KIRKUK, Iraq -- I'm standing about 50 km from Tikrit and nervous enough to feel like I've just swallowed molten lead. The road is as straight as an sniper shot. Behind me, about 10 km, stands the last PUK checkpoint after Kirkuk. The land is flat, and perhaps it's my imagination, but it appears stunted and less fertile than the hills and mountains to the north east. There is a light wind that smells faintly of burning oil. Every now and then a car passes our small encampment on the side of the road and its passengers peer at us intently. The ones coming from the direction of Tikrit don't smile. Before us lies the stronghold of Saddam Hussein, and I have to make a decision to press on or not.
J. and I left earlier this morning from Arbil thinking the war was done, more or less, after seeing the footage from CNN that things looked quiet. We left before we knew the truth. Correspondent Brent Sadler would come under fire from automatic weapons and flee the city under a hail of bullets.
Whenever we ask, peshmergas and other officials tell it is "very dangerous" to go to Tikrit, that despite the claims of CENTCOM, U.S. forces are nowhere to be seen. Fara'doon Abdul-Kadir, the newly appointed interim governor of Kirkuk, warns me that there are no peshmergas past the checkpoint -- we'll be on our own. We're in a taxi with blue "TV" taped to the side panels and windows. Freydoon, our loyal driver and now bodyguard, is packing a 9mm Browning Hi-Power that J. picked up at the weapons bazaar when I wasn't looking. It won't do much good, however, against the Kalishnikovs of the Fedayeen Saddam.
The fact of the matter is that Tikrit is "hot" as the journos here say. It is not "fine" as I thought it might be from CNN's early footage. A Kurdish journalist and his crew that I've become friendly with were chased by men in black in black sedans later in the afternoon when they got within a few kilometers of the entrance of the city. Fedayeen. From Mustafa's description of his pursuers, they sound like James Bond villains.
There is a rumor that Jalal Talabani, head of the PUK, sent in Said Jabadi, a former Ba'athist, to negotiate a surrender of the city. Twenty-five of the 28 clans have agreed to surrender their weapons, but only to allied forces. No peshmergas. The other three, including Saddam's clan, have said they will fight to the end. It seems, then, the American bombardment will continue.
The leadership is holed up there, some believe, and the U.S. doesn't want to take any chances on losing them. What happens in the next few days will be a sharp, short shock. Tikrit, I'm guessing, will be cut off from the outside world -- no one in, no one out. The question is whether to be inside or outside when that happens.
Ultimately, I decide to turn back. It's not worth it. We don't have eight cylinders under our hood, we don't have the protection, we don't have the backup and so far, we don't have a story. Yeah, it'd be cool to say I was in Tikrit before it was sacked, but I need to have a better story than what Tikritis think about the U.S. Marines and the demise of Saddam's regime.
Tomorrow, we'll try another probe, to see what we can see, but I've reserved the right to turn back at any time. See? I am a physical coward.
In other news
Kirkuk has been mostly brought under control, and Mosul is on its way. The road to Kirkuk is patrolled and managed by U.S. troops. No weapons go in, except for a few AK-47s carried by authorized peshmergas. Inside the city, which saw much less looting than Mosul, the process of cleanup has begun. Jarringly, police trucked in from Chamchamal and Suleimaniya are wearing Iraqi police uniforms, which look exactly like Iraqi Army uniforms. The whole time I was in Kirkuk, I thought we were surrounded by Iraqi troops that had decided to make themselves useful after surrendering.
Not the case, as it turns out. The Kurds are using the old uniforms of the Iraqis so as not to antagonize the Turks (or anyone else) into thinking that "Kurdish uniforms" were the mark of an independence bid. So the Kurds, who have suffered grievously under the regime, have donned the silver eagle, black beret and green fatigues of their enemy to keep Turkey and Iran happy. The new police force numbers 1,500 men, said Abdul-Kadir.
The interim government -- which as yet has no expiration date -- will be made up of a 21-member committee, with four members of each ethnic group: Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen and Assyrians, said Sadi Ahmed Pire, who is with the PUK international relations office and the chief PUK representative in Arbil. The last member will be Brig. General James Parker, commander of the northern forces. (*CORRECTION:* I incorrectly reported his name earlier. I apologize for the late correction.) The committee will advise Adbul-Kadir as he navigates the ethnic minefields of the region and attempts to answer questions such as what will happen to the Arab families who were moved, often against their will, into the homes of expelled Kurds? What happens if the Turks move in? Where will the Kurdish refugees, which some estimates put near 300,000, go?
These questions are as yet unanswered.
Just found your blog. Incredibly interesting and very appreciated!
Earlier somebody posted a comment / question about whether Syria was next. What are your thoughts? From here (Canada) that’s what seems to be shaping up.
You almost certainly did the right and smart thing by turning back; if for no other reason than we need you alive to keep reporting what you see. As others have noted please be careful.
How many hits is this thing getting?
I think the one thing it is missing is a good action hero type picture of Chris.
Like Kevin Sites has on his dead blog.
I think Kevin Sites blog was on it’s way to becoming more read than cnn.com
I would like to see the Back-2-Iraq blog become more popular than cnn.com
I would like to see them talking about Back-2-Iraq blog on NBC Nightly News at 6 o’clock.
Get a good action hero type picture of Chris on here. I think people would like to know what he looks like.
Also try some audio posts with Audio Blogger.
http://www.audioblogger.com/
Keep up the great work.
http://dougkenline.blogspot.com/
hello
I found interesting and different the way for which passes the information and acontecimentso of the War, this really shows its passion for the work, therefore I am certain that nor all the people would make this… a great one hug…
Anderson
Curitiba - Paraná - Brazil
Christopher, I watched in horror and disbelief as Brent Sadler went into Tikrit and did not expect him to come back out on his feet! Thank God he was able to. You are not a physical coward, more like you made a wise choice given the circumstances. A good story is not worth your life friend! Let the Marines go first and there will be plenty of story left afterwards. Given the fact that we are at war, going into a city not controlled by the coalition was a very stupid thing to do & Mr.Sadler is lucky to be talking about it!
Please be safe. Go with your gut instincts. Your stories are great as it is and I agree with Steve: a good story is not worth your life! Thank you.
Good call, Chris. Absolutely trust your intuition. Sure can’t trust what CNN tells us. But then, that’s why I get my info from you and other independents. I think most Americans feel that the war is over, but it seems that the real war is just beginning with “warnings” to Syria and Iran in the crosshairs. Any word on the looting of museums of Iraq? If the US can protect the oil fields, why haven’t they arranged to also protect the irreplaceable and priceless cultural and historical artifacts of the Iraqi people?
I agree with the other, you can’t report from the field if you are in a hospital or six foot under. People don’t seem to realize the hazards of reporting, less along reporting from a war, according to the The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 31 March 2003, “A total of 20 journalists were killed worldwide as a direct result of their work in 2002” and 136 were in prison. So lets not raise the number for this year, Safe Travels.
Hey Chris, when are you coming home? I think you said 2 weeks, which would mean that this week you will be coming back. Or am I wrong? You made a wise choice of not going to Tikrit, the people there are hostile. Many people there may actually like Saddam Hussein and so don’t go in until the US finishes the mission there. I’m sure you would be shot at, especially with “TV” written on your vehicle and that you are a westerner. God Speed…
RE: If the US can protect the oil fields, why haven’t they arranged to also protect the irreplaceable and priceless cultural and historical artifacts of the Iraqi people?
An excellent question, that. I have said it before (once): seems to me the omniscient Bush Club would have foreseen the looting and taken preemptive measures to avoid it if they gave a flying rat tail for 7000-year-old artifacts. In fact, they did know it; they have said several times that it is no surprise, this ain’t chaos, heh-heh, newly freed boys will be boys, etc. That leaves the inescapable conclusion that the only ancient objects our government cares about are those which have turned to petroleum.
My-oh-my am I disheartened. I betcha if we all write a letter admonishing Shrub and the Hedges, they will include a foolproof plan for preserving priceless history before their next liberation.
Christopher, awesome reporting. Be careful.
As for a couple of these other comments posted, I’m getting tired of the naysayers jumping on every minor problem and making it into some sort of repudiation against Bush, the war in Iraq etc. So far this has been one of the most successful military campaigns in history.
On the museum story, I’d be surprised if the majority of valuables were not hidden or in other locations. Would the Iraqis be so stupid to have priceless antiquities out on display while they are being bombed and invaded? Doubt it. This story smacks of PR spin and I’m sure the real truth will come out over time.
Jan, why are you so full of hate for Dubyuh & Company? You embrace every slander, and reject that there is anything good in all this.
As PJ O’Rourke observed, looting is just the first stage of shopping.
Ultimately, all the “treasures” will be found in the vault of the Hermitage museum, or in the Iraqi curator’s basement. It was interesting that this Iraqi museum had been closed to the public for the past ten years.
The Bush administration has really opened a can of worms with this war.
I was stationed in Karamursel, Turkey when the Turks invaded Cyprus and the U.S. imposed an arms embargo on Turkey. The Turks responded by shutting down our operations at various TUSLOG detachments.
This time the administration will either abandon the Kurds once more to maintain its bases in Turkey or support the Kurds because of their assistance and risk an alliance between Turkey and Iran against the U.S.
What do you hear of non-Iraqi Arab nationals entering Iraq from Syria. Since the rumblings are that the war may widen to the West, what you hear of the actuality of the US charges is of interest.
About the Baghdad Museum… according to several reports, the museum…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/international/worldspecial/13BAGH.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030412/wlnm/iraqbaghdadmuseumdc_4
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14331-2003Apr12.html
Another interesting article:
By Liam McDougall, Sunday Herald (Scotland), April 2003
http://www.sundayherald.com/32895
Additionally, though the US was not among the 103 nations to sign the following convention, the fact that they found the resources to protect the oil wells but not Iraq’s historical artifacts is still a tragedy. It’s becoming quite clear how little planning has gone into the reconstruction of post-war Iraq.
(The Hague, 14 May 1954)
List of the 103 States Parties (85 States Parties to the Protocol)
As at 9 April 2002
http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/hague/html_eng/page9.shtml
http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList260/FF7F81319B1F96DAC1256B66005D8A96
The U.S. Congress did try, however, to institute some legislation that would have tried to protect the antiquities, but it now looks like it’s too late.
H. CON. RES. 113 by Rep. Phil English (R-PA), March 25, 2003
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/usandun/03032507.htm
Good research Ron! I’d be interested to know how many of the “10,000 identified archaeological sites of cultural and historical importance” (state link) made it out of the war unscathed.
And for Christopher: Between Tikrit and Syria, somebody’s gotta write the book “The Hunt for Saddam and his Henchmen” :)
Thanks for all the links and research Ron. As far as the museums being closed for the last 10 years, all the more tragic that most of the Iraqis have never seen their own cultural heritage. And if the census records have any substance to them, that half the population is under 18, then all the more reason for this next generation to know their history through art and artifacts. Of course, this wanes in importance compared to getting the population back on their feet, dealing with the health issues, the carnage of war and replacing their infrastructure, schools and hospitals.
Chris, are the US warnings to Syria being played up as much there as they are here in the US? Getting any responses to these Syrian warnings in Iraq? I just read a Reuters article where Bush, asked if the charges, a regular theme in recent weeks from hard-line members of the U.S. administration, could lead to war, Bush told reporters: “I think that we believe there are chemical weapons in Syria, for example.
(hope this link works)
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=5CWC5ZAJVHFSCCRBAEKSFFA?type=politicsNews&storyID=2557613
Does anyone else think this is a sort of conditioning, a rallying, for preparing the US people for the next phase? It seems to be reminiscent of the rhetoric used for justifying the Iraq war. Shouldn’t we all be concerned that this war, not yet over by a long shot, may only be a step away from the next?
“estjohn”, is your real name Rumsfeld? Some people think the destroying of irreplaceable artifacts is not a “minor problem”. Obviously you are not one of them. If you believe you’ve been wronged by my naysayage, then I will apologize. I would note that there are so many cheerleaders for this “successful military campaign” that it hardly seems my voice is needed on that account.
I, for one, am tired of any mite of dissension over this war being clubbed over the head with great gobs of testosterone logic. Of course I am glad that so far this “successful military campaign” has not been a greater bloodbath; nonetheless, any war is generally some degree of a bloodbath (if human suffering is what you are concerned about) - and nothing changes the fact that it was ill-advised, veiled in falsehood, and illegal. This military campaign is further tarnished by hidden agendas, and made a little less cute and sparkly to me by the fact that US citizens are going to be literally and figuratively paying for it for a long, long time. Pardon me if I do not get enthused over it.
What, Hector - yet another fake email address? Tsk, tsk.
The looting of the museum is being compared to the burning of the library at Alexandria…
http://hnn.us/articles/printfriendly/1386.html
I’m a bibliophile and junk collector, but i’d burn all of my books and treasures to have my freedom. Quit looking for the thorns, and smell the roses.
Hector: Speaking of freedom, about what kind of freedom do we exactly talk here? Believe me, I´m as happy as you are that Saddam Hussein is gone. But I have the slight impression your government´s “pax americana” is not going to pacify the middle east. After September 11th your country had all the sympathy even in the islamic world. What have the US achieved now - apart from oil wells, dead civilians, spoiled relations to many countries allover the world, etc.?
Apart from that: In view of your governments policy towards the funding of public libraries I recommend you donate your books before you burn them for freedom.
“I´m as happy as you are that Saddam Hussein is gone.” I doubt that.
No peace in the middle east? Never have had any, so how can it be worse? Actually, I think we just may pacify them, if we can ween them from jew-hating.
Sympathy? Isn’t that between shit and syphillis in the dictionary?
“What have the US achieved now - apart from oil wells, dead civilians, spoiled relations to many countries allover the world, etc.?”
What we have now is a world where the tinpot dictators now know that their actions are liable to produce consequences somewhat greater than the drive-by shootings of the Clinton years. Relations where the French, Germans, and Russians are selling out UN resolutions for which they voted, behind the world’s collective back, are already spoiled. In case you haven’t noticed, all the shit is floating to the top now, since we stirred the pot. Seems the crony oil deals they had with Saddam came from selling him weapons, surpriiiise, surpriiise. Iraqi oil will now sell at a market rate in the open, and the money will go to Iraqi’s instead of building WMD’s. Hell the whole war is worth this item alone.
Government funded libraries became a federal program during LBJ’s great society, and it’s been ruining them ever since. Libraries are funded on the basis of what circulates, not on the quality of the books on their shelves. That’s why you can now rent “Smokey and the Bandit”, or check out Barbara Cartland, but you won’t find the collected verse of Siegfried Sassoon. No matter, it’s all on the internet now, mwahahahaha, another evil we’ve set loose upon the world, lmao.
excuse me, hector….. name us one country where oil money is going to the people of that country????
tom
Indirectly it does everywhere that it is pumped from the ground/ocean floor. The real question is what is done with the money, and as Mark Steyn pointed out the other day, in the worst case, a year from now, Iraq will be the least worst governed nation in the region.
Hector: “No peace in the middle east? Never have had any, so how can it be worse? Actually, I think we just may pacify them, if we can ween them from jew-hating.”
Turn it around: Make the Israel government stop arab-hating.
“Sympathy? Isn’t that between shit and syphillis in the dictionary?”
Strange dictionary you have. In my dictionary it´s between sympathizer and symphony.
“Iraqi oil will now sell … and the money will go to Iraqi’s instead of building WMD’s.”
If oil money would go to the people for what reason tap the nigerian people the pipelines then? Where is the money in Venezuela?
And, and, and …
I’m sure it’s cultural Klaus, but you miss the larger points. You may have the last word, even if it is unintelligible.
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 as beautifully as you started. I urge your readers to go back to Sept. 11, 2001 and read the last paragraph of your first post.
Best of Luck in the future Christopher!
The biggest supporter of “tinpot dictators” (your own words Hector) have been respective US governments…. when it suits them….advised and guided by your country’s petty bueauraucrats and military-industrial combine. They then pull them down when they’re done with them. As far as Iraq is concerned, you went in, as you did in Vietnam and korea, thinking that your superior materials andmunitions would do the trick… however, even after napalming the Vietnamese countryside, you had your asses kicked out of there. That’s what’s happening in Iraq, even if you can’t see it. The pity is that the country with the most powerful and expansive (and no… that’s not a spelling mistake, so don’t talk down to me like you tried to do to Klaus) media industry in the world doesn’t have any Freedom of Media or Freedom of Speech… the truth outs ultimately and all the shit that your embedded journalists tried to feed the rest of the world id being shown up now. The downturn in relations isn’t restricted to France, Russia and Germany. Unless you are congenitally stupid, you should know that there have been huge protests all over the world… including the UK, despite anything that Blair and his government might have you believe. A pity really… you Americans aren’t bad people, just incredibly naive, innocents in a world that you don’t understand, something like a 16 year old with muscles too big for his age, who thinks he’s seen it all, little realising that there are a lot of smarter, more intelligent and oh, so much more experienced cultures and civilizations out there. You guys haven’t yet learned not to piss into the wind…. and finally… the big oil majors don’t do anything for the country’s whose oil they have been stealing for decades.