Invading Iraq: How Britain & America Got It Wrong Ep 2 (Iraq War Documentary) | Timeline

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it was a war fought<font color="#E5E5E5"> to uncover weapons</font> of mass destruction<font color="#CCCCCC"> her</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> enemy</font> I knew and I'd been told by<font color="#CCCCCC"> President</font> Saddam Hussein<font color="#CCCCCC"> himself that Iraq did not</font> have any<font color="#CCCCCC"> weapons of mass destruction a</font> war in which<font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> British and Americans</font> had expected<font color="#E5E5E5"> to be welcomed as</font> liberators<font color="#CCCCCC"> there was a</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> belief that they</font> would capitulate as we've got closer<font color="#E5E5E5"> and</font> that there would not be much<font color="#CCCCCC"> of a fight</font> helicopter the land now<font color="#CCCCCC"> a war in</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> which</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the Iraqi army was supposed to switch</font> sides<font color="#E5E5E5"> and help run Iraq there was nobody</font> to receive the<font color="#CCCCCC"> surrender from</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> we</font> couldn't<font color="#E5E5E5"> find them they weren't there</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> a</font> war fought in the<font color="#CCCCCC"> name of peace and</font> democracy<font color="#CCCCCC"> the technology changes but the</font> true nature<font color="#E5E5E5"> of war</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> doesn't and it is not</font> clean it is not<font color="#E5E5E5"> antiseptic</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> a war of</font> miscalculations that<font color="#E5E5E5"> did much to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> shape</font> the<font color="#E5E5E5"> Iraq of today that planning that we</font> did do<font color="#E5E5E5"> was based against a false set of</font> assumptions<font color="#CCCCCC"> this</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> is the story of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that</font> war and its legacy<font color="#E5E5E5"> told by the people</font> who fought it and endured<font color="#E5E5E5"> it</font> [Music] the first two weeks of<font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> war</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> had seen</font> repeated intelligence failures by the coalition and unexpected<font color="#CCCCCC"> resistance by</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the Iraqi Fedayeen for a few days</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font> advance had stalled<font color="#E5E5E5"> but once it resumed</font> on April the<font color="#E5E5E5"> second the Americans had</font> quickly broken<font color="#E5E5E5"> through the Iraqi</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">defenses on the Euphrates now they were</font> advancing on<font color="#E5E5E5"> their next major objective</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Baghdad Airport symbolically and</font> strategically<font color="#E5E5E5"> this was the most</font> important battle yet our job was<font color="#E5E5E5"> to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> go</font> get the<font color="#E5E5E5"> airport and threaten Baghdad</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">from the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> West</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> and</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to take that regime</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">icon way they expected fierce resistance</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">but as night fell they weren't sure</font> where it would come<font color="#CCCCCC"> from</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> or when</font> we kept skating<font color="#E5E5E5"> on our thermal imaging</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">and so really nothing it appeared to be</font> deserted the airport was completely black<font color="#CCCCCC"> a very very eerie night we just</font> expected this<font color="#E5E5E5"> huge</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> battle with the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">special Republican garden and it just it</font> didn't happen and we were<font color="#E5E5E5"> extremely</font> puzzled<font color="#CCCCCC"> and we were</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> extremely tired</font> parked<font color="#E5E5E5"> right next</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to the airport runway</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">mark hones men got their</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> first sleep in</font> 48 hours<font color="#CCCCCC"> Sun started</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to come up</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> about</font> 4:30<font color="#CCCCCC"> I was asleep</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">on the top of my tank</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and then I heard</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> a</font> tank shoot and then I said<font color="#CCCCCC"> okay so I get</font> up<font color="#CCCCCC"> and I look and it was</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> something that</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">you just not believe Iraqis getting out</font> of their beds<font color="#E5E5E5"> getting</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> up to the sunshine</font> and scratching<font color="#CCCCCC"> their heads</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> and looking</font> around and saying<font color="#E5E5E5"> oh my god and us doing</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the same thing saying what in the hell</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">is</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> going on</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Baghdad had been under aerial</font> bombardment<font color="#E5E5E5"> for days confused by the</font> constant noise<font color="#CCCCCC"> the Iraqi troops at the</font> airport had slept<font color="#E5E5E5"> through the initial</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">American entry at</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the other end of the</font> runway<font color="#E5E5E5"> they were so close</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> tank</font> commanders were using the pistols and hang grenades from the hatches into<font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Iraqi border</font> people<font color="#E5E5E5"> running back and forth they were</font> shooting<font color="#E5E5E5"> at</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> us they're vicious there</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> for</font> that<font color="#CCCCCC"> hour</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> and a half because they're</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">really trying to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> get themselves together</font> I had tanks hit with RPGs<font color="#CCCCCC"> we had</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">grenades</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> you know blown</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> up all</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> around us</font> they were shooting at<font color="#E5E5E5"> us and we just</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">engaged with everything we could</font> desperate<font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Iraqis through troops into</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the counter-attack now the Americans</font> came<font color="#E5E5E5"> face-to-face with the teenage</font> fanatics of the<font color="#E5E5E5"> Baghdad</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Fedayeen we had</font> to resist them to fight to send them back<font color="#CCCCCC"> to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> their</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> own country we are</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Iraqis</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">they're not even Christians</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> they're Jews</font> these guys weren't doing like<font color="#E5E5E5"> these</font> suicide tactics<font color="#E5E5E5"> we called it they</font> running out of<font color="#E5E5E5"> these secure bunkers with</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">basically</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> ak-47</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> run right at us</font> the fighting was<font color="#E5E5E5"> fierce they had planes</font> and tanks<font color="#CCCCCC"> and all we had were machine</font> guns<font color="#E5E5E5"> rocket-propelled grenades and hand</font> grenades<font color="#CCCCCC"> and about 50 of</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the guys gave</font> up<font color="#E5E5E5"> they were tired of watching the</font> buddies that<font color="#E5E5E5"> I guess I'm</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> saying what had</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">been it</font> we had to withdraw<font color="#E5E5E5"> we just couldn't</font> stand up<font color="#E5E5E5"> to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the line</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> are there were only</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">about 25</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of us left</font> most of the Fedayeen<font color="#CCCCCC"> were killed</font> we crushed<font color="#E5E5E5"> the forces in</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Saddam</font> International Airport<font color="#CCCCCC"> and we cleaned the</font> whole place<font color="#CCCCCC"> of the airport by</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> our and</font> Baghdad itself<font color="#E5E5E5"> there was an air of</font> unreality<font color="#CCCCCC"> the authorities</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> remain defiant</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">and elsewhere life continued as normal</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">the presence of militiamen on the</font> streets the only outward sign of crisis on April<font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> 4th is fighting raged at</font> the<font color="#E5E5E5"> airport on the edge of the city</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Iraqi TV</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> even showed pictures of Saddam</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">on walkabout</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> in the west of Baghdad</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> but</font> the Americans were not<font color="#E5E5E5"> yet ready</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> for the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">final assault still they feared Saddam's</font> Republican Guard the key Republican Guard<font color="#CCCCCC"> units had been positioned</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> do you</font> south<font color="#E5E5E5"> of Baghdad the American advance</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">had simply bypassed the bulk of them</font> before the battle for<font color="#CCCCCC"> Baghdad could</font> begin<font color="#E5E5E5"> a brigade was dispatched south to</font> deal with them<font color="#E5E5E5"> air commander said 80% of</font> the<font color="#CCCCCC"> madina division had been destroyed</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">but the men on the ground</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> needed</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to be</font> sure they found<font color="#CCCCCC"> themselves in an area of</font> dense palm groves<font color="#E5E5E5"> we come in contact</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">lily with hundreds</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> of armored vehicles</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">artillery</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> air</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> defence excel like that</font> they found the most powerful<font color="#E5E5E5"> armored</font> division in the<font color="#E5E5E5"> Iraqi army almost</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">entirely intact</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> 80% of their vehicles</font> were still there at least they were dispersed in hidden so as not to<font color="#CCCCCC"> be seen</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">from</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the air</font> it was another major intelligence <font color="#E5E5E5">failure none survived I</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> left more I had</font> moved all my<font color="#E5E5E5"> troops to new positions we</font> created almost<font color="#E5E5E5"> 7,000 new locations for</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">our weapons</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and we distributed</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> enough</font> ammunition<font color="#CCCCCC"> to last for</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> six months the</font> Americans faced a battle they thought they'd<font color="#CCCCCC"> never have to fight but they've</font> caught the Iraqis by surprise the American<font color="#CCCCCC"> advance had been so fast most</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">of their tanks were facing the wrong way</font> they would<font color="#E5E5E5"> just hit so hard and so</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">quickly</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> they just couldn't react</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to it</font> we just<font color="#CCCCCC"> came upon them and</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> close air</font> support<font color="#CCCCCC"> artillery it was just I'm sure</font> more<font color="#CCCCCC"> than they could even imagine</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> and it</font> just developed<font color="#E5E5E5"> so quickly and our tanks</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">and Bradley's are just going through</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">their formation so quickly it just</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">becomes obvious that</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> it that</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> it's</font> hopeless<font color="#E5E5E5"> for them the Medina division</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">simply melted</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> away we'd see a lot of</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">middle-aged</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> males walking away from</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">battlefield areas</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> some of</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> them you know</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">what would would have</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> liked army boots</font> on<font color="#E5E5E5"> but then they would have</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> like kind</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> of</font> a civilian undergarment it was obvious that they probably had just taken their you<font color="#CCCCCC"> know uniform off and you</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> just kind</font> of<font color="#E5E5E5"> walked away and if they did</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that in</font> most<font color="#E5E5E5"> cases we just you know we just let</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">him go</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> on</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> general Hamdani made a last</font> desperate attempt to<font color="#E5E5E5"> stem the route</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I</font> tried to<font color="#CCCCCC"> sneak</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> us</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> fear yeah to try to</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">salvage what was left of the Medina</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">division I found some troops but there</font> was no coherent force left<font color="#E5E5E5"> I gathered</font> all<font color="#E5E5E5"> of the troops together in one place</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">trying to form a</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> nucleus of a solid</font> force then I<font color="#E5E5E5"> went to search for others</font> but when I got<font color="#E5E5E5"> back the troops had</font> disappeared the<font color="#CCCCCC"> Medina division had</font> ceased to<font color="#E5E5E5"> exist</font> in the<font color="#E5E5E5"> south at Basra the British</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> too</font> were beginning to<font color="#E5E5E5"> sense the tide was</font> turning they'd gathered intelligence and bided their time for almost two weeks<font color="#CCCCCC"> to</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the irritation of some American</font> commanders but slowly<font color="#E5E5E5"> they too were</font> tightening the screw we put precision airstrikes in against the bath<font color="#CCCCCC"> party</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">headquarters</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> there a Directorate</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> of</font> intelligence<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Fedayeen headquarters</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">and so forth so we we we attacked the</font> regime targets on the night of April the<font color="#CCCCCC"> 4th</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> a major</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">opportunity presented itself we got</font> information that<font color="#E5E5E5"> chemical Ali wasn't</font> conducting a<font color="#E5E5E5"> meeting with an inner house</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">in the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> center</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of Basra chemical Ali was</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the overall commander of the regime</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Fetty in the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> armed</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> forces</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> in the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">southern part of Iraq</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and if not called</font> chemical<font color="#CCCCCC"> Ali without good reason it was</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">very clear to me</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> both before and during</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">this operation</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that the the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> shear people</font> were<font color="#E5E5E5"> terrified of this man terrified</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of</font> him just before<font color="#CCCCCC"> dawn on April the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> 5th</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">American f-16s took off to strike the</font> target<font color="#E5E5E5"> at the Pentagon they watched the</font> attack live through aerial surveillance <font color="#CCCCCC">the video they later released</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> was less</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">graphic than the original we're</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> watching</font> this video of<font color="#CCCCCC"> attack and the first</font> weapon<font color="#E5E5E5"> comes in and then the second</font> weapon<font color="#E5E5E5"> comes in and strikes the building</font> and you're able<font color="#CCCCCC"> to see bodies</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> like</font> ragdolls<font color="#E5E5E5"> flying up into the air and I'll</font> tell you we sat there<font color="#CCCCCC"> and we were</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">cheering thinking yeah we just got</font> chemical Ali<font color="#E5E5E5"> someone who has killed his</font> own people<font color="#E5E5E5"> someone who is just an evil</font> man is now dead and and we rejoiced at it only<font color="#CCCCCC"> later</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> did it</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> become clear</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> that</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">chemical Ali had not been killed and</font> there were innocent<font color="#CCCCCC"> victims there</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> were</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">17 civilians killed there and and we</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">didn't get</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> chemical Ali</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> and suddenly I</font> don't feel so<font color="#CCCCCC"> good about</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> this target</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and</font> you start<font color="#E5E5E5"> to wonder who those ragdolls</font> were that you saw flying<font color="#E5E5E5"> through the air</font> most of the dirt came from neighboring families it was one<font color="#CCCCCC"> of the worst</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> losses</font> of civilian life<font color="#E5E5E5"> in the campaign</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> in the</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">south but it proved a turning point in</font> Basra<font color="#CCCCCC"> it was widely believed chemical</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Ali had been killed and as news of the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">strike spread through the city the</font> effect was dramatic<font color="#E5E5E5"> during the course of</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">that</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> day</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> we got</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> there are indications</font> that<font color="#E5E5E5"> the policemen were no longer on</font> street corners<font color="#E5E5E5"> that that soldiers were</font> not<font color="#E5E5E5"> seen openly on the streets we got</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">information</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that members of</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the Baath</font> Party<font color="#E5E5E5"> were leaving Basra two of the</font> battle groups<font color="#E5E5E5"> had planned raids for the</font> following morning<font color="#CCCCCC"> I said to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the Konami</font> officers well<font color="#E5E5E5"> knock on the door</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">continue these raids and</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> if the door</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">opens keep going</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> on the morning of April</font> the<font color="#E5E5E5"> 6th the entire British 7th Armoured</font> Brigade<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Desert Rats rolled</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> into</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Basra those defenders still at their</font> posts were taken by<font color="#CCCCCC"> surprise</font> some resorted to suicidal tactics<font color="#E5E5E5"> there</font> was a<font color="#E5E5E5"> tank about two vehicles in front</font> of<font color="#E5E5E5"> me and some lunatic jumped out of a</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">bunker climbed up on top of the onto the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">tank and</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> then fired</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> directly at the tank</font> commanders periscope<font color="#E5E5E5"> and the vehicle</font> immediately<font color="#E5E5E5"> behind then shot this chap</font> off the bow [Music] [Music] everywhere looks there was a limb here had their pieces<font color="#E5E5E5"> of had flown in they</font> serve water next to<font color="#E5E5E5"> us and</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I just I was</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">scared that</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> their spines I thought I do</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">not</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> want</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to end up like this</font> there was blood and guts everywhere and then it<font color="#E5E5E5"> just went</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> into autopilot then</font> the next thing as pair drills<font color="#E5E5E5"> is my</font> mid-morning the British had broken <font color="#E5E5E5">through</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the thin defensive crust around</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the city the Syria the Black Watch came</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">up on the radio and said I'm three</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">kilometres into Basra</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> I'm going to keep</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">going</font> [Music] we drove down<font color="#E5E5E5"> to more and more chairs</font> more and more waving<font color="#E5E5E5"> and no contact at</font> all<font color="#E5E5E5"> really by late afternoon the British</font> were in downtown Basra<font color="#E5E5E5"> at last the</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Coalition had its images of liberation</font> and celebration<font color="#CCCCCC"> it</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> was something like</font> the liberation<font color="#E5E5E5"> of Paris and you had</font> hundreds of people laying in the<font color="#CCCCCC"> road we</font> have<font color="#CCCCCC"> been</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> cheering normally</font> three<font color="#CCCCCC"> British soldiers died that day</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> British felt<font color="#E5E5E5"> their cautious tactics were</font> vindicated if you told<font color="#CCCCCC"> me on the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> 19th of March that</font> I could get<font color="#E5E5E5"> into a defended city of a</font> million<font color="#CCCCCC"> and a quarter</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> with the loss of</font> only<font color="#E5E5E5"> three lives</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I'd have taken</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> it of</font> course<font color="#CCCCCC"> I would have and I think that I</font> think<font color="#CCCCCC"> that</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> history would show this was</font> probably the lightest casualties<font color="#E5E5E5"> I think</font> in any urban operation that's<font color="#E5E5E5"> ever taken</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">place but within</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> hours the euphoria had</font> turned<font color="#E5E5E5"> to chaos as looting spread the</font> British had expected<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Iraqi police</font> the army<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Civil Administration to be</font> intact<font color="#E5E5E5"> and</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to help them</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> run the city</font> but they encountered a very different situation<font color="#E5E5E5"> that</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> planning that we did do</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">was based against a false set of</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">assumptions we got advice</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> about managing</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">a humanitarian crisis</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> but that wasn't</font> what<font color="#CCCCCC"> was required we need professional</font> engineers to rebuild things we need water engineers we bank managers with the<font color="#E5E5E5"> regime gone everything beneath</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">simply crumbled the British had not</font> planned for<font color="#CCCCCC"> this</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> it was a taste of what</font> was<font color="#CCCCCC"> to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> come</font> in Baghdad<font color="#CCCCCC"> the US Marines now joined</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> American<font color="#E5E5E5"> fifth Army Corps on the edge of</font> the<font color="#E5E5E5"> city following</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the fall of Basra</font> when we're gonna get into<font color="#E5E5E5"> it this is the</font> time<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Marines had been given the job</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">of storming the east of the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> city</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> as the</font> young<font color="#CCCCCC"> marine commanders briefed their</font> troops they<font color="#E5E5E5"> anticipated serious</font> resistance<font color="#CCCCCC"> the mood was aggressive it</font> gets destroyed<font color="#CCCCCC"> by anything we have</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> I</font> don't<font color="#E5E5E5"> care</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> about</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> collateral damage at</font> this point this<font color="#CCCCCC"> is enemy territory if we</font> got a<font color="#E5E5E5"> rubble every building that's what</font> we'll do<font color="#E5E5E5"> all right</font> but the Iraqi army was<font color="#E5E5E5"> retreating in</font> chaos Colonel Mahmoud<font color="#CCCCCC"> shaheen's unit was</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the last to fall back across the Diyala</font> River<font color="#E5E5E5"> marking the eastern boundary of</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Baghdad it was every man</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> for himself you</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">just had to make</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> your own decisions the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">bombardment was so heavy and it made no</font> attempt to distinguish between civilian <font color="#CCCCCC">and military areas they were hitting us</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">with artillery helicopters and fighter</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">planes on the morning of the 6th</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> of</font> April he abandoned his position I got into a<font color="#E5E5E5"> civilian car and I just went home</font> I left everything behind 24 hours later the Marines stormed the<font color="#CCCCCC"> Diyala</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> bridge</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">just a couple of miles downriver</font> kilo<font color="#CCCCCC"> company with</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> captain Norton for the</font> first across<font color="#E5E5E5"> the bridge</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> they cross</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">bridge immediately</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> sees the small</font> buildings that were over watching<font color="#CCCCCC"> it I'm</font> not totally sure how<font color="#CCCCCC"> much incoming fire</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">I think for the most</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> part the Iraqis had</font> left that<font color="#E5E5E5"> morning</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I think there was</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">sporadic fire coming across press</font> photographers had swarmed<font color="#CCCCCC"> to what they</font> believed would be<font color="#E5E5E5"> an iconic</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> event we're</font> hearing lots<font color="#E5E5E5"> of fire</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> but it becomes pre</font> parent at that point that it's not <font color="#CCCCCC">incoming</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> that no one is like no one's</font> shooting at us but as the Marines<font color="#E5E5E5"> found</font> out on the northern bank they remained nervous jittery<font color="#E5E5E5"> above all fearful of</font> suicide bombers just at that<font color="#CCCCCC"> moment or</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Sanju</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Ayad was setting off from central</font> Baghdad<font color="#CCCCCC"> she'd spent a day with relatives</font> and<font color="#E5E5E5"> was returning to her home close</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to</font> the<font color="#E5E5E5"> Diallo bridge we had no</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> idea the</font> Americans were in the area<font color="#E5E5E5"> our neighbors</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">a father and his</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> son had a Kia van they</font> gave us a lift back at the Diyala River the<font color="#E5E5E5"> Marines were establishing defensive</font> positions<font color="#E5E5E5"> they followed the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> American</font> military doctrine of force protection <font color="#E5E5E5">which puts the security</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of American</font> personnel above all else<font color="#E5E5E5"> they were dug</font> in<font color="#CCCCCC"> their guns pointing down the road</font> towards Baghdad<font color="#E5E5E5"> you're not gonna stand</font> out there in<font color="#CCCCCC"> a road guard vest and stop</font> vehicles<font color="#CCCCCC"> in searching</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> this isn't you</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">know Northern Ireland okay this isn't</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> a</font> police post this is combat<font color="#E5E5E5"> once more the</font> Marines were surrounded by photographers the first vehicle they saw was<font color="#CCCCCC"> Wissam do</font> iods the first vehicle to<font color="#E5E5E5"> come through</font> was<font color="#E5E5E5"> a was a blue minivan</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I got to say</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">about seven or eight city blocks away</font> when the<font color="#E5E5E5"> Marine saw it they start to</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">scream and they start to see a eight</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">hundred</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> meters six</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> hundred meters</font> and then everyone else then fires<font color="#E5E5E5"> in</font> unison [Applause] and you have the silence and<font color="#E5E5E5"> the car is</font> like a jet I love<font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> China got them our beanie my</font> sister was hit<font color="#CCCCCC"> straightaway I rushed</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">towards her had</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> she been shot in the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">head</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the driver and</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> his son was</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> shot to</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Sun poor thing didn't die</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">immediately</font> there was blood spurting onto the <font color="#CCCCCC">backseat and</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> onto the window</font> I<font color="#CCCCCC"> looked down at my finger and saw it</font> was dangling almost cut off another finger had been blown off completely<font color="#E5E5E5"> I</font> saw an<font color="#CCCCCC"> American soldier coming towards</font> the car I've pretended to be unconscious as she lay<font color="#CCCCCC"> in the van</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> more cars drove</font> into the<font color="#E5E5E5"> American guns</font> [Music] it was only<font color="#E5E5E5"> later the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> photographer's</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">were allowed forward to take photos</font> almost all the victims<font color="#CCCCCC"> were civilians</font> [Music] there was an<font color="#E5E5E5"> elderly man that had been</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">shot that was with his</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> kings with a cane</font> here he was walking with<font color="#E5E5E5"> a cane even</font> shot on the right<font color="#CCCCCC"> side of the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> street</font> [Music] suddenly<font color="#E5E5E5"> a hand appeared in the window</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">of</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> blue minivan</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Hasaan and another survivor had sat</font> there all night<font color="#E5E5E5"> long next to the bodies</font> of<font color="#CCCCCC"> their dead relatives</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> too terrified</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to</font> move I begged<font color="#E5E5E5"> them to let</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> me</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> get my</font> sister<font color="#CCCCCC"> out of the car to bury her</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> but</font> they wouldn't<font color="#E5E5E5"> let me I thought they were</font> coming<font color="#CCCCCC"> to bring freedom</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> and democracy</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">not</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to hurt people why did</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> he shoot our</font> car they<font color="#E5E5E5"> could see us</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and they still</font> shutters<font color="#CCCCCC"> the cars were full of civilian</font> families there were no soldiers<font color="#E5E5E5"> in them</font> around<font color="#E5E5E5"> a dozen civilians died that</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">morning at</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the Diala bridge in the chaos</font> of<font color="#E5E5E5"> the advance such incidents were</font> widespread<font color="#E5E5E5"> William Tecumseh Sherman said</font> you know war is<font color="#E5E5E5"> cruelty</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> there's</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> no sense</font> in trying to refine it the crueler it is the sooner it's over<font color="#CCCCCC"> I</font> think he had pretty good<font color="#CCCCCC"> insight to the</font> nature<font color="#E5E5E5"> war the technology changes</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> but</font> the true nature<font color="#E5E5E5"> of war doesn't</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and it is</font> not clean it is<font color="#E5E5E5"> not antiseptic it is not</font> surgical it would be some time<font color="#CCCCCC"> before</font> the truth dawned on<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Marines</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that the</font> eastern side<font color="#E5E5E5"> of Baghdad was almost</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">defenseless</font> in west of<font color="#CCCCCC"> Baghdad it was a different</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">story</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> there the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> third</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Infantry Division</font> had a fight<font color="#E5E5E5"> on its hands</font> good everybody<font color="#CCCCCC"> but you had to you had</font> the staff guys fighting<font color="#E5E5E5"> you had the</font> support<font color="#E5E5E5"> platoon fighting you had the</font> medics fighting the commanding officer had devised an ambitious battle plan to seize the Iraqi capital<font color="#E5E5E5"> in a single day</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Baghdad is the center of gravity and if</font> the<font color="#E5E5E5"> city has fallen then then all hope</font> is lost<font color="#E5E5E5"> if I in the city and I stay</font> there<font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> war is over</font> he'd headed straight<font color="#CCCCCC"> downtown</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> for</font> Saddam's palaces<font color="#E5E5E5"> spreading panic among</font> the<font color="#CCCCCC"> Iraqi defenders but</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> he'd taken a</font> huge<font color="#CCCCCC"> risk if the Iraqis could cut his</font> supply<font color="#CCCCCC"> lines he'd be stranded and it was</font> on these supply routes that the Fedayeen <font color="#E5E5E5">now concentrated its attacks</font> we get<font color="#CCCCCC"> attacked from one position and we</font> hit<font color="#E5E5E5"> him back hard and then another one</font> would<font color="#E5E5E5"> hit</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> us and then we'd</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> hit them back</font> hard are they<font color="#CCCCCC"> outnumbers the fiercest</font> fighting<font color="#E5E5E5"> was on route 8 at a road</font> junction codenamed<font color="#E5E5E5"> objective</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> curly by</font> the Americans<font color="#CCCCCC"> was chaos</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> we knew that we</font> were outnumbered we knew we were <font color="#CCCCCC">surrounded we knew that we</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> had walked</font> into<font color="#CCCCCC"> a well executed and well-planned</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">ambush</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> we were fighting for our lives it</font> was<font color="#E5E5E5"> at that moment that I</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> thought to</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">myself</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> ok this this</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> might be it they may</font> have<font color="#E5E5E5"> figured something out and they've</font> got<font color="#E5E5E5"> our number today locals watched as</font> the Fedayeen held<font color="#CCCCCC"> themselves at the</font> amerikan gunz<font color="#E5E5E5"> yeah now should we talk</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">they fought</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> like heroes I saw them with</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">my own eyes God they run down the street</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">throw themselves</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to the ground put a</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">rocket in the RPG and fire calling out</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">for holy</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> wood</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> I need you draw the water</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">but one of them had a bullet hole in</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> his</font> back but he<font color="#CCCCCC"> insisted</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> on</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> being given an</font> RPG<font color="#E5E5E5"> so that he could keep on fighting</font> once more civilians<font color="#E5E5E5"> were caught</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> up</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> in the fighting</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">good people stay home so the people</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">are</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> out there watching you they don't</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">need to be out there they're not</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">typically innocent people</font> Iraqi civilians<font color="#E5E5E5"> saw it differently this</font> was thought we heard<font color="#E5E5E5"> someone shouting</font> my father's<font color="#E5E5E5"> head's been blown off he was</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">knocking on</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> doors it was covered</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> in</font> blood agua liqueur<font color="#CCCCCC"> I</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> shouted to him get</font> down all they'll shoot you and just at that moment<font color="#E5E5E5"> he was shot in</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the chest</font> [Applause] <font color="#E5E5E5">Ahmed Wahid and his family were fleeing</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the Marines</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> at</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the Diala bridge when</font> they drove directly into the fighting<font color="#E5E5E5"> at</font> objective curly Hawaiian<font color="#CCCCCC"> the Lelaina</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">mean to kill Madera this</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> soldier looked</font> at us from the<font color="#E5E5E5"> turret of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> his tank</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> level</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">obviously</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I was making signs to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> him so</font> that<font color="#CCCCCC"> he would stop firing that I saw</font> them I<font color="#CCCCCC"> thought but</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> it was no good he</font> just<font color="#CCCCCC"> kept on shooting at me and at my</font> mother <font color="#CCCCCC">Sawa no I was hit twice my mother felt</font> dead in my<font color="#E5E5E5"> arms incident</font> by midday<font color="#E5E5E5"> the resistance was flagging</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Colonel Perkins felt able to order</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> his</font> supply convoys to run the gauntlet<font color="#CCCCCC"> up</font> route 8 they're coming under a hail of<font color="#CCCCCC"> fire</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">tires being shot out</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> windshields being</font> shot out<font color="#E5E5E5"> but guys</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> were up</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> there in the</font> 50 Cal shooting back shooting<font color="#E5E5E5"> with m16s</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">nine mils</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> get these</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> supply vehicles</font> into<font color="#CCCCCC"> the center</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> of Baghdad</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Iraqi</font> fighters<font color="#E5E5E5"> fled in panic an Iraqi</font> Brigadier came running into my<font color="#E5E5E5"> house he</font> was afraid<font color="#E5E5E5"> I was standing by the door</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> he</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">shouted at me</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> get down get down I</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">wouldn't</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> have no</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> such choice I asked him</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">what</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> was happening he said there were</font> bodies<font color="#CCCCCC"> everywhere even on the rooftops</font> [Music] he said the Americans showed<font color="#CCCCCC"> no mercy</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Colonel Perkins would spend the night in</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Saddam's palace</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I knew that you know the</font> tide had turned on<font color="#E5E5E5"> this</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Ward in other</font> words<font color="#E5E5E5"> that we were in Baghdad and</font> there's probably<font color="#E5E5E5"> no way that they could</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">kick us out</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the city</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> 19</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> days after</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">crossing</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the Kuwait border</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> less than a</font> week after<font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> breakthrough at the</font> Karbala gap<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Americans had</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> penetrated</font> to the<font color="#E5E5E5"> very heart of the regime</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">seventh was was the point at which I</font> think we broke<font color="#CCCCCC"> the back of the regime</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">that we established ourselves in Baghdad</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">that the that the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> coalition was there</font> and they were there<font color="#CCCCCC"> to stay but the</font> Americans wanted Saddam dead or captured <font color="#CCCCCC">that afternoon they tried again to</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">assassinate him my boss came into the</font> office<font color="#CCCCCC"> and he said to me hey</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Mark we've</font> got some intelligence we know where Saddam is there would be a<font color="#CCCCCC"> meeting</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> at</font> these at<font color="#E5E5E5"> these coordinates</font> in these buildings<font color="#CCCCCC"> and it would be</font> populated<font color="#CCCCCC"> by extremely</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> high-level</font> players<font color="#E5E5E5"> within the bath</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> party</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> and within</font> the Iraqi<font color="#CCCCCC"> leadership structure by now</font> gone Oscar was growing weary<font color="#E5E5E5"> of such</font> tips<font color="#CCCCCC"> I think that the evidence</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> was</font> sketchy<font color="#CCCCCC"> it was good enough to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> send</font> forces<font color="#E5E5E5"> in on the ground and see if he's</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">really there but</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> I was reticent to drop</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">8,000 pounds of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> high explosives</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> his</font> objections were overruled<font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> intelligence was<font color="#E5E5E5"> quickly passed to the</font> crew<font color="#E5E5E5"> of a b-1 bomber already in the air</font> over<font color="#CCCCCC"> central Iraq we</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> were told no turn</font> direct Baghdad we've got a priority<font color="#CCCCCC"> one</font> leadership target for you<font color="#E5E5E5"> and then stand</font> by for coordinates<font color="#E5E5E5"> then the words we got</font> were basically this is a big one<font color="#CCCCCC"> don't</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">miss the target was in the wealthy</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> al</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">mansur</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> district in the west of Baghdad</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Abdul</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Massey had just returned home for</font> lunch<font color="#CCCCCC"> but heard of a</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Murphy</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> a</font> she everything was normal people were<font color="#E5E5E5"> just moving</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> around as normal</font> as<font color="#CCCCCC"> yet are now</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> but</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> a dead man</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> I had my</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">lunch and then half an hour</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> later</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> went</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">out again in the skies above Baghdad the</font> intelligence passed<font color="#E5E5E5"> to the B one was</font> less precise<font color="#CCCCCC"> than usual</font> we actually got two sets of coordinates <font color="#CCCCCC">about 100 feet apart my guess is</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> that</font> whoever<font color="#E5E5E5"> was</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> making these decisions</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">looked at</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the buildings and thought well</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">just to play it safe to make sure that</font> we we do get the people we're after <font color="#CCCCCC">we're gonna we're gonna hit two you know</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">two separate target points there one of</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">the target points was Abdul</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Massey's</font> home we annihilated that<font color="#E5E5E5"> target area</font> [Music] emotionally there's just you know a <font color="#E5E5E5">couple</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> moments to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> think wow okay we did</font> that now let's move on<font color="#CCCCCC"> to the next</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">target area</font> [Music] another<font color="#E5E5E5"> overhead</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> B'Elanna</font> here was the first<font color="#CCCCCC"> victim we dug out</font> from<font color="#CCCCCC"> my own family the main one here in</font> our<font color="#CCCCCC"> middle</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> we found Miriam my niece</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">Milana</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> my older daughter</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> child had</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">to be thirsty</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> then we got to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the kitchen</font> where we<font color="#E5E5E5"> found my wife my little</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">daughter</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Lorna</font> another<font color="#E5E5E5"> Latin bid I dug them out with my</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">bare hands I carried them with my own</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">hands and I buried them with my own</font> hands the Americans had missed again<font color="#E5E5E5"> 18</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">civilians died instead the attack was</font> based on an intercept of<font color="#E5E5E5"> a satellite</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">phone</font> these<font color="#E5E5E5"> intercepts can be traced to within</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">a radius of a</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> hundred meters of</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> where</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">the phone is</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> being used</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> a human source</font> on the<font color="#CCCCCC"> ground was needed to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> point</font> towards a<font color="#E5E5E5"> more precise location it now</font> seems almost certain<font color="#E5E5E5"> this source pointed</font> to the wrong house<font color="#CCCCCC"> I think the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> way that</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">we went at it the intelligence that we</font> had maybe was<font color="#CCCCCC"> not as good as we thought</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">it was the bulk of the other leadership</font> strikes<font color="#E5E5E5"> during the war were based on</font> similarly<font color="#E5E5E5"> floored intelligence</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> fifty</font> attempts were made to<font color="#E5E5E5"> kill Iraqi leaders</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">not a single one was</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> successful the</font> targets were all struck whatever the <font color="#E5E5E5">u.s. aimed at was hit and hit</font> magnificently<font color="#E5E5E5"> buildings destroyed</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">smoking holes in the ground</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that sort of</font> thing<font color="#CCCCCC"> the problem is the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> people who the</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">US was aiming at were</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> not there</font> these leadership strikes<font color="#E5E5E5"> led to the</font> highest<font color="#E5E5E5"> number</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of civilian</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> casualties in</font> the air war did I expect<font color="#CCCCCC"> to kill</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> a lot</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">of leaders no but we wanted to strike</font> those<font color="#CCCCCC"> facilities</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> that they</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> could manned</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">out of and we wanted to put them</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> on</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> run so there may be a three<font color="#CCCCCC"> to four</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">percent</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> chance that I'm actually gonna</font> strike the leader but<font color="#E5E5E5"> it is very well</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">worth it attacking hello</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> my usual weapon</font> another<font color="#E5E5E5"> impediment kajada</font> if it was their families here<font color="#E5E5E5"> they give</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">approval to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> attacked and destroyed that</font> I'm alone my children<font color="#E5E5E5"> my family</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> they all</font> died here only I am<font color="#CCCCCC"> left</font> so where<font color="#E5E5E5"> was Saddam in fact he'd spent</font> much of the war<font color="#E5E5E5"> at this house about</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> a</font> mile away it was never targeted the day after the <font color="#CCCCCC">al mansur</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> strike Saddam told close</font> followers here that he'd been betrayed <font color="#CCCCCC">then he fled to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the north of the city</font> there on April<font color="#CCCCCC"> the 9th</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> far from feeling</font> hounded by<font color="#CCCCCC"> airstrikes he felt confident</font> enough<font color="#E5E5E5"> to stage</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> another walk about Sadie</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Halima thought I'd always hoped to meet</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">him I wished him victory and he thanked</font> me<font color="#CCCCCC"> he handed me his gun by the handle</font> and<font color="#E5E5E5"> we have</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> suffer</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">it had the president's seal on it</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to say</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">that I John I was shoddy</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> some more he</font> said we'll<font color="#E5E5E5"> come back in a month's time</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">and collect</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> it but if we don't show up</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">it's yours</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> got it again I said to him</font> God willing you will<font color="#E5E5E5"> be back</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Glenshaw</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">Lara Jean my Jenna and the whole look</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">the subtle beer</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> he called on the people</font> to resist<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Americans saying they were</font> cowards<font color="#CCCCCC"> that we would defeat them and</font> make Baghdad their grave machine guns were handed out<font color="#E5E5E5"> to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> local people</font> then Saddam went to the local<font color="#E5E5E5"> mosque to</font> pray while he was there someone<font color="#CCCCCC"> tipped</font> off<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Americans</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">a marine company</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> was dispatched to</font> capture the Iraqi leader<font color="#E5E5E5"> the defenders</font> of the<font color="#E5E5E5"> mosque</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> put up fanatical</font> resistance the closer we got to<font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">mosque</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the more I was convinced that he</font> might actually<font color="#E5E5E5"> be there because the</font> contact<font color="#E5E5E5"> was so severe and it was so well</font> defended in them and the soldiers in Episode II were so<font color="#E5E5E5"> motivated and</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">dedicated to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> die</font> the Americans forced<font color="#E5E5E5"> their way into the</font> mosque but when the<font color="#E5E5E5"> final defenders</font> surrendered<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Iraqi dictator had</font> slipped through the net<font color="#E5E5E5"> it was the last</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">time he'd be seen for 247 days in the</font> center<font color="#E5E5E5"> of Baghdad all that was left for</font> the Americans was to end the<font color="#E5E5E5"> last</font> desperate<font color="#E5E5E5"> resistance</font> for the Iraqi military<font color="#CCCCCC"> it</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> was a</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">humiliation</font> well in<font color="#E5E5E5"> history will have no mercy on</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> us</font> and<font color="#E5E5E5"> it has a filthy tongue at all levels</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">from the high command of the Armed</font> Forces<font color="#CCCCCC"> right</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> down to the lowest level</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of</font> command<font color="#CCCCCC"> we all failed in our duty</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> Fedayeen<font color="#CCCCCC"> and the bath party</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> militias had</font> fought often fanatically but it was <font color="#E5E5E5">street gangs against soldiers in the end</font> they had been almost<font color="#E5E5E5"> alone</font> there was a tank<font color="#CCCCCC"> commander and</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> I forget</font> he told the<font color="#E5E5E5"> president that he</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> wanted</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">change the name of his unit to al-saud</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">unit in the end he didn't fire a single</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">shot of the Americans and all his tanks</font> were captured<font color="#CCCCCC"> well when it came to it</font> the<font color="#E5E5E5"> professional soldiers understood the</font> odds against them<font color="#E5E5E5"> and they weren't</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">prepared</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to die for Saddam they didn't</font> mutiny<font color="#CCCCCC"> or even surrender on mass as the</font> Americans had hoped but nor did they fight they simply went home it was a passive revolution laravel volatile<font color="#CCCCCC"> mr.</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">right there I don't have the exact</font> figures<font color="#CCCCCC"> but I don't</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> think more than</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> 15</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">percent of the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Armed Forces actually</font> fought<font color="#CCCCCC"> now even so we managed</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to resist</font> for<font color="#CCCCCC"> three weeks what if everybody</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> had</font> been<font color="#E5E5E5"> fighting</font> [Music] the American columns now rolled<font color="#E5E5E5"> into</font> Baghdad<font color="#E5E5E5"> but there were few</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> of the</font> triumphal scenes they had hoped for the people of Baghdad were<font color="#CCCCCC"> very</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">suspicious</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> they may have hated Saddam</font> but<font color="#E5E5E5"> that didn't make them pro-american</font> only now was<font color="#E5E5E5"> this truth dawning and the</font> American conduct of the<font color="#CCCCCC"> war had done</font> little<font color="#E5E5E5"> to win them over if people are</font> told that the war is going<font color="#E5E5E5"> to be precise</font> and then they see time and<font color="#E5E5E5"> again</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that</font> civilians<font color="#E5E5E5"> are being injured and killed</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">then obviously they believe that they're</font> being targeted<font color="#E5E5E5"> no one knows how</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> many</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">civilians died estimates</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> vary between</font> four and ten thousand<font color="#E5E5E5"> it's likely that</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">on the Iraqi side</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> more civilians died</font> than fighters on April the<font color="#E5E5E5"> 9th Colonel McCoy the man</font> who had seized the<font color="#CCCCCC"> Diala</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> bridge rolled</font> into<font color="#E5E5E5"> Baghdad</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Central Square the Iraqis</font> had gathered<font color="#E5E5E5"> around the statue and were</font> throwing their shoes at it the crowd was small<font color="#CCCCCC"> but</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the square</font> quickly<font color="#E5E5E5"> filled with journalists anxious</font> at last to capture the iconic images<font color="#CCCCCC"> of</font> victory<font color="#E5E5E5"> they had produced a rope and</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">we're trying to haul it down using</font> manpower<font color="#E5E5E5"> and it was obvious it wasn't</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">gonna happen</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and all that all the</font> cameras<font color="#CCCCCC"> were rolling so I thought it</font> would be a pretty anticlimactic moment if we<font color="#E5E5E5"> didn't help</font> McCoy offered up one of the Marines <font color="#E5E5E5">heavy vehicles at 5:00 p.m.</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">the statue came down</font> [Applause] and at that point they<font color="#E5E5E5"> went nuts on it</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">and tore the head off and</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> drugged it</font> around the streets the pictures<font color="#CCCCCC"> quickly flashed around the</font> world but<font color="#E5E5E5"> elsewhere Baghdad was slipping</font> into chaos as in Basra<font color="#E5E5E5"> looting quickly</font> spread even to hospitals it was soon<font color="#CCCCCC"> clear the fall of Baghdad</font> had exposed<font color="#E5E5E5"> the coalition's final</font> fateful<font color="#E5E5E5"> miscalculation we expected there</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">to be some degree of infrastructure left</font> in the city in terms of intellectual infrastructure in<font color="#CCCCCC"> terms of</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> running the</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">city infrastructure in terms of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> running</font> the<font color="#CCCCCC"> government infrastructure</font> you had<font color="#E5E5E5"> no Iraqi institutions to to kind</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">of co-opted into this no</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> Araki army no</font> Iraqi police prisoners<font color="#E5E5E5"> let out of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> prison</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">no local</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> or national government</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">organizations ministries didn't exist</font> there was nobody<font color="#CCCCCC"> to receive the</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">surrender from</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> we couldn't find them</font> they weren't<font color="#E5E5E5"> there</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the war had been</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">based on the expectation that the Iraqi</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">people and the Iraqi army would be the</font> coalition's allies in<font color="#E5E5E5"> overthrowing</font> Saddam<font color="#CCCCCC"> but they weren't</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> they had simply</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">stood aside when</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> you decapitated the</font> regime everything below it<font color="#CCCCCC"> fell</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> apart</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">now the generals found they would have</font> to win<font color="#E5E5E5"> the peace on their own as well</font> but the<font color="#E5E5E5"> politicians hadn't planned for</font> this<font color="#E5E5E5"> and the generals didn't have enough</font> troops the invasion<font color="#E5E5E5"> was over the war was</font> just<font color="#CCCCCC"> beginning</font> over the next<font color="#E5E5E5"> few months of violent</font> insurgency flowed into the vacuum<font color="#E5E5E5"> left</font> by<font color="#E5E5E5"> the collapse of authority exiled</font> politicians have persuaded<font color="#E5E5E5"> the Americans</font> they would be greeted<font color="#CCCCCC"> as saviors and</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">would run the country but it turned out</font> they<font color="#E5E5E5"> had little</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> local support by the</font> autumn more American soldiers<font color="#CCCCCC"> had died</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">than during the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> conflict itself and they</font> still couldn't<font color="#E5E5E5"> find Saddam</font> it was very<font color="#E5E5E5"> difficult to convince people</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">not Saddam gone forever</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> they have</font> experienced this<font color="#CCCCCC"> before</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> when Saddam has</font> disappeared and then reappeared again <font color="#E5E5E5">still there was deep rooted fears and</font> the hearts and minds<font color="#E5E5E5"> of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> people</font> then in<font color="#E5E5E5"> December</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> came a breakthrough</font> report came<font color="#E5E5E5"> in that the target</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> was just</font> north of<font color="#E5E5E5"> the city of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> a doir so the</font> objective<font color="#E5E5E5"> area is about 15 kilometers</font> southeast of<font color="#E5E5E5"> Tikrit</font> [Music] for eight<font color="#E5E5E5"> months American troops had</font> searched fruitlessly<font color="#E5E5E5"> for Saddam Hussein</font> around his<font color="#CCCCCC"> hometown of Tikrit</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> but that</font> evening<font color="#E5E5E5"> an Iraqi prisoner had broken</font> under<font color="#E5E5E5"> questioning he</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> said he knew</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> where</font> Saddam Hussein was hiding <font color="#CCCCCC">I wanted</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> use the cover of darkness</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">because of our estimate that there would</font> be some security<font color="#E5E5E5"> elements around said I</font> haven't<font color="#CCCCCC"> seen we absolutely had to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> be</font> prepared<font color="#E5E5E5"> for fight this was no chance</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">tip-off</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> that the American headquarters a</font> massive<font color="#CCCCCC"> intelligence operation had been</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">underway for</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> months</font> the unexpected course of the war had shown the American military<font color="#CCCCCC"> that</font> everything they thought they knew<font color="#CCCCCC"> about</font> Iraq<font color="#E5E5E5"> and its people</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> was wrong</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to break</font> into Saddam's world<font color="#CCCCCC"> they had to</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> start</font> from<font color="#E5E5E5"> scratch</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I had to get into</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> the</font> mindset<font color="#E5E5E5"> find out what he thinks</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> how he</font> thinks<font color="#E5E5E5"> how they live</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and operate</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> why</font> they<font color="#E5E5E5"> they do the things they</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> do found</font> that we<font color="#CCCCCC"> tend to Americanize things here</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">and that was kind of a problem</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> they</font> noticed Saddam had always<font color="#E5E5E5"> been protected</font> by<font color="#E5E5E5"> the same group of middle-aged and</font> often overweight<font color="#E5E5E5"> bodyguards we began to</font> call<font color="#E5E5E5"> these</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> guys the</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> 42 inch</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> waistline</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">guys they were tough guys most of them</font> had done<font color="#CCCCCC"> a lot</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> of killing murder they</font> were feared<font color="#E5E5E5"> they could protect Saddam we</font> determined<font color="#E5E5E5"> that they still were they</font> raided the<font color="#CCCCCC"> bodyguards houses in search</font> of family<font color="#CCCCCC"> documents and photographs</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> we</font> began to go<font color="#CCCCCC"> after those that were in the</font> photographs those were in the documents <font color="#E5E5E5">we began to see a series of families</font> that kept coming<font color="#E5E5E5"> up</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> in</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> this inner circle</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">by autumn they discovered Saddam's</font> protectors were always<font color="#E5E5E5"> drawn from just</font> five extended families who lived around <font color="#E5E5E5">to Crete that was the breakthrough</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">because then you</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> could start tracking</font> who<font color="#E5E5E5"> it is you needed</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> to look</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> for all of</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">our forces combined began to take these</font> family<font color="#E5E5E5"> members out one at a time over</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">time one would lead to the other</font> and the swamp began to drain by December<font color="#CCCCCC"> the 13th</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> Saddam had run out</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">of allies</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> it was a member of one of</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> the</font> five families<font color="#E5E5E5"> a former secret policeman</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">who broke under interrogation</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and said</font> he knew<font color="#E5E5E5"> where Saddam was hiding troops</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">quickly surrounded a small country</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">farmhouse</font> moments later<font color="#CCCCCC"> word came</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> through a man</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">had</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> been detained members</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> of the Special</font> Forces operation group were escorting a detainee<font color="#E5E5E5"> in this date detainee was had</font> his hands bound and he had a hood over <font color="#CCCCCC">his head so he</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> could not see nor other</font> people could<font color="#E5E5E5"> not</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> see him ladies and</font> gentlemen we got<font color="#CCCCCC"> him</font> [Applause] [Music] he surrender without<font color="#E5E5E5"> a shot</font> gave up introduced himself as the president of Iraq<font color="#E5E5E5"> stated unequivocally</font> he was<font color="#CCCCCC"> willing to negotiate</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> he was a</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">little bit disoriented his hairstyle</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> and</font> changed a bit<font color="#E5E5E5"> but it was time Hussein</font> tall man<font color="#E5E5E5"> he was</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> also able</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> to confirm</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">certain other</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> characteristics small</font> tattoos etc Saddam Hussein was<font color="#CCCCCC"> captured</font> Saturday December 13th at about 8:30 p.m.<font color="#CCCCCC"> local in a cellar</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> in the town of</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">odd</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> doir which is about 15 kilometers</font> south of Tikrit <font color="#E5E5E5">a small group of leading Iraqis was</font> taken to see Saddam for the first time in<font color="#E5E5E5"> 35 years</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> they could confront him</font> about<font color="#E5E5E5"> his crimes when I went in the room</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">I saw very miserable broken demoralized</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">person if you like</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I asked him why did</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">you do the mass graves</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> hundreds of</font> thousands of people underground<font color="#E5E5E5"> he said</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">have you asked their relatives there</font> there were thieves<font color="#E5E5E5"> they will escape his</font> from<font color="#E5E5E5"> the military service</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> I said what</font> about<font color="#CCCCCC"> unfound</font><font color="#E5E5E5"> when you killed hundreds</font> <font color="#CCCCCC">of thousands of Kurds he just turned</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">around turned his face</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> around away from</font> me [Music] but today<font color="#E5E5E5"> in Iraq the American raids</font> <font color="#E5E5E5">continue Iraqi resistance continues</font> [Music] and British and<font color="#E5E5E5"> American</font><font color="#CCCCCC"> soldiers</font> continue to die the images speak<font color="#E5E5E5"> of</font> occupation not the liberation <font color="#E5E5E5">my knees almost a year on the legacy of</font> how the war was planned and how it was fought<font color="#CCCCCC"> still shape Iraq</font> [Music]
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Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries
Views: 227,389
Rating: 4.6453285 out of 5
Keywords: history documentary, History, BBC documentary, real, 2003, Britain, Full length Documentaries, soldiers, stories, Invation, George Bush, Channel 4 documentary, War, Documentaries, Documentary Movies - Topic, TV Shows - Topic, USA, Saddam Hussein, Baghdad, Documentary, documentary history, 2017 documentary, Tony Blair, army, Full Documentary, Iraq War
Id: EUZ1Bw21KdA
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 50min 29sec (3029 seconds)
Published: Sun Jun 10 2018
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