Once upon a time in Iraq
 

Fascinating insight of Iraqi civilians and their hopes before the realities of war become clear, 5 parter BBC2 Started at 9pm, fascinating interviews with the populace as to their views.

Part one is on again tonight, BBC2 at 11:30.

Very good though the US recon guy was frightening.

Suggest you have a pint and then take a lie down, if that scared you Nutty.

U.S. Recon guys are supposed to be frightening.

Cheers,
Grog

Isn’t it the guy from the Generation Kill series? He has been interviewed on various YouTube videos too.

Yeah, he played as himself.

I was there in 1985. I could travel with my wife, unescorted between Mosul and Baghdad by private car without any fear of being attacked. We could shop in the Mosul open market at night without any fear. Iraqi men and women were treated as equals. As Christians we could celebrate Easter and Christmas. There was internal security. The country was poor at that time because of the Iraq/Iranian war, a war in which America and the West supported Saddam because he was protecting the oil fields of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia from being overrun by the Iranians.

So how was the current mess created? Weapons of mass destruction? - none. Involvement in the 'Twin Towers'? -none. Bush/Blair ego - in abundance


DV

There was a slight interruption when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

I think its a terrible result when the people of Iraq look back and say - "Saddam 's time was good for us" - millions killed, trillions of dollars squandered and brave men and women killed - for what?

My grandparents went on a cycling tour of Germany in the mid 1930s. From their perspective it was much as DV describes mid 1980s Iraq. But then they weren't Jews, Gypsies or Poles. As (so I imagine) Mr & Mrs DV aren't Marsh Arabs, Kurds or Kuwaitis. See my point?

It is possible to be highly critical of Bush and Blair over 2003 without having to buy into the 'Sean Penn in Team America' view of early Saddam:

Well Iran got the US to remove one of their biggest opponents, Saddam. China got the US to give them a strategic ally and source of raw materials. The Saudis got the US for create a poverty stricken displaced population that was fertile breeding ground to spread their Wahhabi ideology. A whole bunch of arms manufacturers, construction contractors and mercenaries (sorry, "private security contractors") got a whole bunch of extra cash.

A lot of parties have great reason to thank the US for the Iraq war.

And the US got many redundant mines filled with crude oil that they started taking out of Iraq before the war was even ended.

Like Distant Voice I found Iraq quite safe and this was within months of the end of GW1. Safe but strange, walking around Baghdad, passing destroyed government buildings yet being stopped by young people to 'speak English'. Whenever one of the team left the hotel one of the gentlemen lounging in the foyer, all leather jackets and sun glasses, left shortly after to keep an eye. It was apparent Kuwait had been stripped out; taxis still had Kuwait plates and even the soap in the hotel was from hotels in Kuwait. Breitling watches were the prize for some of our colleagues. It was a bit embarrassing watching them bargain with the attitude of victors, demanding ridiculous discount which they didn't get. Also, when arriving at a site the 'let's kick ass' attitude of some, but not all, was a bit of a pain, and it didn't help co-operation. The airfield, H1, was a wreck, there were CBU bomblets laying in the gutters and even the gym was flattened. According to one of the few Iraqi EOD lads around, the stn cdr ordered evacuation after two days. Strangely enough, no WMD were found at any of the sites we visited, not even the supposed SCUDs hidden under the eves of the Baghdad sports stadium!