What I Heard about Iraq in 2005
    By Eliot Weinberger
    The London Review of Books

    Thursday 05 January 2006

    In 2005 I heard that Coalition forces were camped in the ruins of Babylon. I heard that bulldozers had dug trenches through the site and cleared areas for helicopter landing pads and parking lots, that thousands of sandbags had been filled with dirt and archaeological fragments, that a 2600-year-old brick pavement had been crushed by tanks, and that the moulded bricks of dragons had been gouged out from the Ishtar Gate by soldiers collecting souvenirs. I heard that the ruins of the Sumerian cities of Umma, Umm al-Akareb, Larsa and Tello were completely destroyed and were now landscapes of craters.

    I heard that the US was planning an embassy in Baghdad that would cost $1.5 billion, as expensive as the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, the proposed tallest building in the world.

    I saw a headline in the Los Angeles Times that read: 'After Levelling City, US Tries to Build Trust.'

    I heard that military personnel were now carrying 'talking point' cards with phrases such as: 'We are a values-based, people-focused team that strives to uphold the dignity and respect of all.'

    I heard that 47 per cent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein helped plan 9/11 and 44 per cent believed that the hijackers were Iraqi; 61 per cent thought that Saddam had been a serious threat to the US and 76 per cent said the Iraqis were now better off.

    I heard that Iraq was now ranked with Haiti and Senegal as one of the poorest nations on earth. I heard the United Nations Human Rights Commission report that acute malnutrition among Iraqi children had doubled since the war began. I heard that only 5 per cent of the money Congress had allocated for reconstruction had actually been spent. I heard that in Fallujah people were living in tents pitched on the ruins of their houses.

    I heard that this year's budget included $105 billion for the War on Terror, which would bring the total to $300 billion. I heard that Halliburton was estimating that its bill for providing services to US troops in Iraq would exceed $10 billion. I heard that the family of an American soldier killed in Iraq receives $12,000.

    I heard that the White House had deleted the chapter on Iraq from the annual Economic Report of the President, on the grounds that it did not conform with an otherwise cheerful tone.

    Within a week in January I heard Condoleezza Rice say there were 120,000 Iraqi troops trained to take over the security of the country; I heard Senator Joseph Biden, Democrat from Delaware, say that the number was closer to 4000; I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: 'The fact of the matter is that there are 130,200 who have been trained and equipped. That's a fact. The idea that that number's wrong is just not correct. The number is right.'

    I heard him explain the discrepancy: 'Now, are some getting killed every day? Sure. Are some retiring at various times or injured? Yes, they're gone.' I remembered that a year before he had said the number was 210,000. I heard the Pentagon announce it would no longer release Iraqi troop figures.

    I heard that 50,000 US soldiers in Iraq did not have body armour, because the army's equipment manager had placed it at the same priority level as socks. I heard that soldiers were buying their own flak jackets with steel 'trauma' plates, Camelbak water pouches, ballistic goggles, knee and elbow pads, drop pouches to hold ammunition magazines, and load-bearing vests. I heard they were rigging their vehicles with pieces of scrap metal as protection against roadside bombs, since the production of armoured Humvees had fallen more than a year behind schedule and the few available armoured vehicles were mainly reserved for officers and visiting dignitaries.

    I heard that the private security firm Custer Battles had been paid $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad airport at a time when no planes were flying. I heard that US forces were still unable to secure the two-mile highway from the airport to the Green Zone.

    I heard that the President's uncle, Bucky Bush, had made half a million dollars cashing in his stock options in Engineered Support Systems Inc, a defence contractor that had received $100 million for work in Iraq. Bucky Bush is on the board of directors. I heard Dan Kreher, vice-president of investor relations for ESSI, say: 'The fact his nephew is in the White House has absolutely nothing to do with Mr Bush being on our board or with our stock having gone up 1000 per cent in the past five years.'

    I heard that a Pentagon audit of only some of the Halliburton contracts had found $212 million in 'questionable costs'. I heard that eight other government audits of Halliburton were marked 'classified' and not released to the public.

    I heard that African-Americans normally form 23 per cent of active-duty troops, but that recruitment of African-Americans had fallen by 41 per cent since 2000. I heard that a US Military Image Study prepared for the army had recommended that, 'for the army to achieve its mission goals with Future Force Soldiers, it must overhaul its image as well as its product offering.'

    I heard that the military was developing robot soldiers. I heard Gordon Johnson of the Joint Forces Command at the Pentagon say: 'They don't get hungry. They're not afraid. They don't forget their orders. They don't care if the guy next to them has just been shot.' I heard him say: 'I have been asked what happens if the robot destroys a school bus rather than a tank parked nearby. The lawyers tell me there are no prohibitions against robots making life-or-death decisions. We will not entrust a robot with that decision until we are confident they can make it.'

    In March, on the second anniversary of the invasion, I heard that 1511 US soldiers had been killed and approximately 11,000 wounded. There was no way of knowing exactly how many Iraqis had died.

    I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: 'Well, if you have a country of 25 million people and you have x thousands of criminals, terrorists, Baathists, former regime elements who want to blow up things and make bombs and kill people, they can still do that. That happens in most major cities in the world, most countries in the world, that people get killed and there's violence.'

    I heard that, along with banning photographs of the caskets of American soldiers, the administration was actively preventing photographs being taken of the wounded, who were flown in from Iraq late at night, transferred to military hospitals in unmarked vans, and unloaded at back entrances.

    I heard about despair. I heard General John Abizaid, commander of US Central Command, say of the insurgents: 'I don't think that they're growing. I think that they're desperate.'

    I heard about hope. I heard General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, say: 'I came away more positive than I've ever been. I think we're getting some momentum built up.'

    I heard about happiness. I heard Lieutenant General James Mattis say that 'it's a lot of fun to fight' in Iraq. I heard him say: 'You know, it's a hell of a hoot. I like brawling.'

    I heard that Donald Rumsfeld had created his own intelligence agency, the Strategic Support Branch, 'designed to operate without detection and under the defense secretary's direct control', without the oversight laws that apply to the CIA, and that it was employing 'notorious figures' whose 'links to the US government would be embarrassing if disclosed'. I heard about the practice of 'extraordinary rendition', by which suspected terrorists are kidnapped and flown to countries known to torture prisoners, or to secret US prisons in Thailand, Afghanistan, Poland and Romania.

    I heard that there were 3200 prisoners in Abu Ghraib, 700 more than its capacity. I heard Major General William Brandenburg, who oversees US military detention operations in Iraq, say: 'We've got a normal capacity and a surge capacity. We're operating at surge capacity.' A year before, I had heard the President promise 'to demolish the Abu Ghraib prison, as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning'. I heard that outside the prison there is a sign that reads: 'No Parking. Detainee Drop Off Zone.'

    I heard that some American soldiers had made a heavy metal music video called 'Ramadi Madness', with sections entitled 'Those Crafty Little Bastards' and 'Another Day, Another Mission, Another Scumbag'. In one scene, a soldier kicks the face of an Iraqi who is bound and lying on the ground, dying. In another, a soldier moves the arm of a man who has just been shot dead, to make it appear that he is waving. I heard a Pentagon spokesman say: 'Clearly, the soldiers probably exercised poor judgment.'

    I heard that the army released a 1200-page report detailing the torture of Iraqi prisoners at a single military intelligence base during a few months in 2003. In response to the report, I heard Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Martin say: 'The army's a learning organisation. If we have some shortfalls, we try to correct them. We've learned how to do that process now.'

    I heard a US soldier talk about his photographs of the 12 prisoners he had shot with a machine-gun: 'I shot this guy in the face. See, his head is split open. I shot this guy in the groin. He took three days to bleed to death.' I heard him say he was a devout Christian: 'Well, I knelt down. I said a prayer, stood up, and gunned them all down.'

    In April I heard General Richard Myers say: 'I think we're winning. OK? I think we're definitely winning. I think we've been winning for some time.'

    I heard Major General William Webster, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, say: 'We think the insurgency is weakening over time. Some of these attacks appear to be very spectacular and well co-ordinated, but, in fact, are not.'

    I heard Lieutenant General James Conroy of the marines say that American troop withdrawals would soon begin, because 'Iraqis are starting to take care of their own situation.' I heard Rear Admiral William Sullivan report to Congress that there were 145,000 'combat-capable' Iraqi forces. I heard Sabah Hadum, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, say: 'We are paying about 135,000, but that does not necessarily mean that 135,000 are actually working.' I heard that as many as 50,000 may be 'ghost soldiers' - invented names whose pay is collected by officers or bureaucrats.

    I heard Staff Sergeant Craig Patrick, who was training Iraqi troops, say: 'It's all about perception, to convince the American public that everything is going as planned and we're right on schedule to be out of here. I mean, they can bullshit the American people, but they can't bullshit us.'

    As many countries pulled their small numbers of troops out of Iraq, I heard the State Department announce it would no longer use the phrase 'Coalition of the Willing'.

    I heard that of the 40 water and sewage systems in Iraq, 'not one is being operated properly.' I heard that of the 19 power plants that had been rebuilt by the US, none works correctly. I heard a US official blame this on the 'indifferent work ethic' of Iraqis.

    I read, in the New York Times, that thanks to the 'sustained momentum' of the 'military operation', the 'administration's goal of turning Iraq over to a permanent, elected Iraqi government' was 'within striking distance'. I heard General Richard Myers say: 'We're on track.' And I heard Major General Adnan Thabit say: 'We are gaining more victories because people are now co-operating more with us.'

    I heard General John Abizaid predict that Iraqi security forces would be leading the fight against the insurgents in most of the country by the end of 2005. I heard General George Casey, commander of the Multinational Forces in Iraq, say: 'We should be able to take some fairly substantial reductions in the size of our forces.'

    I heard that the insurgents had been driven out of the cities and into the desert and that they were having trouble finding new recruits. I heard Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno say: 'They're slowly losing.'

    I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: 'We don't have an exit strategy, we have a victory strategy.'

    A few weeks later, I heard Lawrence di Rita, a Pentagon spokesman, admit that 'there's been an uptick' in violence. I heard Pentagon officials dismiss this as 'desperate attacks by desperate individuals', but I heard General Richard Myers now say about the insurgents: 'I think their capacity stays about the same. And where they are right now is where they were almost a year ago.'

    I heard that a report by the CIA National Intelligence Council had stated that 'Iraq has now replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalised" terrorists,' providing 'a recruitment ground and the opportunity for enhancing technical skills'. I heard that it said that Iraq was a more effective training ground than Afghanistan, because 'the urban nature of the war in Iraq was helping combatants learn how to carry out assassinations, kidnappings, car bombings and other kinds of attacks that were never a staple of the fighting in Afghanistan during the anti-Soviet campaigns of the 1980s.'

    I heard that the State Department refused to release its annual report on terrorism, which would have shown that the number of 'significant' attacks outside Iraq had grown from 175 in 2003 to 655 in 2004. I heard Karen Aguilar, acting co-ordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department, explain that 'statistics are not relevant' to 'trends in global terrorism'.

    I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: 'Goodness knows, it doesn't take a genius to blow up a building.'

    I heard that in the month of April there were 67 suicide bombings. I heard Colonel Pat Lang, former chief of Mideast operations at the Defense Intelligence Agency, say: 'It's just political rhetoric to say we are not in a civil war. We've been in a civil war for a long time.'

    I heard that 1600 US soldiers were dead. I heard that every week more than 200 Iraqis were dying in the suicide bombings.