shall continue safely. All of us sincerely thank you for reporting on what really matters.. the people. Stay safe.
There is no plan to attack Syria.
Hello, Chris. Just sent you a long email with more details, but in case you don’t get it, please say hello and tell my brother, 2nd Lieutenant Mark Reinhardt (1st LAR in Tikrit), how much me and my family LOVE him, miss him and admire him greatly. He has at least 3 packages on the way, and I carry a picture of him wherever I go. We FINALLY saw a photo of him in yesterday’s NY Times lounging in the presidential palace (Tikrit) and thought he looked tired but well. So sorry if this is not the purpose of this post-site, but we have not heard from him in months and are starved for news of his well-being. I would try anything to get in touch with him. Hope you understand, and take care yourself. You have no idea what a gift your article was.
That’s only one dead Peshmerga. You count the arms and divide by two.
“Cpl. Bryon M. Hightower offered us an AK-47 but I refused.”
US Marines are allowed to give away $300 guns?
Thanks for being there for all of us who can’t witness history in the making firsthand. Your reports have shown more depth than watching CNN for 24 hours straight.
Just a few thoughts, about the war: Is it just me that feels that this victory is not the great victory that everyone was watching and hoping for. It’s probably because this victory was wreaked by fire and sword not by love and compassion(i know it sounds corny).
Marines don’t use AK-47, they use the M-16 I believe. The AK-47 is Russian made, and used by the Iraqis and so the Marines must of found a AK-47 and offered it to Chris for free.
Yes, all US armed forces use the M-16, or a derivative.
The AK-47s the Iraqi army uses are probably Chinese made. The Chinese make/sell more than the Soviets/Russians and have done so for about 20 years. There have been thousands of them captured, and not a few of them will try to make it back to the states as suvioneers. I imagine a few will make it.
Chris,
Be very careful.
Thank you for allowing us to take the journey with you.
Do you feel like you’re getting a more isolated view of Iraq or a more truthful view of what’s actually happening?
If you wanted us to understand one important thing about the people of Iraq, what would it be?
You’re in my prayers every day.
The value of a beat to shit AK or SKS in Iraq? $50 bottom end, but priceless if it saves your life. Picking up a pistol in country would have been an early move for me, but if you don’t know how to use one well, and are not committed to being on top of the food chain, you’re probably better off without it.
As a journalist Chris had no business being armed. His not being armed obviously kept him out of several tight places. When you are a non-combatant in a combat zone, and you are trying to help the victims of the fighting, or report on the fighting, etc the last thing you want to do is have a weapon on you. That makes you a target for both sides.
I wonder if Bernard Fall ever carried a piece?
RE: There is no plan to attack Syria.
Powell said: “… there is no list, there is no war plan right now to go attack someone else either for the purpose of overthrowing their leadership or for the purpose of imposing democratic values.” Do you think there is any wiggle room anywhere in that statement? He did not rule out a preemptive strike to protect the U.S. from terrorism, which is what we did in Iraq.
Sunday Bush said Syria has chemical weapons. When asked if Syria could face military action, he replied, “They just need to cooperate.” Imad Moustapha (number two in the Syrian embassy in Washington) denied accusations that Syria was assisting members of Hussein’s regime, harbouring terrorists or producing weapons of mass destruction. “It’s been a campaign of misinformation and disinformation about Syria since even before the war started. This is just an ongoing series of false accusations,” (from NBC News programme Meet the Press.)
He said, but he said, then he said …
That’s all well and good Jan, but enough of your Oxbridge ranting. Did Bernard Fall carry a piece or what? I say yes.
Heck: Who knows and who cares if Dr. Fall carried weapons? I researched the question online and did not turn up a single clue as to whether he did or did not. If he did, he did not emphasize the point in any of his writings, apparently. No doubt you will now correct me.
Keep up the great work, Christopher, and take care!
many of the people who travel from place to place posing as journalists are intelligence services agents - that’s the best way to find out what’s really going on, by being on the ground.
————-By Walter Pincus The Washington Post
Waiving regulations that bar the practice, the CIA on “extraordinarily rare” occasions over the past 19 years has used American journalists or U.S. news organizations as cover in conducting clandestine operations, according to an intelligence official.
The official, who would not describe the instances, noted that activities were undertaken under a waiver in CIA regulations formally adopted in 1977. Those rules ended the earlier agency practice of secretly employing American reporters and using the names of U.S. news organizations as cover for the CIA’s own clandestine officers.
The regulations were a response to public outcry after disclosures a year earlier by congressional committees that the CIA for decades had clandestine agents posing as journalists for American news organization.
Under the little-publicized waiver, exceptions to the 1977 prohibitions could be made “with the specific approval” of the CIA director. The intelligence official, who spoke on condition that he remain anonymous, cited that provision in saying, “Exceptions have been made in extraordinarily rare circumstances.”————-
———A 1976 investigation by a Senate committee chaired by Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) found that more than 50 American journalists had worked as CIA agents during the Cold War era.
The Justice Department’s announcement that the Wall Street Journal had shared intelligence with the U.S. government by turning over the hard drive files of a computer formerly owned by Al Qaeda throws doubt on the fairness of some American journalists.
Those files reportedly chronicled the travels of someone whose itinerary closely resembled that of alleged shoe-bomber Richard C. Reid and, coincidentally, the subject of Daniel Pearl’s research. That discovery was followed by Reid’s indictment and, a few days later, Pearl’s abduction in Pakistan——————
Finally, photos! Great to see where Christopher is. Why does this coincide with the photographer (J.) leaving? Any idea why he left now that they are finally in-county and reporting? seems strange.
“I researched the question online and did not turn up a single clue as to whether he did or did not.”
And this would make you… clueless?
I heard from Chris this morning and he asked me to respond to a couple of comments since he can’t easily do so right now.
Regarding the AK-47: yes it was captured from the Iraqis by the Marines.
He posted the picture of only one dead peshmerga, instead of both of them, because it was the best picture he had taken, composition-wise.
Hector, that is your last insulting and rude comment. You are banned.
Thanks for posting he’s ok.
I did wonder, realistically how long it would take for the American-kissing activities to turn around. Until about now, perhaps.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&e=12&u=/ap/20030417/aponremiea/warantiamericanism_6
Sorry the link is so long - it’s just the news item on Yahoo about Iraqis becoming impatient and wanting Americans out of their country. Probably even wiser to not look like a Rambo, in light of that sentiment. Stay safe, “C”.
Priceless quotes from Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi Minister of Information aka Baghdad Bob (currently on administrative leave).
“There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!”
“My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all”
“Our initial assessment is that they will all die”
“They’re coming to surrender or be burned in their tanks.”
“No I am not scared, and neither should you be!”
“Be assured. Baghdad is safe, protected”
“Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don’t even control themselves!”
“We are not afraid of the Americans. Allah has condemned them. They are stupid. They are stupid” (dramatic pause) “and they are condemned.”
“The Americans, they always depend on a method what I call … stupid, silly. All I ask is check yourself. Do not in fact repeat their lies.”
“I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly.”
“I can assure you that those villains will recognize, will discover in appropriate time in the future how stupid they are and how they are pretending things which have never taken place.”
“We have destroyed 2 tanks, fighter planes, 2 helicopters and their shovels - We have driven them back.”
“We have them surrounded in their tanks”
“Lying is forbidden in Iraq. President Saddam Hussein will tolerate nothing but truthfulness as he is a man of great honor and integrity. Everyone is encouraged to speak freely of the truths evidenced in their eyes and hearts.”
“I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad.”
“We are in control. They are in a state of hysteria. Losers, they think that by killing civilians and trying to distort the feelings of the people they will win. I think they will not win, those bastards.” “They’re not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any
place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion … they are
trying to sell to the others an illusion.”
“We will kill them all……..most of them.”“they are nowhere near the airport ..they are lost in the desert…they can not read a compass…they are retarded.”
“Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly.”
“NO”, snapped Mr al-Sahaf, “We have retaken the airport. There are NO Americans there. I will take you there and show you. IN ONE HOUR!”
“We went into the airport and crushed them, we cleaned the WHOOOLE place out, they were slaughtered”
Does anyone know where the nickname Baghdad Bob came from? This guy should get a booking in Las Vegas, he’s that good. :-)
Chris…Can you delve any deeper on the Peshmerga-Arab relationship? Just how good or bad is it in your vacinity? And do the Kurds even care about Tikrit? In other words, are those dead Peshmergas really just that? Or, connivance?
Nice of the Marine to offer you the rifle, but you don’t want it if you can’t handle one.
Do you plan to continue reporting in this area or expand to another complex situation like down south where Imams have take charge of Shiite towns and are excercising totalitarian rule?
Do you see any of that in Tikrit?
We’re getting roadblack/jounalist nest news now..
Cheerio,
Tony Chopkoski
When I first heard Baudrillard’s comment on the first gulf war that “it has not happened at all. What we have seen on TV is just images. It is not reality” it shattered my sense of reality. I had been led to trust what I read on the paper, and what I saw on TV.
This war showed how insightful Baudrillard’s comment was. I no longer trust the usual media channels, as they have all fallen victim to the propaganda war.
I cannot stand the sight of “embedded journalists” wearing soldier uniforms, and speaking army jargon. I trust this website more than CNN, Fox News, or even news agencies such as AP.
As more and more people refuse to be duped by the media corporations, they will turn to independent voices. This is the future.
The Americans might have invaded Iraq, but they could not conquer or “hearts and minds.”
Do you realize you are being exposed to toxic levels of depleted uranium? I know the American military doesn’t think it is an issue but the international scientific community is outraged. UN Environmental Ctte released last week a demand to have research in Iraq start immediately.
If you knew you were walking into a news story that would kill you in a few years, would you have gone?
And it isn’t just happening in Iraq, or Afghanistan, it is happening on weapons testing sites all over the States and Canada. The chemical bombing of Northern Iraq is obvious. The DU in missiles isn’t.
Chris,
Congratulations for the job. Here, in Brazil, a lot of people have known the BI2 e loved it. We’re praying for you and for a independent coverage.
We hope you won’t need to work in another war - probably in Syria. US soldiers (God bless them) don’t have to be the Global Cops. Unfortunately, a feeling of anti-americanism is growing in my country, but it’s yours politicians fault, not the people.
You’re great, man!!!!
Baghdad Bob…I also heard Baghdad Muhammed…Baghdad Billy…depends on the newscast…and some would use none of those to keep their iconistic nature totally pc…
I can see that there’s a high tolerance for dissent here.
“Does anyone know where the nickname Baghdad Bob came from?”
I believe the nickname “Baghdad Bob” came from Fox News.
opie, great list of quotes from the iraqui info minister guy. :) Thanks.
At least something funny came out of that mess.
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/
Check it out. Funny stuff.
despite what everyone says about the Iraqi info (propaganda) minister, he told far fewer lies that the “coalition” PR
he said the allies were “not inside Baghdad” — the truth is when the Marines reached the Palestine hotel, and they broke Eastern Baghdad defenses after the info minister made his last appearance, the US Army was still west of the river, and had not crossed the river bridges (from where the tanks fired at the hotel) and had yet to enter any Baghdad neighbourhoods - they drove down a highway from the airport to the area where the main goverment buildings where, but this was an open suburban area, even if it was 2 miles away from the hotel, from where the cameras were filming - look at the maps
As for the airport - CNN and the rest showed no video from the airport area after the initial Ted Coppel “tour”, shortly after the US Army first entered the area, and before the Iraqi counterattack - it was revealed in the NY Times that shortly before the Marines broke into East Baghdad, the army was still fighting Iraqis holding high ground around the airport, from where they shot down an A-10
They are still clearing pockets west of the river, which is why there are few Army troops shown on TV - most are Marines
Read this about the Marines initially driven back (never reported) before they broke through, and how the US cooperated with the Iranians - although this was covered up in “press briefings”. iraqi casulaties are obviously very heavy
From a US newspaper
———Faced with America’s firepower and technological superiority, three Iraqi officers - who fought in different parts of Iraq - say they never expected to win this war. But they voice dismay at the number of Iraqi errors - deployment of militia groups instead of army units, for example - and at the impact of US psychological operations.
Despite their anger, these men could prove to be the voice of a new professional Iraqi army that may emerge - with American assistance - in the aftermath of this conflict.
And they know whom to blame: Saddam Hussein and his sons Qusay and Uday made all key military decisions. “We are already used to his mistakes from the Iran-Iraq war and Kuwait,” says Colonel “Asaad,” who asked that a pseudonym be used. “Every plan of Saddam was a disaster.”
Iraqi armed forces had also never recovered from being pulverized in the 1991 Gulf War. “You can’t fight with what was left … and this war was not just about what you learn at the military academy - it is technological, and we recognized that,” says Asaad. “The Army believed that from the first bullet fired by the British in the south, it would lose.”
And so it came to pass. Jaburi, a lean and weary battalion commander with the Iraqi Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, knew defeat was inevitable.
“But we were expecting that the war would last longer than it did,” he says. “We were desperate when Baghdad fell so quickly. If we were not Muslims we would have done like the Japanese and committed suicide [but] …our religion forbids it.”
The war had begun in earnest for Jaburi and his men 16 days before Baghdad fell, when his division received orders to pull out from Kifri, in northern Iraq, to join the defense of Baghdad.
Moving under the cover of a dust storm, Jaburi’s unit made it to the northeastern outskirts of the capital with few casualties, despite US airstrikes on the road. But then, dug in, they felt the full force of American air power.
During the first week of April, Jaburi says, his 4,000-strong unit lost 800 men *to “massive air attacks.” But the survivors stood their ground, and * repelled a US Marine assault on the afternoon of Monday April 7th.*
“We knew that they were afraid to face us, but the fact that they had close air support encouraged them to engage us,” Jaburi says. “If we had had air cover or missiles I don’t think the Americans would have dared enter Iraq, let alone Baghdad.”
Airstrikes killed 600 more of Jaburi’s men on Monday and Tuesday last week. *American troops were forced to retreat 12 miles to Salman Pak,** he says, but the game was over. Divisional headquarters in Baghdad ordered them back to their base in the north. There was no discussion of using chemical weapons. More than half the remaining men deserted, stripping off their uniforms and heading home to protect their families. Jaburi’s own instincts for survival overruled his career officer’s sense of discipline.
Fleeing for home
When Baghdad fell so quickly, “we were shocked,” he says. “The battle was over. We didn’t know what to do and you can’t judge whether it was right or wrong.” Soon his commander “expressed his deepest sympathy and condolences, and said we could go home.”
The thought of going home also came quickly to troops under Colonel “Saad,” another Iraqi officer who used a pseudonym. He was based in Al Amarah, in southern Iraq near the Iranian border. On April 3 they heard that American troops had reached Baghdad. The next day, their food supply line was cut.
“Soldiers started asking: ‘Why are we using the reserve food?’ and on April 4 they began to run away,” recalls Saad. While news of Fedayeen Saddam and tribal militia resistance against US and British forces in southern Iraq was heartening, Saad says his commander knew that it couldn’t last. The mistake was relying on the Fedayeen, which he termed “mercenaries.”
“The Fedayeen hit, but would then go back and collect their 10 million Iraqi dinar reward,” Saad says. “Only soldiers can hit American troops and progressively move forward.”
Besides their inability to press home an attack, the Fedayeen also deployed en masse to the south, and couldn’t redeploy before American forces were at the gates of the capital. Officers say that Mr. Hussein’s several television appearances were also a source of anger.
“He only praised the divisions in the south one time, and after that praised the Fedayeen, Baath Party, and militia, and forgot to praise the Army,” says Saad. “That frustrated leading commanders in the war. We needed more reassurance and motivation, and he gave it only to certain groups.”
Another mistake was the decision to move Republican Guard units south of Baghdad - where they could be easily targeted by American jets at Karbala, Hillah, and Al Kut. “While they were moving, the Republican Guard were a target for American fighter planes and they lost a lot of men,” says Jaburi. “It was very easy for the Americans to enter Baghdad.”
“The way we fought the war was to try to damage American troops as much as possible so that the US and British people would put pressure on their leaders to stop the war,” Jaburi adds.
Pressure instead was mounting on Iraqi forces, which were the subject of a building psy-ops campaign since last fall. Saad says his units had little exposure to the messages on tens of millions of leaflets dropped on Iraqi units from the air, because Mukhabarat internal security and military intelligence agents scooped them up first.
“The soldiers would see them fall, but were not allowed to read them,” says Saad. “The Army has lots of Baath infiltrators, which kept a tight grip and collected those very fast.”
Faxes to officers
Radio broadcasts warning troops not to fight and telling them how to surrender were not often heard, since few soldiers had radios, Saad says. But faxes and e-mails to commanders had a “big impact” - even though those lines of communication were cut some 10 days before the war began.
“Of course it has an impact - if one commander receives a fax and gives it to his senior, in this simple way the officer knows of the US technical superiority,” Saad says. “Imagine him thinking: ‘If the Americans are able to get into the mind of a senior commander this way, how can I protect a whole division?’”
In the south, the picture was complicated by the crossing over from Iran of thousands of Iraqi exile forces loyal to the Shiite Muslim cleric Mohamed Bakr al-Hakkim. It was this militia that forced Saad’s units in Al Amarah to retreat, he says, not the Americans.
“The hit from behind is stronger,” says Saad. *The militia, known as the Badr Brigade confronted the Iraqis at several rear positions from Baghdad down to Basra, targeting Baath Party and regime command centers, while avoiding contact with US forces.***
Along with two other officers, Saad fled the Badr advance late on April 4, and hid with a local sheikh. They changed out of their uniforms and, despite suspicions from the Iran-based militia, the sheikh swore that the officers were his relatives from Baghdad.
On April 6, every Iraqi still in uniform in Amarah was killed by Badr soldiers. Then at 5 a.m. on April 8, American troops nearby ordered that all weapons be given up within 48 hours.* The Badr units disappeared, and in that gap, Saad and his two fellow officers made their way home to a capital without a defense ministry anymore.
Losses were great. Of the 700 men under Jaburi’s direct command, 200 died. That hurt, he said. “But to lose our country was worse.”———
Obviously the Americans knew the Badr Iranians were in the city, but said nothing in public
As for the “reporters” reporting from Amara - there were several reports on CNN from inside the city - they mentioned absolutely nothing about the Iranians.
“despite what everyone says about the Iraqi info (propaganda) minister, he told far fewer lies that the “coalition” PR”
I’m going to use a quote from the Iraqi Information Minister in response to ‘someone’:
someone…”I NOW INFORM YOU THAT YOU ARE FAR FROM REALITY”
Opie, I take it you believe the “coalition” PR was more or less truthful? It’s none of my business, but I’m curious as to where you hail from. What is your point of reference on this war?
From where I listened in the west of the U.S., it sounded like nothing but lie after lie starting way before the military action ever did. I suppose it appeared in a worse light because it was obvious that Baghdad Bob was simply telling an amusing, wishful cheerleader-type tale; but from our own government, folks expected better. Maybe we shouldn’t have, (and I, being irreparably jaded, did no expecting at all) - but folks did.
Loving all your posts. Take care and be safe. Michael, thanks for the 4/17 update - when 2 days go by with no email I start to worry…
Great reporting. It’s been amazing to get a first hand account of what’s going on by an unbiased reporter on the ground. Keep up the great work and stay safe.
I was looking things up on the internet and came across this site. i would like to thank cris for every thing he done for me i was over there and had not heard from my family in a few months
I am CPL Hightower and he gave my marines the thing they needed the most a phone call home and information about the war i thank u for all my marine. SEMPER FI CPL HIGHTOWER USMC
I really like grilled cheese. Do you Chris?
I heard Iraq smells like feet. Is that true?
yaarrrchhh