Interviews with top names in arts and politics.
Nir Rosen
The Iraq-war chronicler discusses day-to-day life in Iraq and explains why he thinks young Americans can’t end the war.
By Tanya Paperny
May 1, 2008
At this point, Nir Rosen doesn’t have much hope. As someone who has traveled extensively in Iraq, Rosen is one of a handful of Western journalists familiar with the on-the-ground conditions in the country. He says that for most Iraqis, life is worse now than it was under Sadaam Hussein. He frequently appears on television and radio—sometimes facing off with the architects of the war—to argue that the U.S. troop surge in Iraq has been an absolute failure. His groundbreaking article in Rolling Stone, “The Myth of the Surge,” chronicled the lawlessness beyond the gated-off Green Zone of the American forces. His recent book details the violent civil war that has emerged in Iraq between various sects and militia forces, and illustrates in harrowing detail some of the realities that the mainstream media have been unwilling to portray.
In this video interview with Campus Progress, Rosen explains how the occupation has traumatized a generation of Iraqi youth and argues that young Americans can’t help to end the war in Iraq, regardless of their good intentions.
Today is the anniversary of President Bush declaring “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, yet the war continues with no end in sight. As well as this interview with Nir Rosen, Campus Progress has released an Iraq Action Toolkit with tips on how to organize antiwar activities on or around May 1st.
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While the surge NEVER worked and in fact led to triple digit deaths for our soldiers three months in a row – April, May and June of 2007 – when we’d never even had two such months in a row, what HAD worked since at least September and arguably since mid-June – when it was inaugurated – was our truce with most of the insurgents and our subsequent use of them against al-Qaida through better counterinsurgency and ``The Awakening.’‘
Unfortunately, December 2007 proved to be the low not only for our soldiers’ deaths, but for deaths of Iraqi Security Forces and deaths of Iraqi civilians.
It’s as if – what a concept – the patience and cooperation of our newfound insurgent allies wasn’t limitless time-wise, that we didn’t have 100 years, but more like six months, and when we failed to announce troop withdrawals as a reward, they made some New Year’s resolutions.
Since January, not only have our own deaths been higher than December each month, Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi civilian casualties have been as follows: August, 1,674; September, 848; October, 679; November, 560; December, 548; January, 554; February, 674; March, 980.
If you guessed the pattern looks like a parabola with December as the minimum, you’re right. Look for April to go to well over 1,000.
If you guessed that oil going to well over $100 since January is correlated with all this, you’re right again. So not only did the surge never work, but even what did work is no longer working.
The only solution is to leave and hope the central government will get medieval on the insurgents – old-school Saddam-style – once we’re no longer there to restrain them. Indeed, we’re actually helping to RECRUIT for Al Qaeda by the very fact that we’ve remained there so long, almost proving the point of those who see us as a potential long-term imperialist occupier.
— Robert Edward Johnson - May 4, 09:28 PM - #Mr. Johnson,
How much time have you spent in Iraq? You seem adamant that the surge never worked, so I assume that you have either first-hand knowledge that would counter the reports of people on the ground there, or that you have knowledge of the situation based on extensive research. If you have superficial knowledge, then I ask you to dig a bit deeper. I am not sure that we can just “leave.” What exactly do you mean by “leave”? Do you mean to withdraw combat troops, withdraw diplomatic representation, have every U.S. citizen leave the country? Can we do that in this day and age? Where on the planet have we “left”? Do you mean like Somalia? I ask you-after we “leave” Iraq, then what? What do you think would be the likely next-step for Iran, for the Kurds, for the Sunnis? Would subsequent actions by these groups help the situation, for either the people that live there or for us? I think that your suggestion is sophomoric and short-sighted. If you are just venting, then I encourage you to put your money where your mouth is — don’t just post a comment, why don’t you volunteer to do something constructive? Either in Iraq or elsewhere in the world, why not volunteer your services to make someone else’s life better? I am. I leave for Baghdad on Sunday. — 53egradstudet - May 5, 08:43 PM - #