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Part II - The More Things Change
Part IV - The Red Zone
Meanwhile, back in Iraq, Steve Vincent describes the opening of the new meeting chambers of Basra Province's Mahjaless Mahafalla, the Governing Council:
So here it was, I thought, the august halls of democracy. And looking at the elected officials, the cameras, the suited flaks hovering at the margins of the room, it seemed to me this resembled any grassroots council you find might across the U.S., right down to the dreadful artwork decorating the chamber walls...Steve is another freelancer reporting from Iraq, and he's already published one book on the topic. He's not embedded with the US military, but seems to get around okay. Perhaps it's because he doesn't travel on that hated symbol of American oppression, the Harley:<...>
In truth, I don't know what to make of the Mahjaless Mahafalla. Yes, many of the 41 members are alarmingly inexperienced with democracy, in the pocket of the religious parties and possibly corrupt--but they are a legislation born from a (more or less) free election, the first in this city's history. "Think of where Germany and Japan were two years after World War II--Iraq today is further along the road to democracy," a Public Administration Adviser from the British Embassy crooned. And despite one's natural tendency to become cynical in dysfunctional Iraq, I think she's right.
Still mulling over the relationship between democracy, the Middle East and the liberation of Iraq, I returned to my hotel room and turned on the TV, planning to do some writing while accompanied by Arab music videos (I've develop an addiction for those damn things). Instead, I discovered that, by weird coincidence, Dubai-based Channel One was airing "Rudy: the Rudolph Giuliani Story." Work was impossible now. It wasn't the homesick-inducing views of New York that seized my attention; no, rather, it was the dateline of the movie's opening scene: September 10, 2001.
I don't remember what I did that day. I do remember what we did two days before, when, on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon we walked down to Battery Park and looked out at the Statue of Liberty. Afterward, we strolled north along the Hudson, and I recall gazing up at the World Trade Center, marveling at the way the buildings reflected the late summer sun with a magnificent silver gleam. I don't care what the critics say, the Twin Towers really are beautiful, I thought. A beautiful part of my city.
Ten minutes into the movie, the real-life footage began: the gaping hole in the north tower; fire erupting from the south; smoke streaming from the largest skyscraper fires in history; people on the upper floors waving white distress flags; the downward plunge of the south tower into its foundations; avalanche-like billows of white debris pouring down Vesey Street and over the spire of St. Paul's Church as the north collapsed...and for a moment, I was no longer in my hotel room, but back in New York, on the roof of our building, once again witnessing the horrible, the unimaginable, the obscene.
Upsetting, yes; but somewhat eerie, too, to watch these scenes replayed in Iraq.
As we pass down Jazar Street--Basra's main commercial thoroughfare--she points to a greenish building with a sign in English reading "BASRA CENTER." "Our new supermarket," she says.Steve's in the British sector, so the only reason an American newspaper would send someone to Basra Province would be to "Go. See. Come back. Tell."Stop the car. Restaurant bills at the funduk are eroding my cash stash and I've been mulling over how to store some comestibles in my ghurfa (room), and this seemed a good opportunity to stock the cupboard and see what a Basran "supermarket" looks like. Turns out BC is a crowded, high-ceiling, very clean single room, about the size of the fruit and vegetable area of an American s-market, equipped with all the trappings of home: carts, hand baskets, aisles, freezers, cereals, soups, beans, soaps, shampoo, etc.--even a deli counter! There's no Point-of-Purchase musak, nushkur Allah, and most of the women shoppers are in hejab, with one or two veiled faces--but squint, and you could almost convince yourself you were standing in a pocket-sized Safeway, wondering what you did with the grocery list...
More excerpts from Steve Vincent's blog In the Red Zone:
The past few days have been interesting in Basra--and of course, in Iraq, "interesting" means general mayhem and bloodshed. Cases in point: over the weekend, unknown assailants--the assailants are always unknown, there are no uniforms or name tags here--assassinated five people in the streets. The victims, or so I hear, were ex-Baathists (there is no such thing as an "ex" Baathist to some, evidently), but, as Samir, the night clerk at the funduk put it, "We have courts and judges to decide matters like this. It is not up to people who chose to take life so cheaply."In another incident
The sharp ripping sound erupted somewhere close to the hotel. Automatic weapon fire, I thought, flashing back to Baghdad, where the same noise was--and still is--a constant part of city life. Perhaps it's just a wedding. But it was 9 a.m., and besides, everyone knows that the Hauwza--the religious establishment in Najaf--has outlawed the casualty-producing custom of celebrating nuptials by firing guns into the sky.A few hours later, we got the news. On the street just behind the funduk, four masked men in a Toyota emptied their AKs into a parked car, killing a police colonel from Zubair, who had come to Basra for medical treatment. The assassins are unknown, as is their motive, although rumors have it the murder had something to do with "smuggling."
"Summer is coming," an Iraqi man grunted in the hotel lobby. "The Wahhabi have been quiet for awhile, but we are expecting their return with the hot weather."
The NY Times ($) offers their coverage of the same attack:
In other violence, insurgents gunned down Iraqi security officers in the major cities of Kirkuk and Basra, police officials said Friday...Gripping reporting! How silly of Vincent to be satisfied with "The assassins are unknown, as is their motive..." when a quick glance in the Times would reveal they were insurgents.In the Basra attack, which took place in the center of the city at 10:20 a.m., four men wearing black masks showered bullets into a car carrying the security officers, Col. Abdul-Karim al-Daraji and his brother Kosay. Both died, while a third brother in the car suffered minor injuries. Ammar Hussein, a medical assistant at the Educational Hospital of Basra, said that Colonel Daraji died immediately, while Kosay died later as a result of chest wounds.
Although the original AP story from which the Times culled their quote called them "gunmen":
Also Friday, gunmen killed the dean of the police academy in the southern city of Basra and an Iraqi soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the central city of Mashru.And a google cache of another version of the NY Tomes story reveals an even more in-depth re-write:In the Basra attack, which took place in the center of the city at 10:20 a.m., four men wearing black masks showered bullets into a car carrying the security officers, Col. Abdul-Karim Daraji and his brother Kosay.
But as the political haggling dragged on, insurgents once again showed how seemingly easy it is for them to strike and escape. In the Basra attack, which took place in the center of the city at 10:20 a.m., four men wearing black masks showered bullets into a car carrying the security officers, Col. Abdul-Karim al-Daraji and his brother Kosay. Both died; a third brother in the car survived.It's certainly not clear who committed this crime, but evidence suggests that in this case those "insurgents" made their first appearance at the Times editor's desk in New York City.
Back at Press Think, lefty blogger Oliver Willis weighs in:
The media should be analyzing claims and researching them against the factual data. Plain and simple, but even this simple function is not done by the modern media, preferring instead to throw its hands in the air and make the claim that "it's all the same" and simply allow those with the loudest megaphone to set the terms of the debate. Right now, the right's megaphone is loudest which is why I've been trying to get my side to get equally loud....By my count, that's 27 words typed before complete mental meltdown. Trend spotting: It's becoming increasingly common for lefty "chickenhawks" to demand that someone else's kids go over and report the bad news from Iraq.
They had best hurry and get over there as fast as they can, because someone's got to counter this sort of reporting from Fallujah:
As I traveled through the slowly repopulating city ? about half of the original 250,000 are believed to have returned ? I saw awesome scenes of destruction. But I also saw thriving markets, stores selling candy and ice cream, and scores of children delighted to see Americans. I did more waving than the beauty queen in the 4th of July parade and the kids squealed with delight when I took their picture ? or pretended to.That's from Michael Fumento (U.S. Army Airborne, 1978-82) embedded with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. He's another freelancer in Iraq, and that report has already found it's way on to the National Review's online site."We're mostly known for killing the bad guys" says Lt. Col. Harvey Williams, a reserve officer with the Marine 5th Civil Affairs Group. But killing alone can't defeat the insurgency. Win over the populace or lose the war.
Where our discussion of press bias began.
