Dahr Jamail is back in Iraq, once again reporting as an independent, freelance journalist. He is now maintaining his own new website. We expect him to write for TNS from time to time.
This weblog encountered a critical database error some months back and is now out-of-service, though all of the archives are and will remain in place.
Abu Talat picks me up at my hotel and we’re off through the uncharacteristically empty streets of central Baghdad en route to the airport. It’s early enough that we drive with the windows down rather than running the air conditioner, and the warm breeze carries the sounds of shop owners sweeping the sidewalks in front of their stores, palm fronds rustling in the wind and growling treads of Bradley fighting vehicles as they rumble past.
How much worse does it need to get here before the occupiers consider changing their policy? One hundred dead every day? In light of what happened here yesterday, it appears as though we’re heading in that direction. For those of you who think June 30th will signify a decrease in the number and magnitude of attacks against the occupation forces after the “transfer of sovereignty” -- think again.
» Continue reading "Where Children Laugh at Bombs"
The other night, I sent Dahr Jamail a batch of seven questions, culled from the first several dozen emails his readers sent in response to my recent appeal for letters. I sent the originals along as well. Dahr is reading them all and doing his best to reply to those which requested a response.
Here is the first set of questions and answers...
» Continue reading "Ask Dahr: 7 Questions and Answers with Dahr Jamail"
Mohammed works at our hotel. He just came up to deliver our laundry. When we asked how he was doing, he took off his sunglasses to show us a black eye. “Not so good,” he said.
» Continue reading "Penalty of Force"
I revisited Chuwader General Hospital in Sadr City yesterday. Unlike at Yarmouk Hospital, the manager at Chuwader was very open about the desperate plight facing his hospital, where 78 doctors work with desperate medicine and equipment shortages to serve an average of 3,000 daily visitors.
» Continue reading "Struggling To Survive"
The evening of the 21st found me at a CPA-approved demonstration of Shia men in support of the recent US airstrike of Fallujah. Remember, demonstrations in Iraq now must obtain permission from the CPA, otherwise risk being broken up by the military which has so often led to casualties of unarmed demonstrators during the occupation.
These CPA-sponsored demonstrations also tend to have US helicopters providing air support for them, which tends to be a giveaway as well.
» Continue reading "Exporting Violence"
On May 4, we published a story about Sadiq Zoman, an Iraqi who US troops abducted from his home in Kirkuk and, one month later, dropped off at a Tikrit hospital in a "persistent vegetative state," his body exhibiting telltale signs of torture. We told the story of Mr. Zoman’s family -- nine daughters and a wife who have sold every last possession to pay for his care as he lies unresponsive and helpless. They are desperate for answers and accountability from the foreign forces occupying their country, and who, from all evidence, deprived them of a husband and father as they knew him.
We know the Zomans’ story was compelling to many of our readers. Several of you wrote in to ask how you personally could donate to Sadiq Zoman’s family. We were moved by your generosity and your desire to see the Zoman family cared for after the tragedy that has been inflicted upon them, quite likely with money taken from you in the form of taxes. We heard your outrage, and we share it. Since then, the National Grassroots Peace Network has started a fund for donations to help the Zoman family (see below for more information).
The floor of my hotel rumbled as yet another bomb detonated in central Baghdad at 8:55 am today. My colleague down the hall showed up and asked, “Did you feel that?” I responded, “Yeah, Abu Talat is scheduled to show at 9 so we can go to work…get your stuff.”
» Continue reading "“This is just like Afghanistan…”"
No weblog entry today, but we have a couple of exciting ideas in the works with regard to The NewStandard's Iraq coverage.
First, something we've been wanting to do for a while and can't wait on any longer: Dahr Jamail has expressed an interest in fielding brief queries from our readers about his work in Iraq, so we're going to give you an email address below to which you can send all those questions you've had rolling around your head about the situation in Iraq.
» Continue reading "Ask Dahr -- a Q & A"
Dr. Faiq Amin, the manager of the Medico Legal Institute (ie, the Baghdad morgue), told me a couple of days ago that their maximum holding capacity is 90 bodies.
Since Janurary an average of over 600 bodies each month have been brought there. Of these, at least half have died of gunshots or explosions. He also pointed out that these numbers do not include the heavy fighting areas of Fallujah and Najaf.
» Continue reading "Beirut, Iraq"
I haven’t slept very well the last couple of nights, as the growing anxiety of car bombs has me waking at the smallest noises outside my window nowadays.
Dave was typing on his computer as I walk past him to the kitchen to make some coffee at 8:15 this morning and a huge explosion rumbles down the street near Tharir Square.
» Continue reading "Hep E on 'Vietnam Street'"
We've posted another hard news article by Dahr Jamail:
The Iraqi Police and Civil Defense Corps find their work hampered by US
authorities, but signs emerge that greater independence for local security
forces means greater control by the growing resistance...
Dahr travelled all over to get this story. We are going to be hearing more and more in the next few weeks and months about just who controls the Iraqi Police and paramilitaries.
Dahr went back to Fallujah to find out how the Civil Defense Corps, police and mujahideen are getting along now that the Marines have pulled out. And he talked to people from all walks of life, including numerous high-ranking security officials, to figure out what the police are up to and what people think about them. This is not the kind of story just anybody can pull off. Don't miss it...
Several of us are sitting in the hotel room having lunch, watching the news trying to keep up with the violence daily engulfing Iraq. Let me give you a quick rundown from the last 24 hours.
» Continue reading "“It has begun.”"
This became a very popular saying in Iraq after the US ousted Saddam Hussein.
The situation continues to degrade in occupied Iraq. I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record... but the need to describe life on the ground here continues, as I see it slipping from the news as of late. Overshadowed by more dramatic stories like car bombs and heavy fighting, the silent suffering that has become the daily reality here just isn’t catching much attention.
» Continue reading "“The student is gone; the master has arrived.”"
While a restful experience, driving around the mountains and green fields of Kurdistan did not provide the complete escape from the troubles of Iraq for which we had hoped.
» Continue reading "Smashed Windows, Intricate Webs"
He is a well spoken, handsome lawyer, just a year older than I am. He worked as a diplomat who coordinated NGOs and foreign governments in order to bring aid to his country during the sanctions.
He was detained and accused of being a spy for Saddam Hussein, even though he is not even a Baathist.
He was hung from his ankles for hours in Abu Ghraib, until he passed out.
I ask him what else happened to him in there. He pulls up the legs of his trousers to show me two electrical burns on the inside of his knees, and points to two more on his elbows.
» Continue reading "“Why are they doing this to us?”"
A rumbling explosion just let off near my hotel. This not too long after getting back from Adhamiya where I was talking to witnesses at the scene of yet another car bomb; the third in as many days here in Baghdad.
» Continue reading "Violence in Baghdad, Wordplay in Fallujah"
Long-time peace activist Ed Kinane has worked in Iraq as a member of Voices in the Wilderness teams and has been a strong supporter of The NewStandard since its inception. Here is what he sent his own supporters when he received our most recent appeal on behalf of correspondent Dahr Jamail:
» Continue reading "High Praise for Dahr's Contribution to Peace in Iraq"
We are very proud to note that Dahr Jamail's work covering the story of Sadiq Zoman -- a man who suffered serious injuries while in US custody and was released in a "persistent vegetative state" -- has made the "big leagues" of journalism: The New York Times. See Ian Fisher's interesting article on "Searing Uncertainty for Iraqis Missing Loved Ones". (Free one-time registration is required.)
A second installment in the Sadiq Zoman story is forthcoming from The NewStandard, hopefully by this weekend.
While Iraqi and American political players have been frenetically rearranging the chairs of interim government members on the Titanic that is occupied Iraq today, a massive car bomb explosion rumbles my hotel, miles from where it detonated outside of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan building near the so-called Green Zone.
» Continue reading "New President, New Car Bomb"
A friend recently asked me to write some about how Iraqis are getting by in regards to feeding themselves amidst 60% unemployment, the fuel crisis, and the already terrible security situation that continues to degrade.
After nearly two months of generating some of the most compelling journalism to come out of Iraq this year, NewStandard correspondent Dahr Jamail has decided to stay on through the June 30 "handover" of partial sovereignty, adding more than a month to his work in Iraq and his witness to a crucial moment in modern Iraqi history.
We are of course pleased and honored to continue to be the primary outlet for Dahr's writing, as well as his main source of financial, editorial and other support.
So that Dahr may continue his invaluable work in Iraq, we once again call on his readers for generous financial backing.
» Continue reading "Help Support Dahr Jamail for Another 5 Weeks of Courageous Reporting"
Late night writing due to the sweat alarm that has gone off, shortly after the electricity has cut out yet again. The electricity seems to have gotten worse lately, which is not surprising, in that this coincides with the gas shortage -- also growing more severe by the day.
» Continue reading "Disintegration"
Sometimes I forget that burnout applies to me too. After nearly two months straight of chasing stories, it was obviously time for a break. Unlike home though, one can't go take in a movie, take a jog or even a casual stroll. Walking around anywhere in Baghdad, being a westerner, is never casual. So I've spent most of my day off inside.
» Continue reading "Daily Life "
Seventeen year-old Amir is crying during much of the interview. “We were coming home from work, and were shot so many times,” he says with deep anguish and frustration, “Walid told me to leave the car because he was hurt and needed help.”
» Continue reading "Slaughter in the Streets"
Decades of smiles have left crinkles on his face that belie the sadness deep within his eyes. His hope and love for America has turned to a despair he is unable to express.
» Continue reading "Dreamers..."
With the recent court-martial trial of one of the soldiers complicit in the widespread torturing of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison having come and gone, Iraqis see the newest promise made by the U.S. -- to clean up their act regarding the treatment of detained Iraqis -- as being yet more empty words.
» Continue reading "The More Things Change…"
I meant to link to David Enders' blog, From Ann Arbor to Beirut. I came across it a while back but it slipped my mind. David is a freelancer writing for lots of different outlets, and his work is both insightful and compelling. Aside from his great blog entries, David posts goodies like this audio recording of an impromptu poetry reading (mp3 file) by a soldier he met. Be sure to check it out.
“Iraq is sitting atop a volcano,” says a school teacher in Haditha. “The Americans are aggravating people here, trying to get a reaction. Everyone in this province is against them now!”
» Continue reading "The Seeds have been Sown"
The city of Ramadi, about 120km west of Baghdad, appears to be much more stable than nearby Falluja, where the U.S. military currently won’t enter the city after the failed siege of April.
Here U.S. military patrols still roam the streets and attacks seem to be down. Both the Governor of the vast Al-Anbar Province and the Commander of the Iraqi Police (IP) are hopeful about the recent calming throughout the area.
» Continue reading "Ramadi-A Delicate Lid"
Yesterday at 5:30pm I tried to approach U.S. soldiers who had sealed off the Abu Hanifa Mosque in Al-Adhamiya, Baghdad. Holding my press badge up in the air, in loud, clear English from about 50 feet away I yelled to a soldier sitting behind a machine gun on a Bradley, “I am press! May I please get a comment from one of you about what the goal of your operation is here?”
» Continue reading "Iraqi Outrage Grows…"
Dahr's been writing too much for us to publish, so he's begun sprading the joy to other news outlets... An incomplete round-up of Dahr's latest material on the web...
Electricity Production in Iraq Remains Below Pre-War Levels (The NewStandard)
Sunnis and Shias Uniting Against the U.S. (Inter Press Service)
Radio Interview (Flashpoints)
Iraqi Journalists Liberated, From U.S. (IslamOnline.net)
And finally, Dahr was interviewed for this fairly good story from the Hartford Courant: "Mainstream Media Scooped On Prison Story" ("free" subscription required)
Yesterday at the General Hospital of Fallujah, doctors spoke of atrocities that occurred during the month-long siege of the city in April.
» Continue reading "Accounts of Atrocities Emerge from the Rubble of Fallujah"
Fallujah - The electricity in the air is palpable on this windy, grey day in this city that is slowly coming back to life. Everyone knows the Marines are rolling a symbolic patrol into the city today, as Iraq Police (IP) and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) are milling about every intersection on the main street. The street is blocked off -- and many people are watching from store fronts and windows to see what will happen.
» Continue reading "Fallujans Declare Victory!"
Remember last April, when US Marines knocked down a famous statue of Saddam Hussein, a couple of hundred Iraqis came out to celebrate, and the US media made a major event out of it? Today's media stunt by the Marines was a symbolic convoy driven to the heart of Fallujah. After the Marines left, thousands upon thousands of residents of the defiant city, joined by mujahideen fighters and US-trained Iraqi police and soldiers, poured into the streets to celebrate what Fallujans saw as their "victory" over US forces in the battle for their city.
Just as the Western media exaggerated last year's celebrations, they are systematically downplaying today's.
But NewStandard correspondent Dahr Jamail was there, and he wrote the story and took the photographs that should appear on the front pages of newspapers across the US tomorrow morning. The story he gathered -- standing among the people who watched the Iraqi-escorted convoy pass, and even talking to Iraqi soldiers and police -- differs dramatically from the version told by Marines and the Western journalists "embedded" with the convoy.
And we've posted here some extra photos that didn't fit in the article...
» Continue reading "Story and Pictures of Falluja Victory Celebrations"
With the horrendous security situation limiting movement of the media in Iraq more than ever before, many of the attacks and bombs against the occupiers are going unreported.
» Continue reading "Human Shields, Fighting, More Bombs"
An older Iraqi man is wailing near the grave of a loved one in the dusty heat of a football stadium converted into a cemetary. Between wails he raises his fist and yells, “Allahu akbar!” (God is great).
» Continue reading ""We will fight them again!""
At roughly 7:30 this morning I was awakened by a huge explosion that rocked my hotel building. I can tell how close they are now by how much I feel them through the floor.
» Continue reading "No Apology, Car Bomb, "I am your God.""
Along with an in temperatures here in Baghdad, there is an accompanying increase in tempers where the unfulfilled promises made by the U.S. to rebuild and rehabilitate Iraq are coming more into focus with each passing day. Daily life is a struggle for most Iraqis, and it isn't helped by the brutal occupation or by the corrupt police department.
» Continue reading "Iraqi Police?"
After days of research in Baghdad and stateside, The NewStandard is proud to present Iraq correspondent Dahr Jamail's thorough report on the story of Sadiq Zoman, who apparently underwent torture while in US Army custody. The NewStandard and Dahr Jamail intend to follow up on this case, as well as pursue some of the hundreds of others being talked about all over Iraq. Public pressure and demands for answers may be the key to forcing explanations, accountability and changes in how soldiers and Marines treat Iraqi prisoners.
If you find this story compelling, please forward this article widely, or use the "send-to-friend" feature on our website to pass it along with the moving graphics that accompany the story. We are trying to push this story far and wide as we believe the questions it raises deserve honest answers, as much as we believe the world deserves to know the Iraqi side of the occupation story.
I haven't written anything to my blog for several days now. Stories in Iraq have a tendency towards determining themselves, and the one I've been working on has taken on new meaning this second time around.
» Continue reading "Tortured Souls"
