Eliot Weinberger has written a truly poetic piece of journalism, up at the
LRB. Howl for the 21C? "I heard the president say..."

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n03/wein01_.html

Best

A

What I Heard about Iraq

Eliot Weinberger 

In 1992, a year after the first Gulf War, I heard Dick Cheney, then
secretary of defense, say that the US had been wise not to invade Baghdad
and get Œbogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern
Iraq¹. I heard him say: ŒThe question in my mind is how many additional
American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is: not that damned
many.¹ 

In February 2001, I heard Colin Powell say that Saddam Hussein Œhas not
developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass
destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his
neighbours.¹ 

That same month, I heard that a CIA report stated: ŒWe do not have any
direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to
reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programmes.¹

In July 2001, I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ŒWe are able to keep his arms
from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.¹

On 11 September 2001, six hours after the attacks, I heard that Donald
Rumsfeld said that it might be an opportunity to Œhit¹ Iraq. I heard that he
said: ŒGo massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.¹

I heard that Condoleezza Rice asked: ŒHow do you capitalise on these
opportunities?¹ 

I heard that on 17 September the president signed a document marked top
secret that directed the Pentagon to begin planning for the invasion and
that, some months later, he secretly and illegally diverted $700 million
approved by Congress for operations in Afghanistan into preparing for the
new battle front. 

In February 2002, I heard that an unnamed Œsenior military commander¹ said:
ŒWe are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of
Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq.¹

I heard the president say that Iraq is Œa threat of unique urgency¹, and
that there is Œno doubt the Iraqi regime continues to possess and conceal
some of the most lethal weapons ever devised¹.

I heard the vice president say: ŒSimply stated, there is no doubt that
Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.¹

I heard the president tell Congress: ŒThe danger to our country is grave.
The danger to our country is growing. The regime is seeking a nuclear bomb,
and with fissile material could build one within a year.¹

I heard him say: ŒThe dangers we face will only worsen from month to month
and from year to year. To ignore these threats is to encourage them. Each
passing day could be the one on which the Iraqi regime gives anthrax or VX
nerve gas or, some day, a nuclear weapon to a terrorist ally.¹

I heard the president, in the State of the Union address, say that Iraq was
hiding materials sufficient to produce 25,000 litres of anthrax, 38,000
litres of botulinum toxin, and 500 tons of sarin, mustard and nerve gas.

I heard the president say that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium ­
later specified as Œyellowcake¹ uranium oxide from Niger ­ and thousands of
aluminium tubes Œsuitable for nuclear weapons production¹.

I heard the vice president say: ŒWe know that he¹s been absolutely devoted
to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact,
reconstituted nuclear weapons.¹

I heard the president say: ŒImagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons
and other plans, this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial,
one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror
like none we have ever known.¹

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒSome have argued that the nuclear threat from
Iraq is not imminent. I would not be so certain.¹

I heard the president say: ŒAmerica must not ignore the threat gathering
against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final
proof ­ the smoking gun ­ that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.¹

I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ŒWe don¹t want the ³smoking gun² to be a
mushroom cloud.¹ 

I heard the American ambassador to the European Union tell the Europeans:
ŒYou had Hitler in Europe and no one really did anything about him. The same
type of person is in Baghdad.¹

I heard Colin Powell at the United Nations say: ŒThey can produce enough dry
biological agent in a single month to kill thousands upon thousands of
people. Saddam Hussein has never accounted for vast amounts of chemical
weaponry: 550 artillery shells with mustard gas, 30,000 empty munitions, and
enough precursors to increase his stockpile to as much as 500 tons of
chemical agents. Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a
stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical-weapons agent. Even the
low end of 100 tons of agent would enable Saddam Hussein to cause mass
casualties across more than 100 square miles of territory, an area nearly
five times the size of Manhattan.¹

I heard him say: ŒEvery statement I make today is backed up by sources,
solid sources. These are not assertions. What we¹re giving you are facts and
conclusions based on solid intelligence.¹

I heard the president say: ŒIraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned
aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological
weapons across broad areas.¹ I heard him say that Iraq Œcould launch a
biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is
given¹. 

I heard Tony Blair say: ŒWe are asked to accept Saddam decided to destroy
those weapons. I say that such a claim is palpably absurd.¹

I heard the president say: ŒWe know that Iraq and al-Qaida have had
high-level contacts that go back a decade. We¹ve learned that Iraq has
trained al-Qaida members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases.
Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraq regime to attack America
without leaving any fingerprints.¹

I heard the vice president say: ŒThere¹s overwhelming evidence there was a
connection between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government. I am very confident
there was an established relationship there.¹

I heard Colin Powell say: ŒIraqi officials deny accusations of ties with
al-Qaida. These denials are simply not credible.¹

I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ŒThere clearly are contacts between al-Qaida
and Saddam Hussein that can be documented.¹

I heard the president say: ŒYou can¹t distinguish between al-Qaida and
Saddam.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒImagine a September 11th with weapons of mass
destruction. It¹s not three thousand ­ it¹s tens of thousands of innocent
men, women and children.¹

I heard Colin Powell tell the Senate that Œa moment of truth is coming¹:
ŒThis is not just an academic exercise or the United States being in a fit
of pique. We¹re talking about real weapons. We¹re talking about anthrax.
We¹re talking about botulinum toxin. We¹re talking about nuclear weapons
programmes.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒNo terrorist state poses a greater or more
immediate threat to the security of our people.¹

I heard the president, Œbristling with irritation¹, say: ŒThis business
about more time, how much time do we need to see clearly that he¹s not
disarming? He is delaying. He is deceiving. He is asking for time. He¹s
playing hide-and-seek with inspectors. One thing is for certain: he¹s not
disarming. Surely our friends have learned lessons from the past. This looks
like a rerun of a bad movie and I¹m not interested in watching it.¹

I heard that, a few days before authorising the invasion of Iraq, the Senate
was told in a classified briefing by the Pentagon that Iraq could launch
anthrax and other biological and chemical weapons against the eastern
seaboard of the United States using unmanned aerial Œdrones¹.

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say he would present no specific evidence of Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction because it might jeopardise the military mission
by revealing to Baghdad what the United States knows.

*

I heard the Pentagon spokesman call the military plan ŒA-Day¹, or ŒShock and
Awe¹. Three or four hundred cruise missiles launched every day, until Œthere
will not be a safe place in Baghdad,¹ until Œyou have this simultaneous
effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, not taking days or
weeks but in minutes.¹ I heard the spokesman say: ŒYou¹re sitting in Baghdad
and all of a sudden you¹re the general and thirty of your division
headquarters have been wiped out. You also take the city down. By that I
mean you get rid of their power, water. In two, three, four, five days they
are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted.¹ I heard him say:
ŒThe sheer size of this has never been seen before, never contemplated.¹

I heard Major-General Charles Swannack promise that his troops were going to
Œuse a sledgehammer to smash a walnut¹.

I heard the Pentagon spokesman say: ŒThis is not going to be your father¹s
Persian Gulf War.¹ 

I heard that Saddam¹s strategy against the American invasion would be to
blow up dams, bridges and oilfields, and to cut off food supplies to the
south so that the Americans would suddenly have to feed millions of
desperate civilians. I heard that Baghdad would be encircled by two rings of
the elite Republican Guard, in fighting positions already stocked with
weapons and supplies, and equipped with chemical protective gear against the
poison gas or germ weapons they would be using against the American troops.

I heard Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby tell Congress that Saddam would Œemploy a
³scorched earth² strategy, destroying food, transportation, energy and other
infrastructure, attempting to create a humanitarian disaster¹, and that he
would blame it all on the Americans.

I heard that Iraq would fire its long-range Scud missiles ­ equipped with
chemical or biological warheads ­ at Israel, to Œportray the war as a battle
with an American-Israeli coalition and build support in the Arab world¹.

I heard that Saddam had elaborate and labyrinthine underground bunkers for
his protection, and that it might be necessary to employ B61 Mod 11 nuclear
Œbunker-buster¹ bombs to destroy them.

I heard the vice president say that the war would be over in Œweeks rather
than months¹. 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒIt could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six
months.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say there was Œno question¹ that American troops
would be Œwelcomed¹: ŒGo back to Afghanistan, the people were in the streets
playing music, cheering, flying kites, and doing all the things that the
Taliban and al-Qaida would not let them do.¹

I heard the vice president say: ŒThe Middle East expert Professor Fouad
Ajami predicts that after liberation the streets in Basra and Baghdad are
³sure to erupt in joy². Extremists in the region would have to rethink their
strategy of jihad. Moderates throughout the region would take heart. And our
ability to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process would be enhanced.¹

I heard the vice president say: ŒI really do believe we will be greeted as
liberators.¹ 

I heard Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi foreign minister, say: ŒAmerican soldiers will
not be received by flowers. They will be received by bullets.¹

I heard that the president said to the television evangelist Pat Robertson:
ŒOh, no, we¹re not going to have any casualties.¹

I heard the president say that he had not consulted his father about the
coming war: ŒYou know he is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of
strength. There is a higher father that I appeal to.¹

I heard the prime minister of the Solomon Islands express surprise that his
was one of the nations enlisted in the Œcoalition of the willing¹: ŒI was
completely unaware of it.¹

I heard the president tell the Iraqi people, on the night before the
invasion began: ŒIf we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed
against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you. As our
coalition takes away their power we will deliver the food and medicine you
need. We will tear down the apparatus of terror. And we will help you build
a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In a free Iraq there will be no more
wars of aggression against your neighbours, no more poison factories, no
more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms. The
tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.¹

I heard him tell the Iraqi people: ŒWe will not relent until your country is
free.¹ 

*

I heard the vice president say: ŒBy any standard of even the most dazzling
charges in military history, the Germans in the Ardennes in the spring of
1940 or Patton¹s romp in July of 1944, the present race to Baghdad is
unprecedented in its speed and daring and in the lightness of casualties.¹

I heard Colonel David Hackworth say: ŒHey diddle diddle, it¹s straight up
the middle!¹ 

I heard the Pentagon spokesman say that 95 per cent of the Iraqi casualties
were Œmilitary-age males¹.

I heard an official from the Red Crescent say: ŒOn one stretch of highway
alone, there were more than fifty civilian cars, each with four or five
people incinerated inside, that sat in the sun for ten or fifteen days
before they were buried nearby by volunteers. That is what there will be for
their relatives to come and find. War is bad, but its remnants are worse.¹

I heard the director of a hospital in Baghdad say: ŒThe whole hospital is an
emergency room. The nature of the injuries is so severe ­ one body without a
head, someone else with their abdomen ripped open.¹

I heard an American soldier say: ŒThere¹s a picture of the World Trade
Center hanging up by my bed and I keep one in my Kevlar. Every time I feel
sorry for these people I look at that. I think: ³They hit us at home and now
it¹s our turn.²¹ 

I heard about Hashim, a fat, Œpainfully shy¹ 15-year-old, who liked to sit
for hours by the river with his birdcage, and who was shot by the 4th
Infantry Division in a raid on his village. Asked about the details of the
boy¹s death, the division commander said: ŒThat person was probably in the
wrong place at the wrong time.¹

I heard an American soldier say: ŒWe get rocks thrown at us by kids. You
wanna turn around and shoot one of the little fuckers, but you know you
can¹t do that.¹ 

I heard the Pentagon spokesman say that the US did not count civilian
casualties: ŒOur efforts focus on destroying the enemy¹s capabilities, so we
never target civilians and have no reason to try to count such unintended
deaths.¹ I heard him say that, in any event, it would be impossible, because
the Iraqi paramilitaries were fighting in civilian clothes, the military was
using civilian human shields, and many of the civilian deaths were the
result of Iraqi Œunaimed anti-aircraft fire falling back to earth¹.

I heard an American soldier say: ŒThe worst thing is to shoot one of them,
then go help him,¹ as regulations require. ŒShit, I didn¹t help any of them.
I wouldn¹t help the fuckers. There were some you let die. And there were
some you double-tapped. Once you¹d reached the objective, and once you¹d
shot them and you¹re moving through, anything there, you shoot again. You
didn¹t want any prisoners of war.¹

I heard Anmar Uday, the doctor who had cared for Private Jessica Lynch, say:
ŒWe heard the helicopters. We were surprised. Why do this? There was no
military. There were no soldiers in the hospital. It was like a Hollywood
film. They cried ³Go, go, go,² with guns and flares and the sound of
explosions. They made a show: an action movie like Sylvester Stallone or
Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down doors. All the time
with cameras rolling.¹

I heard Private Jessica Lynch say: ŒThey used me as a way to symbolise all
this stuff. It hurt in a way that people would make up stories that they had
no truth about.¹ Of the stories that she had bravely fought off her captors,
and suffered bullet and stab wounds, I heard her say: ŒI¹m not about to take
credit for something I didn¹t do.¹ Of her dramatic Œrescue¹, I heard her
say: ŒI don¹t think it happened quite like that.¹

I heard the Red Cross say that casualties in Baghdad were so high that the
hospitals had stopped counting.

I heard an old man say, after 11 members of his family ­ children and
grandchildren ­ were killed when a tank blew up their minivan: ŒOur home is
an empty place. We who are left are like wild animals. All we can do is cry
out.¹ 

As the riots and looting broke out, I heard a man in the Baghdad market say:
ŒSaddam Hussein¹s greatest crime is that he brought the American army to
Iraq.¹ 

As the riots and looting broke out, I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒIt¹s
untidy, and freedom¹s untidy.¹

And when the National Museum was emptied and the National Library burned
down, I heard him say: ŒThe images you are seeing on television you are
seeing over, and over, and over, and it¹s the same picture of some person
walking out of some building with a vase, and you see it twenty times, and
you think: ³My goodness, were there that many vases? Is it possible that
there were that many vases in the whole country?²¹

I heard that 10,000 Iraqi civilians were dead.

*

I heard Colin Powell say: ŒI¹m absolutely sure that there are weapons of
mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We¹re just
getting it now.¹ 

I heard the president say: ŒWe¹ll find them. It¹ll be a matter of time to do
so.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒWe know where they are. They¹re in the area
around Tikrit and Baghdad, and east, west, south and north, somewhat.¹

I heard the US was building 14 Œenduring bases¹, capable of housing 110,000
soldiers, and I heard Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt call them Œa blueprint
for how we could operate in the Middle East¹. I heard that the US was
building what would be its largest embassy anywhere in the world.

I heard that it would only be a matter of months before Starbucks and
McDonald¹s opened branches in Baghdad. I heard that HSBC would have cash
machines all over the country.

I heard about the trade fairs run by New Bridges Strategies, a consulting
firm that promised access to the Iraqi market. I heard one of its partners
say: ŒGetting the rights to distribute Procter & Gamble would be a gold
mine. One well-stocked 7-Eleven could knock out 30 Iraqi stores. A Wal-Mart
could take over the country.¹

On 1 May 2003, I heard the president, dressed up as a pilot, under a banner
that read ŒMission Accomplished¹, declare that combat operations were over:
ŒThe battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on 11
September 2001.¹ I heard him say: ŒThe liberation of Iraq is a crucial
advance in the campaign against terror. We¹ve removed an ally of al-Qaida,
and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: no
terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi
regime, because the regime is no more. In these 19 months that changed the
world, our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the
offence. We have not forgotten the victims of 11 September: the last phone
calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those
attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United
States. And war is what they got.¹

On 1 May 2003, I heard that 140 American soldiers had died in combat in
Iraq. 

I heard Richard Perle tell Americans to Œrelax and celebrate victory¹. I
heard him say: ŒThe predictions of those who opposed this war can be
discarded like spent cartridges.¹

I heard Lieutenant-General Jay Garner say: ŒWe ought to look in a mirror and
get proud and stick out our chests and suck in our bellies and say: ³Damn,
we¹re Americans.²¹ 

And later I heard that I could buy a 12-inch ŒElite Force Aviator: George W.
Bush¹ action figure: ŒExacting in detail and fully equipped with authentic
gear, this limited-edition action figure is a meticulous 1:6 scale
re-creation of the commander-in-chief¹s appearance during his historic
aircraft carrier landing. This fully poseable figure features a realistic
head sculpt, fully detailed cloth flight suit, helmet with oxygen mask,
survival vest, G-pants, parachute harness and much more.¹

I heard that Pentagon planners had predicted that US troop levels would fall
to 30,000 by the end of the summer.

*

I heard that Paul Bremer¹s first act as director of the Coalition
Provisional Authority was to fire all senior members of the Baath Party,
including 30,000 civil servants, policemen, teachers and doctors, and to
dismiss all 400,000 soldiers of the Iraqi army without pay or pensions. Two
million people were dependent on that income. Since America supports private
gun ownership, the soldiers were allowed to keep their weapons.

I heard that hundreds were being kidnapped and raped in Baghdad alone; that
schools, hospitals, shops and factories were being looted; that it was
impossible to restore the electricity because all the copper wire was being
stolen from the power plants.

I heard Paul Bremer say, ŒMost of the country is, in fact, orderly,¹ and
that all the problems were coming from Œseveral hundred hard-core
terrorists¹ from al-Qaida and affiliated groups.

As attacks on American troops increased, I heard the generals disagree about
who was fighting: Islamic fundamentalists or remnants of the Baath Party or
Iraqi mercenaries or foreign mercenaries or ordinary citizens taking revenge
for the loss of loved ones. I heard the president and the vice president and
the politicians and the television reporters simply call them Œterrorists¹.

I heard the president say: ŒThere are some who feel that conditions are such
that they can attack us there. My answer is: bring them on! We have the
force necessary to deal with the situation.¹

I heard that 25,000 Iraqi civilians were dead.

I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger, then campaigning for governor, in Baghdad for
a special showing to the troops of Terminator 3 , say: ŒIt is really wild
driving round here, I mean the poverty, and you see there is no money, it is
disastrous financially and there is the leadership vacuum, pretty much like
California.¹ 

I heard that the army was wrapping entire villages in barbed wire, with
signs that read: ŒThis fence is here for your protection. Do not approach or
try to cross, or you will be shot.¹ In one of those villages, I heard a man
named Tariq say: ŒI see no difference between us and the Palestinians.¹

I heard Captain Todd Brown say: ŒYou have to understand the Arab mind. The
only thing they understand is force ­ force, pride and saving face.¹

I heard that the US, as a gift from the American people to the Iraqi people,
had committed $18.4 billion to the reconstruction of basic infrastructure,
but that future Iraqi governments would have no say in how the money was
spent. I heard that the economy had been opened to foreign ownership, and
that this could not be changed. I heard that the Iraqi army would be under
the command of the US, and that this could not be changed. I heard, however,
that Œfull authority¹ for health and hospitals had been turned over to the
Iraqis, and that senior American health advisers had been withdrawn. I heard
Tommy Thompson, secretary of health and human services, say that Iraq¹s
hospitals would be fine if the Iraqis Œjust washed their hands and cleaned
the crap off the walls¹.

I heard Colonel Nathan Sassaman say: ŒWith a heavy dose of fear and
violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these
people that we are here to help them.¹

I heard Richard Perle say: ŒNext year at about this time, I expect there
will be a really thriving trade in the region, and we will see rapid
economic development. And a year from now, I¹ll be very surprised if there
is not some grand square in Baghdad named after President Bush.¹

*

I heard about Operation Ivy Cyclone. I heard about Operation Vigilant
Resolve. I heard about Operation Plymouth Rock. I heard about Operation Iron
Hammer, its name taken from Eisenhammer, the Nazi plan to destroy Soviet
generating plants. 

I heard that air force regulations require that any airstrike likely to
result in the deaths of more than 30 civilians be personally approved by the
secretary of defense, and I heard that Donald Rumsfeld approved every
proposal. 

I heard the marine colonel say: ŒWe napalmed those bridges. Unfortunately,
there were people there. It¹s no great way to die.¹ I heard the Pentagon
deny they were using napalm, saying their incendiary bombs were made of
something called Mark 77, and I heard the experts say that Mark 77 was
another name for napalm.

I heard a marine describe Œdead-checking¹: ŒThey teach us to do
dead-checking when we¹re clearing rooms. You put two bullets into the guy¹s
chest and one in the brain. But when you enter a room where guys are
wounded, you might not know if they¹re alive or dead. So they teach us to
dead-check them by pressing them in the eye with your boot, because
generally a person, even if he¹s faking being dead, will flinch if you poke
him there. If he moves, you put a bullet in the brain. You do this to keep
the momentum going when you¹re flowing through a building. You don¹t want a
guy popping up behind you and shooting you.¹

I heard the president say: ŒWe¹re rolling back the terrorist threat, not on
the fringes of its influence but at the heart of its power.¹

When the death toll of American soldiers reached 500, I heard
Brigadier-General Kimmitt say: ŒI don¹t think the soldiers are looking at
arbitrary figures such as casualty counts as the barometer of their morale.
They know they have a nation that stands behind them.¹

I heard an American soldier, standing next to his Humvee, say: ŒWe liberated
Iraq. Now the people here don¹t want us here, and guess what? We don¹t want
to be here either. So why are we still here? Why don¹t they bring us home?¹

I heard Colin Powell say: ŒWe did not expect it would be quite this intense
this long.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒWe¹re facing a test of will.¹

I heard the president say: ŒWe found biological laboratories. They¹re
illegal. They¹re against the United Nations resolutions, and we¹ve so far
discovered two. And we¹ll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those
who say we haven¹t found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons,
they¹re wrong, we found them.¹

I heard Tony Blair say: ŒThe remains of 400,000 human beings have been found
in mass graves.¹ And I saw his words repeated in a US government pamphlet,
Iraq¹s Legacy of Terror: Mass Graves , and on a US government website which
said this represented Œa crime against humanity surpassed only by the
Rwandan genocide of 1994, Pol Pot¹s Cambodian killing fields in the 1970s
and the Nazi Holocaust of World War Two¹.

*

I heard the president say: ŒToday, on bended knee, I thank the Good Lord for
protecting those of our troops overseas, and our Coalition troops and
innocent Iraqis who suffer at the hands of some of these senseless killings
by people who are trying to shake our will.¹

I heard that this was the first American president in wartime who had never
attended a funeral for a dead soldier. I heard that photographs of the
flag-draped coffins returning home were banned. I heard that the Pentagon
had renamed body bags Œtransfer tubes¹.

I heard a tearful George Bush Sr, speaking at the annual convention of the
National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, say that it was Œdeeply
offensive and contemptible¹ the way Œelites and intellectuals¹ were
dismissing Œthe sowing of the seeds of basic human freedom in that troubled
part of the world¹. I heard him say: ŒIt hurts an awful lot more when it¹s
your son that is being criticised.¹

I heard the president¹s mother say: ŒWhy should we hear about body bags and
deaths? Why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?¹

I heard that 7 per cent of all American military deaths in Iraq were
suicides, that 10 per cent of the soldiers evacuated to the army hospital in
Landstuhl, Germany had been sent for Œpsychiatric or behavioural health
issues¹, and that 20 per cent of the military was expected to suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder.

I heard Brigadier-General Kimmitt deny that civilians were being killed: ŒWe
run extremely precise operations focused on people we have intelligence on
for crimes of violence against the Coalition and against the Iraqi people.¹
And later I heard him say that marines were being fired on from crowds
containing women and children, and that the marines had fired back only in
self-defence. 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say that the fighting was the work of Œthugs, gangs
and terrorists¹. I heard General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, say: ŒIt¹s not a Shiite uprising. Muqtada al-Sadr has a very small
following.¹ I heard that an unnamed Œintelligence official¹ had said:
ŒHatred of the American occupation has spread rapidly among Shia, and is now
so large that Mr Sadr and his forces represent just one element. Destroying
his Mehdi Army might be possible only by destroying Sadr City.¹ Sadr City is
the most populated part of Baghdad. I heard that, among the Sunnis, former
Baath Party leaders and Saddam loyalists had been joined by Sunni tribal
chiefs. 

I heard that there were now thirty separate militias in the country. I heard
the television news reporters routinely refer to them as Œanti-Iraqi
forces¹. 

I heard that Paul Bremer had closed down a popular newspaper, Al Hawza ,
because of Œinaccurate reporting¹.

As Shias in Sadr City lined up to donate blood for Sunnis in Fallujah, I
heard a man say: ŒWe should thank Paul Bremer. He has finally united Iraq ­
against him.¹ 

I heard the president say: ŒI wouldn¹t be happy if I were occupied either.¹

*

I heard Tony Blair say: ŒBefore people crow about the absence of weapons of
mass destruction, I suggest they wait a bit.¹

I heard General Myers say: ŒGiven time, given the number of prisoners now
that we¹re interrogating, I¹m confident that we¹re going to find weapons of
mass destruction.¹ 

I heard the president say: ŒPrisoners are being taken, and intelligence is
being gathered. Our decisive actions will continue until these enemies of
democracy are dealt with.¹

I heard a soldier describe what they called Œbitch in a box¹: ŒThat was the
normal procedure for them when they wanted to soften up a prisoner: stuff
them in the trunk for a while and drive them around. The hoods I can
understand, and to have them cuffed with the plastic things ­ that I could
see. But the trunk episode ­ I thought it was kind of unusual. It was like a
sweatbox, let¹s face it. In Iraq, in August, it¹s hitting 120 degrees, and
you can imagine what it was like in the trunk of a black Mercedes.¹

I heard a National Guardsman from Florida say: ŒWe had a sledgehammer that
we would bang against the wall, and that would create an echo that sounds
like an explosion that scared the hell out of them. If that didn¹t work we
would load a 9mm pistol, and pretend to be charging it near their head and
make them think we were going to shoot them. Once you did that they did
whatever you wanted them to do basically. The way we treated these men was
hard even for the soldiers, especially after realising that many of these
³combatants² were no more than shepherds.¹

I heard a marine at Camp Whitehorse say: ŒThe 50/10 technique was used to
break down EPWs and make it easier for the HET member to get information
from them.¹ The 50/10 technique was to make prisoners stand for 50 minutes
of the hour for ten hours with a hood over their heads in the heat. EPWs
were Œenemy prisoners of war¹. HETs were Œhuman exploitation teams¹.

I heard Captain Donald Reese, a prison warden, say: ŒIt was not uncommon to
see people without clothing. I was told the ³whole nudity thing² was an
interrogation procedure used by military intelligence, and never thought
much about it.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒI have not seen anything thus far that says
that the people abused were abused in the process of interrogating them or
for interrogation purposes.¹

I heard Private Lynndie England, who was photographed in Abu Ghraib holding
a prisoner on a leash, say: ŒI was instructed by persons in higher rank to
stand there, hold this leash, look at the camera, and they took pictures for
PsyOps. I didn¹t really, I mean, want to be in any pictures. I thought it
was kind of weird.¹

Detainees 27, 30 and 31 were stripped of their clothing, handcuffed together
nude, placed on the ground, and forced to lie on each other and simulate sex
while photographs were taken. Detainee 8 had his food thrown in the toilet
and was then ordered to eat it. Detainee 7 was ordered to bark like a dog
while MPs spat and urinated on him; he was sodomised with a police stick
while two female MPs watched. Detainee 3 was sodomised with a broom by a
female soldier. Detainee 15 was photographed standing on a box with a hood
on his head and simulated electrical wires were attached to his hands and
penis. Detainees 1, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 26 were placed in a pile and
forced to masturbate while photographs were taken. An unidentified detainee
was photographed covered in faeces with a banana inserted in his anus.
Detainee 5 watched Civilian 1 rape an unidentified 15-year-old male detainee
while a female soldier took photographs. Detainees 5 and 7 were stripped of
their clothing and forced to wear women¹s underwear on their heads. Detainee
28, handcuffed with his hands behind his back in a shower stall, was
declared dead when an MP removed the sandbag from his head and checked his
pulse. 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒIf you are in Washington DC, you can¹t know
what¹s going on in the midnight shift in one of those many prisons around
the world.¹ 

*

I heard that the Red Cross had to close its offices because it was too
dangerous. I heard that General Electric and the Siemens Corporation had to
close their offices. I heard that Médecins sans Frontières had to withdraw,
and that journalists rarely left their hotels. I heard that, after their
headquarters were bombed, most of the United Nations staff had gone. I heard
that the cost of life insurance policies for the few remaining Western
businessmen was $10,000 a week.

I heard Tom Foley, director of Iraq Private Sector Development, say: ŒThe
security risks are not as bad as they appear on TV. Western civilians are
not the targets themselves. These are acceptable risks.¹

I heard the spokesman for Paul Bremer say: ŒWe have isolated pockets where
we are encountering problems.¹

I heard that, no longer able to rely on the military for help, private
security firms had banded together to form the largest private army in the
world, with its own rescue teams and intelligence. I heard that there were
20,000 mercenary soldiers, now called Œprivate contractors¹, in Iraq,
earning as much as $2000 a day, and not subject to Iraqi or US military law.

I heard that 50,000 Iraqi civilians were dead.

I heard that, on a day when a car bomb killed three Americans, Paul Bremer¹s
last act as director of the Coalition Provisional Authority was to issue
laws making it illegal to drive with only one hand on the steering wheel or
to honk a horn when there was no emergency.

I heard that the unemployment rate was now 70 per cent, that less than 1 per
cent of the workforce was engaged in reconstruction, and that the US had
spent only 2 per cent of the $18.4 billion approved by Congress for
reconstruction. I heard that an official audit could not account for $8.8
billion of Iraqi oil money given to Iraqi ministries by the Coalition
Provisional Authority.

I heard the president say: ŒOur Coalition is standing with responsible Iraqi
leaders as they establish growing authority in their country.¹

I heard that, a few days before he became prime minister, Iyad Allawi
visited a Baghdad police station where six suspected insurgents, blindfolded
and handcuffed, were lined up against a wall. I heard that, as four
Americans and a dozen Iraqi policemen watched, Allawi pulled out a pistol
and shot each prisoner in the head. I heard that he said that this is how we
must deal with insurgents.

On 28 June 2004, with the establishment of an interim government, I heard
the vice president say: ŒAfter decades of rule by a brutal dictator, Iraq
has been returned to its rightful owners, the people of Iraq.¹

This was the military summary for an ordinary day, 22 July 2004, a day that
produced no headlines: ŒTwo roadside bombs exploded next to a van and a
Mercedes in separate areas of Baghdad, killing four civilians. A gunman in a
Toyota opened fire on a police checkpoint and escaped. Police wounded three
gunmen at a checkpoint and arrested four men suspected of attempted murder.
Seven more roadside bombs exploded in Baghdad and gunmen twice attacked US
troops. Police dismantled a car bomb in Mosul and gunmen attacked the
Western driver of a gravel truck at Tell Afar. There were three roadside
bombings and a rocket attack on US troops in Mosul and another gun attack on
US forces near Tell Afar. At Taji, a civilian vehicle collided with a US
military vehicle, killing six civilians and injuring seven others. At Bayji,
a US vehicle hit a landmine. Gunmen murdered a dentist at the Ad Dwar
hospital. There were 17 roadside bomb explosions against US forces in Taji,
Baquba, Baqua, Jalula, Tikrit, Paliwoda, Balad, Samarra and Duluiyeh, with
attacks by gunmen on US troops in Tikrit and Balad. A headless body in an
orange jumpsuit was found in the Tigris; believed to be Bulgarian hostage
Ivalyo Kepov. Kirkuk air base attacked. Five roadside bombs on US forces in
Rutbah, Kalso and Ramadi. Gunmen attacked Americans in Fallujah and Ramadi.
The police chief of Najaf was abducted. Two civilian contractors were
attacked by gunmen at Haswah. A roadside bomb exploded near Kerbala and
Hillah. International forces were attacked by gunmen at al-Qurnah.¹

*

I heard the president say: ŒYou can embolden an enemy by sending a mixed
message. You can dispirit the Iraqi people by sending mixed messages. That¹s
why I will continue to lead with clarity and in a resolute way.¹

I heard the president say: ŒToday, because the world acted with courage and
moral clarity, Iraqi athletes are competing in the Olympic Games.¹ Iraq had
sent teams to the previous Olympics. And when the president ran a campaign
advertisement with the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan and the words Œat this
Olympics there will be two more free nations ­ and two fewer terrorist
regimes,¹ I heard the Iraqi coach say: ŒIraq as a team does not want Mr Bush
to use us for the presidential campaign. He can find another way to
advertise himself.¹ I heard their star midfielder say that if he weren¹t
playing soccer he¹d be fighting for the resistance in Fallujah: ŒBush has
committed so many crimes. How will he meet his god having slaughtered so
many men and women?¹

I heard an unnamed Œsenior British army officer¹ invoke the Nazis to
describe what he saw: ŒMy view and the view of the British chain of command
is that the Americans¹ use of violence is not proportionate and is
over-responsive to the threat they are facing. They don¹t see the Iraqi
people the way we see them. They view them as Untermenschen. They are not
concerned about the Iraqi loss of life. As far as they are concerned, Iraq
is bandit country and everybody is out to kill them. It is trite, but
American troops do shoot first and ask questions later.¹

I heard Makki al-Nazzal, who was managing a clinic in Fallujah, say, in
unaccented English: ŒI have been a fool for 47 years. I used to believe in
European and American civilisation.¹

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒWe never believed that we¹d just tumble over
weapons of mass destruction.¹

I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ŒWe never expected we were going to open
garages and find them.¹

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒThey may have had time to destroy them, and I
don¹t know the answer.¹

I heard Richard Perle say: ŒWe don¹t know where to look for them and we
never did know where to look for them. I hope this will take less than two
hundred years.¹ 

*

I heard the president say: ŒI know what I¹m doing when it comes to winning
this war.¹ 

I heard the president say: ŒI¹m a war president.¹

I heard that 1000 American soldiers were dead and 7000 wounded in combat. I
heard that there was now an average of 87 attacks on US troops a day.

I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ŒNot everything has gone as we would have
liked it to.¹ 

I heard Colin Powell say: ŒWe did miscalculate the difficulty.¹

I heard an unnamed Œsenior US diplomat in Baghdad¹ say: ŒWe¹re dealing with
a population that hovers between bare tolerance and outright hostility. This
idea of a functioning democracy is crazy. We thought there would be a
reprieve after sovereignty, but all hell is breaking loose.¹

I heard Major Thomas Neemeyer say: ŒThe only way to stomp out the insurgency
of the mind would be to kill the entire population.¹

I heard the CNN reporter near the tomb of Ali in Najaf say: ŒEverything
outside of the mosque seems to be totalled.¹

I heard Khudeir Salman, who sold ice from a donkey cart in Najaf, say he was
giving up after marine snipers had killed his friend, another ice-seller: ŒI
found him this morning. The sniper shot his donkey too. Even the ambulance
drivers are too scared to get the body.¹

I heard the vice president say: ŒSuch an enemy cannot be deterred, cannot be
contained, cannot be appeased, or negotiated with. It can only be destroyed.
And that is the business at hand.¹

I heard a Œsenior American commander¹ say: ŒWe need to make a decision on
when the cancer of Fallujah needs to be cut out.¹

I heard Major-General John Batiste, outside Samarra, say: ŒIt¹ll be a quick
fight and the enemy is going to die fast. The message for the people of
Samarra is: peacefully or not, this is going to be solved.¹

I heard Brigadier-General Kimmitt say: ŒOur patience is not eternal.¹

I heard the president say: ŒAmerica will never be run out of Iraq by a bunch
of thugs and killers.¹

I heard about the wedding party that was attacked by American planes,
killing 45 people, and the wedding photographer who videotaped the
festivities until he himself was killed. And though the tape was shown on
television, I heard Brigadier-General Kimmitt say: ŒThere was no evidence of
a wedding. There may have been some kind of celebration. Bad people have
celebrations, too.¹

I heard an Iraqi man say: ŒI swear I saw dogs eating the body of a woman.¹

I heard an Iraqi man say: ŒWe have at least 700 dead. So many of them are
children and women. The stench from the dead bodies in parts of the city is
unbearable.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒDeath has a tendency to encourage a depressing
view of war.¹ 

*

On the occasion of Iyad Allawi¹s visit to the United States, I heard the
president say: ŒWhat¹s important for the American people to hear is reality.
And the reality is right here in the form of the prime minister.¹

Asked about ethnic tensions, I heard Iyad Allawi say: ŒThere are no problems
between Shia and Sunnis and Kurds and Arabs and Turkmen. Usually we have no
problems of an ethnic or religious nature in Iraq.¹

I heard him say: ŒThere is nothing, no problem, except in a small pocket in
Fallujah.¹ 

I heard Colonel Jerry Durrant say, after a meeting with Ramadi tribal
sheikhs: ŒA lot of these guys have read history, and they said to me the
government in Baghdad is like the Vichy government in France during World
War Two.¹ 

I heard a journalist say: ŒI am housebound. I leave when I have a very good
reason to and a scheduled interview. I avoid going to people¹s homes and
never walk in the streets. I can¹t go grocery shopping any more, can¹t eat
in restaurants, can¹t strike up a conversation with strangers, can¹t look
for stories, can¹t drive in anything but a full armoured car, can¹t go to
scenes of breaking news stories, can¹t be stuck in traffic, can¹t speak
English outside, can¹t take a road trip, can¹t say ³I¹m an American,² can¹t
linger at checkpoints, can¹t be curious about what people are saying, doing,
feeling.¹ 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒIt¹s a tough part of the world. We had
something like 200 or 300 or 400 people killed in many of the major cities
of America last year. What¹s the difference? We just didn¹t see each
homicide in every major city in the United States on television every
night.¹ 

I heard that 80,000 Iraqi civilians were dead. I heard that the war had
already cost $225 billion and was continuing at the rate of $40 billion a
month. I heard there was now an average of 130 attacks on US troops a day.

I heard Captain John Mountford say: ŒI just wonder what would have happened
if we had worked a little more with the locals.¹

I heard that, in the last year alone, the US had fired 127 tons of depleted
uranium (DU) munitions in Iraq, the radioactive equivalent of approximately
ten thousand Nagasaki bombs. I heard that the widespread use of DU in the
first Gulf War was believed to be the primary cause of the health problems
suffered by its 580,400 veterans, of whom 467 were wounded during the war
itself. Ten years later, 11,000 were dead and 325,000 on medical disability.
DU carried in semen led to high rates of endometriosis in their wives and
girlfriends, often requiring hysterectomies. Of soldiers who had healthy
babies before the war, 67 per cent of their postwar babies were born with
severe defects, including missing legs, arms, organs or eyes.

I heard that 380 tons of HMX (high melting point explosive) and RDX (rapid
detonation explosive) were missing from al-Qaqaa, one of Iraq¹s Œmost
sensitive military installations¹, which had not been guarded since the
invasion. I heard that one pound of these explosives was enough to blow up a
747 jet, and that this cache could be used to make a million roadside bombs,
which were the cause of half the casualties among US troops.

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say, when asked why the troops were being kept in
the war much longer than their normal tours of duty: ŒOh, come on. People
are fungible. You can have them here or there.¹

*

I heard Colonel Gary Brandl say: ŒThe enemy has got a face. He¹s called
Satan. He¹s in Fallujah and we¹re going to destroy him.¹

I heard a marine commander tell his men: ŒYou will be held accountable for
the facts not as they are in hindsight but as they appeared to you at the
time. If, in your mind, you fire to protect yourself or your men, you are
doing the right thing. It doesn¹t matter if later on we find out you wiped
out a family of unarmed civilians.¹

I heard Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Smith say: ŒWe¹re going out where the bad
guys live, and we¹re going to slay them in their zip code.¹

I heard that 15,000 US troops invaded Fallujah while planes dropped
500-pound bombs on Œinsurgent targets¹. I heard they destroyed the Nazzal
Emergency Hospital in the centre of the city, killing 20 doctors. I heard
they occupied Fallujah General Hospital, which the military had called a
Œcentre of propaganda¹ for reporting civilian casualties. I heard that they
confiscated all mobile phones and refused to allow doctors and ambulances to
go out and help the wounded. I heard they bombed the power plant to black
out the city, and that the water was shut off. I heard that every house and
shop had a large red X spray-painted on the door to indicate that it had
been searched. 

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒInnocent civilians in that city have all the
guidance they need as to how they can avoid getting into trouble. There
aren¹t going to be large numbers of civilians killed and certainly not by US
forces.¹ 

I heard that, in a city of 150 mosques, there were no longer any calls to
prayer. 

I heard Muhammad Abboud tell how, unable to leave his house to go to a
hospital, he had watched his nine-year-old son bleed to death, and how,
unable to leave his house to go to a cemetery, he had buried his son in the
garden. 

I heard Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor, say: ŒThere is not a single surgeon in
Fallujah. A 13-year-old child just died in my hands.¹

I heard an American soldier say: ŒWe will win the hearts and minds of
Fallujah by ridding the city of insurgents. We¹re doing that by patrolling
the streets and killing the enemy.¹

I heard an American soldier, a Bradley gunner, say: ŒI was basically looking
for any clean walls, you know, without any holes in them. And then we were
putting holes in them.¹

I heard Farhan Salih say: ŒMy kids are hysterical with fear. They are
traumatised by the sound but there is nowhere to take them.¹

I heard that the US troops allowed women and children to leave the city, but
that all Œmilitary age males¹, men from 15 to 60, were required to stay. I
heard that no food or medicine was allowed into the city.

I heard the Red Cross say that at least 800 civilians had died. I heard Iyad
Allawi say there were no civilian casualties in Fallujah.

I heard a man named Abu Sabah say: ŒThey used these weird bombs that put up
smoke like a mushroom cloud. Then small pieces fall from the air with long
tails of smoke behind them.¹ I heard him say that pieces of these bombs
exploded into large fires that burned the skin even when water was thrown on
it. 

I heard Kassem Muhammad Ahmed say: ŒI watched them roll over wounded people
in the streets with tanks.¹

I heard a man named Khalil say: ŒThey shot women and old men in the streets.
Then they shot anyone who tried to get their bodies.¹

I heard Nihida Kadhim, a housewife, say that when she was finally allowed to
return to her home, she found a message written with lipstick on her
living-room mirror: FUCK IRAQ AND EVERY IRAQI IN IT.

I heard General John Sattler say that the destruction of Fallujah had
Œbroken the back of the insurgency¹.

I heard that three-quarters of Fallujah had been shelled into rubble. I
heard an American soldier say: ŒIt¹s kind of bad we destroyed everything,
but at least we gave them a chance for a new start.¹

I heard that only five roads into Fallujah would remain open. The rest would
be sealed with Œsand berms¹, mountains of earth. At the entry points,
everyone would be photographed, fingerprinted and have iris scans taken
before being issued identification cards. All citizens would be required to
wear identification cards in plain sight at all times. No private
automobiles would be allowed in the city. All males would be organised into
Œwork brigades¹ rebuilding the city. They would be paid, but participation
would be compulsory.

I heard Muhammad Kubaissy, a shopkeeper, say: ŒI am still searching for what
they have been calling democracy.¹

I heard a soldier say that he had talked to his priest about killing Iraqis,
and that his priest had told him it was all right to kill for his government
as long as he did not enjoy it. After he had killed at least four men, I
heard the soldier say that he had begun to have doubts: ŒWhere the fuck did
Jesus say it¹s OK to kill people for your government?¹

*

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒI don¹t believe anyone that I know in the
administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.¹

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒThe Coalition did not act in Iraq because we
had discovered dramatic new evidence of Iraq¹s pursuit of weapons of mass
destruction. We acted because we saw the evidence in a dramatic new light,
through the prism of our experience on 9/11.¹

I heard a reporter say to Donald Rumsfeld: ŒBefore the war in Iraq, you
stated the case very eloquently and you said they would welcome us with open
arms.¹ And I heard Rumsfeld interrupt him: ŒNever said that. Never did. You
may remember it well, but you¹re thinking of somebody else. You can¹t find,
anywhere, me saying anything like either of those two things you just said I
said.¹ 

I heard Ahmed Chalabi, who had supplied most of the information about the
weapons of mass destruction, shrug and say: ŒWe are heroes in error . . .
What was said before is not important.¹

I heard Paul Wolfowitz say: ŒFor bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one
issue, weapons of mass destruction, as justification for invading Iraq,
because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.¹

I heard Condoleezza Rice continue to insist: ŒIt¹s not as if anybody
believes that Saddam Hussein was without weapons of mass destruction.¹

I heard that the Niger Œyellowcake¹ uranium was a hoax legitimised by
British intelligence, that the aluminium tubes could not be used for nuclear
weapons, that the mobile biological laboratories produced hydrogen for
weather balloons, that the fleet of unmanned aerial drones was a single
broken-down oversized model airplane, that Saddam had no elaborate
underground bunkers, that Colin Powell¹s primary source, his Œsolid
information¹ for the evidence he presented at the United Nations, was a
paper written ten years before by a graduate student. I heard that, of the
400,000 bodies buried in mass graves, only 5000 had been found.

I heard Lieutenant-General James Conway say: ŒIt was a surprise to me then,
and it remains a surprise to me now, that we have not uncovered weapons.
It¹s not from lack of trying.¹

I heard a reporter ask Donald Rumsfeld: ŒIf they did not have WMDs, why did
they pose an immediate threat to this country?¹ I heard Rumsfeld answer:
ŒYou and a few other critics are the only people I¹ve heard use the phrase
³immediate threat². It¹s become a kind of folklore that that¹s what
happened. If you have any citations, I¹d like to see them.¹ And I heard the
reporter read: ŒNo terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat
to the security of our people.¹ Rumsfeld replied: ŒIt ­ my view of ­ of the
situation was that he ­ he had ­ we ­ we believe, the best intelligence that
we had and other countries had and that ­ that we believed and we still do
not know ­ we will know.¹

I heard Saadoon al-Zubaydi, an interpreter who lived in the presidential
palace, say: ŒFor at least three years Saddam Hussein had been tired of the
day-to-day management of his regime. He could not stand it any more:
meetings, commissions, dispatches, telephone calls. So he withdrew . . .
Alone, isolated, out of it. He preferred shutting himself up in his office,
writing novels.¹ 

*

I heard the president say that Iraq is a Œcatastrophic success¹.

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒThey haven¹t won a single battle the entire
time since the end of major combat operations.¹

I heard that hundreds of schools had been completely destroyed and thousands
looted, and that most people thought it too dangerous to send their children
to school. I heard there was no system of banks. I heard that in the cities
there were only ten hours of electricity a day and that only 60 per cent of
the population had access to drinkable water. I heard that the malnutrition
of children was now far worse than in Uganda or Haiti. I heard that none of
the 270,000 babies born after the start of the war had received
immunisations. 

I heard that 5 per cent of eligible voters had registered for the coming
elections. 

I heard General John Abizaid say: ŒI don¹t think Iraq will have a perfect
election. And, if I recall, looking back at our own election four years ago,
it wasn¹t perfect either.¹

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒLet¹s say you tried to have an election and
you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country. But some
places you couldn¹t because the violence is too great. Well, so be it.
Nothing¹s perfect in life.¹

I heard an Iraqi engineer say: ŒGo and vote and risk being blown to pieces
or followed by insurgents and murdered for co-operating with the Americans?
For what? To practise democracy? Are you joking?¹

I heard General Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, the chief of Iraqi intelligence,
say that there were now 200,000 active fighters in the insurgency.

I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒI don¹t believe it¹s our job to reconstruct
that country. The Iraqi people are going to have to reconstruct that country
over a period of time.¹ I heard him say that, in any event, Œthe
infrastructure of that country was not terribly damaged by the war at all.¹

I heard that the American ambassador, John Negroponte, had requested that
$3.37 billion intended for water, sewage and electricity projects be
transferred to security and oil output.

I heard that the reporters from the al-Jazeera network were indefinitely
banned. I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ŒWhat al-Jazeera is doing is vicious,
inaccurate and inexcusable.¹

I heard that Spain left the Œcoalition of the willing¹. Hungary left; the
Dominican Republic left; Nicaragua left; Honduras left. I heard that the
Philippines had left early, after a Filipino truck driver was kidnapped and
executed. Norway left. Poland and the Netherlands said they were leaving.
Thailand said it was leaving. Bulgaria was reducing its few hundred troops.
Moldova cut its force from 42 to 12.

I heard that the president had once said: ŒTwo years from now, only the
Brits may be with us. At some point, we may be the only ones left. That¹s OK
with me. We are America.¹

I heard a reporter ask Lieutenant-General Jay Garner how long the troops
would remain in Iraq, and I heard him reply: ŒI hope they¹re there a long
time.¹ 

I heard General Tommy Franks say: ŒOne has to think about the numbers. I
think we will be engaged with our military in Iraq for perhaps three, five,
perhaps ten years.¹

I heard that the Pentagon was now exploring what it called the ŒSalvador
option¹, modelled on the death squads in El Salvador in the 1980s, when John
Negroponte was ambassador to Honduras and when Elliott Abrams, now White
House adviser on the Middle East, called the massacre at El Mozote Œnothing
but Communist propaganda¹. Under the plan, the US would advise, train and
support paramilitaries in assassination and kidnapping, including secret
raids across the Syrian border. In the vice presidential debate, I heard the
vice president say: ŒTwenty years ago we had a similar situation in El
Salvador. We had a guerrilla insurgency that controlled roughly a third of
the country . . . And today El Salvador is a whale of a lot better.¹

I heard that 100,000 Iraqi civilians were dead. I heard that there was now
an average of 150 attacks on US troops a day. I heard that in Baghdad 700
people were being killed every month in Œnon-war-related¹ criminal
activities. I heard that 1400 American soldiers had been killed and that the
true casualty figure was approximately 25,000.

I heard that Donald Rumsfeld had a machine sign his letters of condolence to
the families of soldiers who had been killed. When this caused a small
scandal, I heard him say: ŒI have directed that in the future I sign each
letter.¹ 

I heard the president say: ŒThe credibility of this country is based upon
our strong desire to make the world more peaceful, and the world is now more
peaceful.¹ 

I heard the president say: ŒI want to be the peace president. The next four
years will be peaceful years.¹

I heard Attorney General John Ashcroft say, on the day of his resignation:
ŒThe objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has
been achieved.¹ 

I heard the president say: ŒFor a while we were marching to war. Now we¹re
marching to peace.¹

I heard that the US military had purchased 1,500,000,000 bullets for use in
the coming year. That is 58 bullets for every Iraqi adult and child.

I heard that Saddam Hussein, in solitary confinement, was spending his time
writing poetry, reading the Koran, eating cookies and muffins, and taking
care of some bushes and shrubs. I heard that he had placed a circle of white
stones around a small plum tree.

11 January 

Eliot Weinberger ¹s 9/12 is published by Prickly Paradigm. He lives in New
York. 

Alison Croggon

Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead:  http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com