Rick and David were interviewed on two Pacifica radio programs September 12th and 13th. Rick and David discussed on "Living Room" and "Arab Voices" the current situation in Iraq as well as Petraeus' recent testimony before Congress.
To listen to these two radio programs, click here.
A cloud of steam rises above the crowd in the 120-degree heat. As their leader approaches the podium, the thousands who have assembled meet him with pledges of their fealty.
“We are all Badr Brigade!” they shout, a reference to the paramilitary organization of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), which held this rally on July 19, in honor of Ayatollah Bakr al-Hakim, the party’s founding leader, who was assassinated here four years ago. His nephew, Amar al-Hakim, now holds the position.
I was one of the millions who attended al-Hakim’s funeral four years ago...
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, a daily NPR radio and TV news program, interviewed Rick Rowley on his view of Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus' report. David Enders and Rick Rowley's investigative video of Al-Anbar was also featured on the program.
An excerpt from the interview:
RICK ROWLEY: Well, when General Petraeus says that they're merely applauding these tribes from the sidelines, he's lying. I mean, while we were embedded with the Americans, we saw American military commanders hand wads of cash to tribal militias. And when he says that they are facilitating their integration into the country’s security forces, what he means is they're pressuring Iraq's government to incorporate these militias wholesale into the police forces...
To listen to the interview and to watch the video, click here.
David Enders and Rick Rowley's investigative video on Al Anbar was featured on "People and Power," a program on Al Jazeera English. The segment aired Sunday, September 9, 2007. To watch the video, click here.
Note from the Pulitzer Center: Check your local PBS station listings for broadcasts of the David Enders interview on Foreign Exchange starting Friday, September 7, 2007.
Just back from Iraq, David describes a stagnating, often deteriorating security situation, a central government unable to provide basic services to Iraqi citizens, and the rise of militias as the real authority in many areas. The interview is a sobering counterpoint to recent official reports from the region and is, in our view, essential viewing as the Bush administration presents its much-touted "progress report" on Iraq.
Here's an excerpt:
This is a remarkably frank assessment of the war, written by soldiers who are there. All of the Iraqis I have showed it to agree.
Before leaving the Middle East, there was one last thing I had to do. F., an Iraqi friend and colleague who I worked with in Baghdad and was now living in Damascus needed to get to Jordan. He had been promised a job there. The only problem is that, despite extremely rare exceptions, Jordan has closed its borders to Iraqis.
Iraqis refer to it as “rent-a-whitey.” In Baghdad, I used to do it for people when they had to deal with the American military. It was no secret that the US military would take an Iraqi accompanied by an American much more seriously than an Iraqi alone. (This included, at one point, walking toward a snipers’ nest with my passport raised above my head, shouting, “I’m an American journalist.”)
Resettlement has been described by UN officials as the only “durable” solution for the Iraqi refugee problem.
Since Syria is one place that foreign journalists can work and interact with Iraqis, the problem has received coverage. Nonetheless, the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen.
In Damascus, I’m staying with S. and A., who left Baghdad less than a month ago after their house was raided by militiamen because S. worked as an accountant for the Iraqi government inside the green zone. He decided to take a leave from his job after that, but it seems unlikely he will return — he was also threatened by a different group after filing a report that implicated members of an Iraqi political party of embezzlement.
Perhaps their six-month old son, Hamoudi, will not grow up in Baghdad. He will have a lot of company.
The lights suddenly go out. Damascus now has rolling blackouts, a function of the sprawl that is driven in large part by Iraqis. The hospitals, schools and other infrastructure, in a country that already suffers from problematic unemployment, are being further taxed.
Iraqis here wonder how long Syria, the only country that still keeps its borders open to them, will do so.
These are the Iraqis that can get passports and can afford to leave, and even they are discovering themselves to be increasingly poor. Syrian landlords require six months rent up front. Iraqis are not allowed to work in Syria, and so most are living on their savings.
I don’t know what S. and A. will do. S. has gone to register with the UNHCR, but he will not even have an interview until January. Five countries — the US, UK, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Sweden — have agreed to take approximately 10,000 applications for asylum this year. So far this year, 47 people have been resettled. The UNHCR office in charge of resettlement referrals says that this will increase toward the end of the year, but no matter how one looks at it, even if the total number of commitments were filled, it’s less than 1 percent of the people who have fled the country.
Yes, Rick and I are in Kurdistan. I had actually forgotten what is was like to hear people in Iraq say that. Stopped happening in Baghdad some time ago.
But then again, we're not actually in Iraq. Kurdistan is, for all intents and purposes, more of less an independent country.
Not everyone is so optimistic. On Wednesday we interviewed Nochiwan Mustafa, one of the founding members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. He figures the US will sell out the Kurds (again) in favor of not angering Turkey over the PKK.
We had planned to go up the mountain to visit the PKK today but they're not talking to journalists right now because of the recent meeting between Maliki and the Turkish government. Maliki called them "terrorists," and promised to do what he could to dislodge them from northern Iraq while making no actual commitments, which is smart, since as Mustafa pointed out, no one could really get them out anyway. Which makes the recent Bob Novak leak re: possible US special forces operations against the PKK seem even more bizarre than it should: I mean, the US has so far failed in counterinsurgency against the Taliban and the Iraqi resistance.What makes an military planner think it's possible to take out the PKK, which is well-trained and super-entrenched?
So we're sitting in Sulemaniya, planning to go to Damascus. Totally weirded out by being able to walk on the street, seeing men and women holding hands... it's a different country. It "loves America." But for how long?
Chris Hedges has a piece on Truthdig that I think is probably pretty accurate. Key fact: Syria now has more refugees per capita than any other country in the world. I would bet Jordan is number two.
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