[Rhodes22-list] Politics: A View From The Ground

[Steve]

The lastest polls I saw confirmed that the vast
miltary (all branches) supports Bush and that the war
is going quite well despite how the media is reporting
it.  
Steve


  
--- Wally Buck <tnrhodey at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Bill,
> 
> I mentioned in an earlier post my nephew is in Iraq
> training their police 
> force. His describes pretty much the same thing. The
> situation is much worse 
> than Bush wants us to believe.
> 
> Wally
> 
> >From: "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com>
> >Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> >To: "R-22" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> >Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Politics: A View From The
> Ground
> >Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 13:09:55 -0400
> >
> > >From Baghdad
> >A Wall Street Journal Reporter's E-Mail to Friends
> >
> >by Farnaz Fassihi
> >
> >Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days
> is like being under 
> >virtual house arrest. Forget about the reasons that
> lured me to this job: a 
> >chance to see the world, explore the exotic, meet
> new people in far away 
> >lands, discover their ways and tell stories that
> could make a difference.
> >
> >Little by little, day-by-day, being based in Iraq
> has defied all those 
> >reasons. I am house bound. I leave when I have a
> very good reason to and a 
> >scheduled interview. I avoid going to people's
> homes and never walk in the 
> >streets. I can't go grocery shopping any more,
> can't eat in restaurants, 
> >can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't
> look for stories, can't 
> >drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go
> to scenes of breaking 
> >news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't
> speak English outside, can't 
> >take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't
> linger at checkpoints, 
> >can't be curious about what people are saying,
> doing, feeling. And can't 
> >and can't. There has been one too many close calls,
> including a car bomb so 
> >near our house that it blew out all the windows. So
> now my most pressing 
> >concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story
> but to stay alive and 
> >make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive. In
> Baghdad I am a security 
> >personnel first, a reporter second.
> >
> >It's hard to pinpoint when the 'turning point'
> exactly began. Was it April 
> >when the Fallujah fell out of the grasp of the
> Americans? Was it when 
> >Moqtada and Jish Mahdi declared war on the U.S.
> military? Was it when Sadr 
> >City, home to ten percent of Iraq's population,
> became a nightly 
> >battlefield for the Americans? Or was it when the
> insurgency began 
> >spreading from isolated pockets in the Sunni
> triangle to include most of 
> >Iraq? Despite President Bush's rosy assessments,
> Iraq remains a disaster. 
> >If under Saddam it was a 'potential' threat, under
> the Americans it has 
> >been transformed to 'imminent and active threat,' a
> foreign policy failure 
> >bound to haunt the United States for decades to
> come.
> >
> >Iraqis like to call this mess 'the situation.' When
> asked 'how are thing?' 
> >they reply: 'the situation is very bad."
> >
> >What they mean by situation is this: the Iraqi
> government doesn't control 
> >most Iraqi cities, there are several car bombs
> going off each day around 
> >the country killing and injuring scores of innocent
> people, the country's 
> >roads are becoming impassable and littered by
> hundreds of landmines and 
> >explosive devices aimed to kill American soldiers,
> there are 
> >assassinations, kidnappings and beheadings. The
> situation, basically, means 
> >a raging barbaric guerilla war. In four days, 110
> people died and over 300 
> >got injured in Baghdad alone. The numbers are so
> shocking that the ministry 
> >of health -- which was attempting an exercise of
> public transparency by 
> >releasing the numbers -- has now stopped disclosing
> them.
> >
> >Insurgents now attack Americans 87 times a day.
> >
> >A friend drove thru the Shiite slum of Sadr City
> yesterday. He said young 
> >men were openly placing improvised explosive
> devices into the ground. They 
> >melt a shallow hole into the asphalt, dig the
> explosive, cover it with dirt 
> >and put an old tire or plastic can over it to
> signal to the locals this is 
> >booby-trapped. He said on the main roads of Sadr
> City, there were a dozen 
> >landmines per every ten yards. His car snaked and
> swirled to avoid driving 
> >over them. Behind the walls sits an angry Iraqi
> ready to detonate them as 
> >soon as an American convoy gets near. This is in
> Shiite land, the 
> >population that was supposed to love America for
> liberating Iraq.
> >
> >For journalists the significant turning point came
> with the wave of 
> >abduction and kidnappings. Only two weeks ago we
> felt safe around Baghdad 
> >because foreigners were being abducted on the roads
> and highways between 
> >towns. Then came a frantic phone call from a
> journalist female friend at 11 
> >p.m. telling me two Italian women had been abducted
> from their homes in 
> >broad daylight. Then the two Americans, who got
> beheaded this week and the 
> >Brit, were abducted from their homes in a
> residential neighborhood. They 
> >were supplying the entire block with round the
> clock electricity from their 
> >generator to win friends. The abductors grabbed one
> of them at 6 a.m. when 
> >he came out to switch on the generator; his
> beheaded body was thrown back 
> >near the neighborhoods.
> >
> >The insurgency, we are told, is rampant with no
> signs of calming down. If 
> >any thing, it is growing stronger, organized and
> more sophisticated every 
> >day. The various elements within it-baathists,
> criminals, nationalists and 
> >Al Qaeda-are cooperating and coordinating.
> >
> >I went to an emergency meeting for foreign
> correspondents with the military 
> >and embassy to discuss the kidnappings. We were
> somberly told our fate 
> >would largely depend on where we were in the
> kidnapping chain once it was 
> >determined we were missing. Here is how it goes:
> criminal gangs grab you 
> >and sell you up to Baathists in Fallujah, who will
> in turn sell you to Al 
> >Qaeda. In turn, cash and weapons flow the other way
> from Al Qaeda to the 
> >Baathisst to the criminals. My friend Georges, the
> French journalist 
> >snatched on the road to Najaf, has been missing for
> a month with no word on 
> >release or whether he is still alive.
> >
> >America's last hope for a quick exit? The Iraqi
> police and National Guard 
> >units we are spending billions of dollars to train.
> The cops are being 
> >murdered by the dozens every day-over 700 to date
> -- and the insurgents are 
> >infiltrating their ranks. The problem is so serious
> that the U.S. military 
> >has allocated $6 million dollars to buy out 30,000
> cops they just trained 
> >to get rid of them quietly.
> >
> >As for reconstruction: firstly it's so unsafe for
> foreigners to operate 
> >that almost all projects have come to a halt. After
> two years, of the $18 
> >billion Congress appropriated for Iraq
> reconstruction only about $1 billion 
> >or so has been spent and a chuck has now been
> reallocated for improving 
> >security, a sign of just how bad things are going
> here.
> >
> >Oil dreams? Insurgents disrupt oil flow routinely
> as a result of sabotage 
> >and oil prices have hit record high of $49 a
> barrel. Who did this war 
> >exactly benefit? Was it worth it? Are we safer
> because Saddam is holed up 
> >and Al Qaeda is running around in Iraq?
> >
> >Iraqis say that thanks to America they got freedom
> in exchange for 
> >insecurity. Guess what? They say they'd take
> security over freedom any day, 
> >even if it means having a dictator ruler.
> >
> >I heard an educated Iraqi say today that if Saddam
> Hussein were allowed to 
> >run for elections he would get the majority of the
> vote. This is truly sad.
> >
> >Then I went to see an Iraqi scholar this week to
> talk to him about 
> >elections here. He has been trying to educate the
> public on the importance 
> >of voting. He said, "President Bush wanted to turn
> Iraq into a democracy 
> >that would be an example for the Middle East.
> Forget about democracy, 
> >forget about being a model for the region, we have
> to salvage Iraq before 
> >all is lost."
> >
> >One could argue that Iraq is already lost beyond
> salvation. For those of us 
> >on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any
> thing could salvage it from 
> >its violent downward spiral. The genie of
> terrorism, chaos and mayhem has 
> >been unleashed onto this country as a result of
> American mistakes and it 
> >can't be put back into a bottle.
> >
> >The Iraqi government is talking about having
> elections in three months 
> >while half of the country remains a 'no go
> zone'-out of the hands of the 
> >government and the Americans and out of reach of
> journalists. In the other 
> >half, the disenchanted population is too terrified
> to show up at polling 
> >stations. The Sunnis have already said they'd
> boycott elections, leaving 
> >the stage open for polarized government of Kurds
> and Shiites that will not 
> >be deemed as legitimate and will most certainly
> lead to civil war.
> >
> >I asked a 28-year-old engineer if he and his family
> would participate in 
> >the Iraqi elections since it was the first time
> Iraqis could to some degree 
> >elect a leadership. His response summed it all: "Go
> and vote and risk being 
> >blown into pieces or followed by the insurgents and
> murdered for 
> >cooperating with the Americans? For what? To
> practice democracy? Are you 
> >joking?"
> >
> >Farnaz Fassihi, a Wall Street Journal reporter sent
> this report as an 
> >e-mail to friends.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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>
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> >
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