Irag? In this powerful and graphic account of his time in Iraq, Jamail tells the real story of the war in Iraq. Jamail was an American working in the the Alaskan wilderness as a mountain guide and sometimes volunteer mountain-rescue ranger. As the build-up to the invasion of Iraq became apparent he was disgusted with the "cheerleading for war" feebly disguised as "journalism' that corporate media television stations and newspapers in his country was disseminating. something about it; something very brave. He saved up money to buy a camera, a lap-top and a plane ticket. For him the choice was simple: "either to stay in Alaska and suffer the frustration and impotence of watching all this happen or take a risk to get the information I know to be the truth out to others".
Following the invasion, in November 2003 Jamail flew to Jordan, hired a driver and crossed the border into Iraq. For most western journalists the option was to be 'embedded' with an army unit or report from inside
the 'Green Zone' (the heavily
fortified and US controlled secure
stronghold in central Baghdad)
relying on the US military
personnel to provide information
about what was going on.
For Jamail this was
something he couldn't do. For
him the government of his
country had told lies which
were obediently repeated by an
unquestioning media in order
to justify the invasion and
occupation, and he says he "felt
that i had blood on my hands
because the government had
been left unchecked".
His journeys in the Red
Zone to interview ordinary Iraqis about events found him in constant danger for his life from the invading forces, as un-embedded journalists and those not putting forward the official position found themselves in the sights of the allied military.
On the ground Jamail found he was constantly witnessing a different story than that being portrayed by the military and western mainstream media.
Continually arriving at incidents he found the figures didn't add up - instead of a 'fire fight' with 'opposing forces' Jamail found himself interviewing relatives of dead Iraqi civilians (many of the dead being children, women and the elderly) who had been slaughtered by the Americans simply because earlier in the same area there had been an attack by the Iraqi resistance.
This retribution also often meant the bulldozing and wrecking of civilian homes and having the electricity and water supplies cut. All too often he found that young Iraqi men,
civilian farmers or shopkeepers,
had disappeared to languish for
months inside the notorious
Abu Ghraib or other detention
centres, without charge, and
with their distraught relatives
unable to get any redress.
Jamail reports on the
brutality of unchecked
mercenary forces such as
Blackwater USA, the corruption
and misappropriation of monies
by large U.S. corporations, such
as Halliburton and Bechtel,
which run into billions of
dollars; money that was paid to
deliver unfinished projects. He
also reports on the farce of the
supposed democratic elections
31 Shaming the embeds As if his life was not already in grave danger, he made the decision twice to get into Fallujah when in April and November 2004, the city was under siege and under attack by the American forces. In harrowing accounts he documents the breeches of the Geneva Convention so often, and in so many ways, by the
...the use of illegal weapons such as cluster bombs and white phosphorus munitions; having 'free-fire zones' in civilian areas; taking over hospitals, shooting ambulances; not allowing the dead to be buried and the wrecking of places of worship and killing those at prayer."
Jamail's continuous output of reports on the radio and the internet has won him much praise; John Pilger said of him:
"For me, he is the finest reporter working in Iraq... he shames the flak-jacketed, cliché-crunching camp followers known as 'embeds?'
He has reported from the
besieged city of Fallujah, whose
destruction and atrocities have
been suppressed by Western
broadcasters, notably the BBC."
Beyond the Green Zone
describes the life of ordinary,
everyday, Iraqis and their
suffering under the Americans.
So often the people cannot
understand the brutality of
the invading forces that are
portrayed to the world as
liberators. More importantly,
it again opens up the debate of
war reporting and the power
of the compliant media in the
message it sends out on behalf
of governments.
What about the aftermath
of war and the continued
page 32 of the scan
Socialists working 32 occupation of Iraq?
Bush slipped out of the back door, when he could find it; and Blair, it seems, continues to slip off the hook of retribution. Jamail compares the 1968 massacre of My Lai during the Vietnam War, when American soldiers massacred Dave Hill, a supporter of Socialist Resistance is standing as a candidate for the Trade Union and Socailist Coalition (TUSC).
He writes: more than 400 innocent civilians-the majority of whom were women, children and the elderly—to Fallujah, when, during the November siege, an estimated 5,000 innocent civilians-again, the majority of whom were women, children and the elderly-were together The TUSC campaign in Brighton
Kemptown has been going very
well. Comrades from Socialist
Resistance, the Socialist Party,
SWP, RMT, the Trades Council,
Defend Council Housing, and
Alliance for Green Socialism are
all involved, by giving financial
support, and/or by joining us
in campaigning, supporting
picket lines and local campaigns
(such as anti-cuts, and save our
nurseries campaigns), leafletting,
canvassing. We've started!
In Brighton, job cuts-including
101 job losses threatened by
Brighton Council-and threats
to services are major issues, as
are international issues like Gaza
and the Iraq/Afghan Wars.
We protested against the cuts
and job losses in early March,
and our Brighton TUSC launch
meeting on Tuesday 9 March
drew together Bob Crow, RMT
leader, Hannah Sell (Socialist
Party) and me.
Offers of help with canvassing
and leafletting will still be much
appreciated!
My hope is that trade unions and
socialist/ Marxist parties working
together in TUSC will lead to an
arrangement with Respect, and
the creation of a mass workers'
party to the left of Labour, with
socialist policies and trade union
support. slaughtered
Most US citizens know nothing about what really has happened in Iraq, Jamail says, "thanks to the corporate media, which has done such a fantastic job in whitewashing the impossible."
He questions the future of The Brighton TUSC Facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/#!/ group.php?gid=328024422940 &ref=nf The Brighton TUSC blogspot is at http://brightontusc.blogspot. com/ Vote Dave Hill for Brighton Kemptown