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DEL.ICIO.USClimate of violence puts another new face on Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We had expected the worst after reading previous accounts of harrowing flights into Baghdad � of planes dodging mortar fire and squeamish passengers unable to hold their stomachs through corkscrew landings.
But the Vietnam-era C-130 touched down smoothly. Only one of the 30 Baghdad-bound passengers, most of them contractors, got sick.
The Air Force flight crew told us the C-130 can fly low and make landings in the dirt “in case we need to.”
“I’ve seen pretty much all of Iraq, but from the air,” said 1st Lt. Beau Holcombe, who has been flying planes into Baghdad from Kuwait’s Ali Al-Salem Air Base for the past year.
“I don’t know how those Army guys do it,” he said, looking out the small round window from which he kept watch as the plane descended. “They really give it their all down there,” he said about the insurgency raging below us.
At 11:40 in the morning, we touched Iraqi soil. Safely.
This is my third visit to the Iraqi capital in as many years. Each time, Iraq has been a radically different nation, marred by political tyranny, corruption and bloodshed. So much bloodshed.
In December 2002, I had landed on this same tarmac; then it was Saddam International Airport. The Royal Jordanian flight brought me to a nation shrouded in secrecy.
I was nervous then not because I could get shot dead in the street at any moment, but because of the iron-fisted rule of Saddam Hussein. Every move I made was watched. Every person who spoke to me was at risk of paying a heavy price for uttering the truth.
Most foreign journalists then took residence at the famed al-Rashid Hotel. We were forced to walk over a mosaic image of the first President Bush on the floor of the entryway. Veteran journalists talked about the microphones and video cameras placed not so strategically in some of the rooms. Men who looked as if they belonged in a “Sopranos” episode sat in the vast lobby â€â€? 24 hours a day, it seemed â€â€? watching and whispering.
A government minder followed me wherever I went. I did my best to write about shortages of basic goods and services and the United Nations’ attempts at inspections for weapons of mass destruction.
Despite the gloomy atmosphere, Baghdad in 2002 was a relatively clean city. I imagined life here before the first Persian Gulf War, before the sanctions and Baath Party corruption devastated the economy. At a local coffeehouse, I ate lablaby (chickpeas) with a well-known Baghdad artist who recounted an age when Iraq was culturally vibrant.
“Life was good then,” said Widad al-Orfali. She especially enjoyed seeing Hollywood movies and going to the opera house.
War and changes
Everyone knew then that war was coming. Aid agencies had already begun stockpiling food and medical supplies. Margaret Hassan, Iraq’s director of CARE International, who was kidnapped and presumed slain last November, sipped tea with me and shook her head in despair.
“Iraq is already in crisis,” she said, referring to shortages of food, medicine and basic services. “I don’t know how we will withstand another war.”
But war came the following March. And after Saddam’s statue was toppled in Firdos Square, I went back a second time to see for myself what good might come out of the rubble that was Baghdad.
The Baghdad I had seen only months earlier was now dotted with bombed buildings, looted offices, homes and stores and garbage everywhere. Electricity and clean drinking water had become scarce. Hospitals filled up quickly with the injured and sick.
Still, there was hope in the once-mute voices of Iraq. My minder, a Kurdish man who spoke so carefully about “the situation” before, gushed about Iraq’s new freedom. Saddam was gone and people were ready to start their lives anew.
Newspapers sprang up. Satellite dishes became the hottest commodity in Baghdad’s markets. Then came the Internet and cellphones and a whole new window to the world of which Iraqis had been deprived for so long.
I returned home optimistic that perhaps the war had been worth it.
Perhaps people I knew in Iraq, like my friend Hala, could now look forward to a better quality of life. I saw in her smile a future for her children; that they would be able to have a life free of repression that their mother had not known in her homeland.
Another different Iraq
More than two years later, I have journeyed back to this ancient land. It was once again an unfamiliar place, one in which people � both Iraqis and Americans � are dying randomly every day.
This is a nation where the steady drone of Black Hawk helicopters overhead and the rattle of machine gun fire have become as normal as the music that blared from the new DVD shops that opened in 2003.
The translator who worked with me and photographer Bita Honarvar in 2003 said he had to do something to give his children a better life. He moved his family to Kuwait several months ago.
As the C-130 made its descent to the airport, I thought of Hala. What must she think now of her beloved Baghdad, awash in blood from the daily bombings that snuff out innocent lives in the blink of an eye?
This time I am here to write about Georgia soldiers, whose mission is to make Iraq a better place.
I arrived at Camp Striker, where a majority of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team is located, on a heart-wrenching day. Four infantry soldiers lost their lives July 24 when their Humvee was destroyed by a roadside bomb during a routine patrol a few miles from Camp Striker.
It was a jarring re-entry into Iraq and confirmed what I had feared: that through the soldiers’ eyes, I am destined to see, yet again, an entirely different Iraq.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Dodie D'Hoostelaere
August 3, 2005 10:02 AM | Link to this
Want to talk about the Iraq war? Is it right for us to be there or not? Who knows? Does Heidi Shelley know? Her husband was one of 8 killed from Georgia last week. In just a few recent years Heidi has lost a cousin, killed trying to help a stranded motorist in the Florida sand. She lost a step-father in an auto accident, she lost a sister just last year (our son’s wife, our granddaughter’s mother), she lost an aunt after her sister. Tell me, does Heidi understand? Do her children understand? How much can one young mother understand? Iraq? I don’t understand. I know Heidi Shelley. God Bless you Honey. We are thinking of you and praying for you all.
By Robert
August 3, 2005 10:07 AM | Link to this
Hi Moni,
Glad to see that you made it to Baghdad all right. Really appreciate all the stories you have been writing. I start my day by reading the AJC’s daily blog to see the latest from the 48th Brigade. Say hi to Josie if you see her.
Robert of Rex
By Chief
August 3, 2005 10:23 AM | Link to this
Moni I heard your comments on several television news shows last night and am angry that you said some of the things you said. You have not been there with our soldiers through all of this and you certainly have not ventured outside the wire with them, yet you are qualified to tell the world how they feel? Your remarks make the 48th seem like a bunch of cry babies who “only thought they might have to help with a hurricane”. You should be ashamed and probably sent home for that. Dave and his photographer should’ve been given the interview. The men in Alpha Company 2/121 are infantry soldiers. Yes, they were civilians and may have joined the Guard for various reasons but everyone of them knew they could be called on to fight. Everyone of these brave men did just that - answered the call. Of course they are afraid but they will depend on their training and their buddies to get them back home to us. I just hope that politicians and public affairs officers don’t make policy over there. Let the warriors who have combat experience form the 3rd ID make the tactical decisions. To all the 48th BCT, you are loved, missed and honored by us back here. You are heroes. Stay strong, stay focused and stay alive! To my son Josh, in E Troop 108th Cav., I love you, miss you and am mighty proud of the man you have become.
By Dr. Lawrence D'Hoostelaere (Brian's dad)
August 3, 2005 10:25 AM | Link to this
Re: Rod Shelley Family Heid, BJ, Jerry (Bubba),Gail, Crystal, Marty, Brian, Dave, Amber, Judy, and all the other family members in Valdosta. We are thinking of you and praying for you. We know you are strong, your faith is strong. When we lost Shay you said Jerry went ahead to show her the way. Maybe Shay went to show Rod the way. What we know is they are having one heck of a time. All the loved ones you have lost over the past several years are together having a great cook-out. If you need ANYTHING please call us (Crystal has the number). We love you and pray for peace in your hearts. Larry and Dodie
By Em
August 3, 2005 11:13 AM | Link to this
Moni & Bita - Thank you for continuing the blogs and keeping us updated back here in the states. We love our soldiers dearly and thankful that we can hear how they are doing. Keep up the good work.
By Em
August 3, 2005 05:14 PM | Link to this
Moni - Before, I commended you for keeping us updated, but now, after receiving phone calls from friends about your live newscast last night which I had not known about, I am outraged. My friends knew what they were getting into. Many already had experiences in Iraq from doing tours with other units. Keep in mind how you are portraying ALL soldiers when you only quote a few.
By Ruth
August 4, 2005 09:55 AM | Link to this
For many people who comment in this blog, it seems to be perfectly ok for the reporters to portray ALL soldiers if they are quoting someone who feels the war is 100% right. If they quote someone who has doubts then it’s a different story. Keep up the good work Moni.
By Phyllis Kassum
August 4, 2005 04:04 PM | Link to this
Thank you for your direct and honest coverage of what is going on with our loved ones. They are there to do a mission whether we agree or not!!I did not get the opportunity to see your program but I did get to meet Anna when she was in Valdosta. Keep up the good work, you are our eyes and ears!!!