Baghdad Journal
Day Eight (but who's counting?)
I know this risks a visit from the ghost of Joseph McCarthy,
but you gotta hand it to those Communists. I got my first newspaper
since arriving in Baghdad today. Now, some of the journalism was
a bit suspect, and some a bit out of date, but it was the Iraqi
Communist Party that managed to get the very first newspaper back
on the streets of Baghdad since "The Baath Party Observer"
and "The Torture Times" did their own post-regime publishing
face-plant.
The "Tariq Al Shaff" or "The People's Voice"
borrows heavily from the doctrinaire sort of reportage perfected
by Pravda, but hey, add a crossword and a horoscope, and this
thing could take off. Fact is, it was taking off. There was a
busy stream of people in and out of the Communist Party Headquarters
(a building recently "liberated" from the former government),
and all came out with their newspaper and a selection of bumper
stickers. One was a long strip about 4 inches wide and 2 feet
long that read
The Iraqi Communist Party - A Free People and a Unified Iraq.
Our driver, Haidar says he's going to cut it in half and proudly
display the part that calls for "A Free People and a Unified
Iraq".
The newspaper has stories quoting Amnesty International's criticism
of the attack and another story saying that the Americans have
officially announced they killed 10-thousand Iraqis in the last
month. (I missed that news conference, but we don't hear as much
from Donald Rumsfeld here in Iraq as we did in Boston)
We also spent some time with U.S. soldiers today. Army guys with
Alpha and Bravo Company, Third Infantry Division. They're the
ones who were first into Baghdad and took the rocket-propelled
grenades and small arms fire that met the first of the forces
here. These guys are so young !! Yet they are utterly committed
to what they're doing, and it was heartening to hear from the
boys themselves, talking about missing fiancés, girlfriends,
mothers, sisters, and young children. They are also very proud
of the work they've done in chasing Saddam Hussein out of Baghdad.
Yet one man told me that he didn't want to talk about the first
day in Baghdad, the day when they fired their guns and cannons
at people. It reminded me of my own father-in-law who, as a teenager
in a British uniform, drove a tank in Italy, and never, ever,
spoke to anyone about what he saw, what he did.
The U.S. soldiers also say they've been absolutely charmed by
the Iraqi people, who, because none of the Iraqis are working,
have lots of time to pass with the soldiers. Tell you something
else. The boys want to come home. We met soldiers from Wheatfield
Indiana, Kansas City, Missouri, New York City, Miami, and Monroe,
Wisconsin. They've been away from home for seven months. Six months
training in the deserts of Kuwait, and the last month here in
Iraq. One guy put it beautifully. You get a pat on the back in
the army, he said, but you never get a hug. I want to go somewhere
where I can get a hug.
I confess I was quite charmed by the commitment and the dedication
of the soldiers I met. These guys are currently at Baghdad University,
making sure that there's no looting.
When we got back in the truck, I talked with my translator Ahmed,
who'd been listening in on the conversation. Ahmed was in the
Iraqi Army back in 1991, and one of the soldiers sent to Kuwait.
We agreed that the youngest men are often the ones given the guns
in any army, and the conversation seemed to be tripping along
when he turned to me and he said;
"You know Dick, every soldier who goes to war has to be
a brave man, this is a fact…..but you must remember that
the American soldiers came in very good, very fast tanks, and
they shot at people who weren't so well protected."
It was all he said. He turned away to look at the street. I know
what he meant. Ahmed had told me a week or so ago that he was
out on the street on that day when the 3rd Infantry rolled in,
and he had picked up the body pieces of a young man hit by a tank
shell. This was, and is today, and, I guess, always will be a
military confrontation with many different perspectives. All we
can do is know that no story is as simple as it seems...Especially
through the eyes of a soldier, American or Iraqi.
FIELD REPORTS
;){kind=link}