IRAQ - IN A LAWLESS LAND

Had Saddam Hussein escaped the executioner’s noose and been released back into Baghdad, I very much doubt he would have been able to find his way home.

Those who thrived under his brutal regime and the masses who grovelled in fear and poverty are busy tearing each other to pieces. The invading forces have installed so many concrete blast walls and kilometres of razor wire to protect themselves from the suicide bombers that Saddam’s journey back to his palace would now have become a circuitous and never-ending series of one-way systems, blocked roads and checkpoints.

The once ordered and smoothly functioning city has disintegrated like the rest of the country into an utter disaster. Military force has ravaged the infrastructure. Poorly conceived or non-existent plans allowed the police and military to be disbanded, leaving Iraq’s porous borders open and unguarded. Every foreign fighter who was so inclined was able to stream across and join the jihad.

Saddam’s murderous rule benefited few; his removal was hailed as a new opportunity for Iraq to move towards democracy and a better quality of life for the majority. Such propaganda meant that on arrival in the slums of Sadr City, the huge sprawling Shia neighbourhood in Baghdad, the US troops were greeted with cheers and smiles. They were saviours who would bring freedom, clean water, electricity and jobs to these downtrodden people.

By December 2003 the frenzy of looting that followed the fall of Baghdad had subsided. A calmness hovered over the city, shattered, however, with increasing frequency by an escalating campaign of car bombs and mortar attacks. The people were angry and were fighting back. The dissatisfied fell into several groups. The Sunnis were unhappy at having their position of power and privilege taken away. The Shiites and Kurds alike, always the underdogs under Saddam, were not getting what they wanted fast enough. And outside influences, long jealous of Iraq’s wealth and status in the region, quickly moved in to supply weapons to insurgent and militia groups, contributing to further destabilization. Al-Qaeda, whose principal aim is to drive Americans and American influence out of Muslim lands, quickly assembled a powerful and deadly force within Iraq.

Month by month, since my first arrival in Iraq, I have witnessed changes for the worse in the quality of life for Iraqis. The dangers under which they have to live make it increasingly difficult for journalists to get a clear picture of daily life in Iraq. In the winter of 2003 it was still possible for a foreigner to walk in a Baghdad market or eat in a restaurant. As journalists we could speak freely with people on the streets and travel throughout the country. Our main fear at that time was simple banditry; carjacking was popular and kidnapping was beginning to make an appearance.

By April 2004 a Shia uprising had gripped Sadr city in Baghdad and Najaf in the south. Planeloads of journalists and photographers left the country since our immunity as observers and reporters had been stripped. Contractors were kidnapped and beheaded or killed by roadside bombs as their convoys passed by. Everything about being there became increasingly difficult. Local people could not understand how this mission was going so badly wrong - in fact, neither could the Americans. Soldiers who were having flowers tossed at them less than 12 months earlier were now getting pelted with stones. That was on the good days; on the bad days they were putting parts of their friends into body bags after yet another bomb attack.

By the end of the year it was clear that the country had entered a violent downward spiral. Moving outside Baghdad by road was virtually impossible - even within the city limits, extreme caution was needed. Many media organisations hired armed guards and purchased armoured vehicles to keep their correspondents alive. Freelancers had to make do with battered taxis and hoped to slip under the radar. No journalists lived in private houses any longer: now they hunkered together in two run-down hotel complexes, the Palestine and the Al-Hamra, outside the “safe haven” known as the Green Zone.

In 2005 even these ‘safe havens’ from which to scurry and gather some news came under attack. Both were hit by multiple suicide bombs within a month of each other. I was asleep in the Al-Hamra when my windows exploded into the room as a 200 kilo car bomb smashed into the security wall and detonated; moments later it was followed by another bigger explosion, 500 kilos this time. The blast ripped the window frames from the walls, the ceilings in the hallway collapsed and the doors were torn from their hinges.

At last I felt as though I truly appreciated what the Iraqis go through everyday on their way to work or school. The feeling of insecurity is complete and all-pervading.

As the suicide bombers and death squads go about their ethnic cleansing and the forces of the shrinking coalition admit that they cannot even control the capital, let alone the rest of the country, what hope is there for Iraq? Will it become another Somalia? Is Iraq destined for nothing more than decades of death, destruction and misery?

Other countries around the world are experiencing the fallout from the calamitous action taken in Iraq by the coalition forces. There have been bombings in London and Madrid. Bali was stunned by a vicious bombing, and Thailand’s Muslim insurgency in its southernmost provinces is taking on a different and more complex countenance.

As the world moves forward technologically, so it seems to be regressing in terms of racial and religious tolerance. The actions of the new empire builders are radicalizing many more everyday. Those who were once happy to keep their heads down and go about their business are now prepared to die making a statement in defence of their culture and religion.

I feel very fortunate to have been able to travel to such flashpoints as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Colombia, and to have recorded first-hand the impact of conflicts on both the local people and those fighting on all sides. It can be depressing to witness the repetitious cycles of violence that countries and regions go through. It can only be hoped that the stories and images from these conflicts can in some way contribute to finding a way to break these cycles. •

CONSTITUTION ISSUE 1 JUN-SEP 2007 Jason Howe Conflict Zone Photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize Nominee
		PHOTO ESSAY: IRAQ - IN A LAWLESS LAND by Jason Howe

		Had Saddam Hussein escaped the executioner’s noose and been released back into Baghdad, I very much doubt he would have been able to find his way home. Those who thrived under his brutal regime and the masses who grovelled in fear and poverty are busy tearing each other to pieces. The invading forces have installed so many concrete blast walls and kilometres of razor wire to protect themselves from the suicide bombers that Saddam’s journey back to his palace would now have become a circuitous and never-ending series of one-way systems, blocked roads and checkpoints. The once ordered and smoothly functioning city has disintegrated like the rest of the country into an utter disaster. Military force has ravaged the infrastructure. Poorly conceived or non-existent plans allowed the police and military to be disbanded, leaving Iraq’s porous borders open and unguarded. Every foreign fighter who was so inclined was able to stream across and join the jihad. Saddam’s murderous rule benefited few; his removal was hailed as a new opportunity for Iraq to move towards democracy and a better quality of life for the majority. Such propaganda meant that on arrival in the slums of Sadr City, the huge sprawling Shia neighbourhood in Baghdad, the US troops were greeted with cheers and smiles. They were saviours who would bring freedom, clean water, electricity and jobs to these downtrodden people. By December 2003 the frenzy of looting that followed the fall of Baghdad had subsided. A calmness hovered over the city, shattered, however, with increasing frequency by an escalating campaign of car bombs and mortar attacks. The people were angry and were fighting back. The dissatisfied fell into several groups. The Sunnis were unhappy at having their position of power and privilege taken away. The Shiites and Kurds alike, always the underdogs under Saddam, were not getting what they wanted fast enough. And outside influences, long jealous of Iraq’s wealth and status in the region, quickly moved in to supply weapons to insurgent and militia groups, contributing to further destabilization. Al-Qaeda, whose principal aim is to drive Americans and American influence out of Muslim lands, quickly assembled a powerful and deadly force within Iraq. Month by month, since my first arrival in Iraq, I have witnessed changes for the worse in the quality of life for Iraqis. The dangers under which they have to live make it increasingly difficult for journalists to get a clear picture of daily life in Iraq. In the winter of 2003 it was still possible for a foreigner to walk in a Baghdad market or eat in a restaurant. As journalists we could speak freely with people on the streets and travel throughout the country. Our main fear at that time was simple banditry; carjacking was popular and kidnapping was beginning to make an appearance. By April 2004 a Shia uprising had gripped Sadr city in Baghdad and Najaf in the south. Planeloads of journalists and photographers left the country since our immunity as observers and reporters had been stripped. Contractors were kidnapped and beheaded or killed by roadside bombs as their convoys passed by. Everything about being there became increasingly difficult. Local people could not understand how this mission was going so badly wrong - in fact, neither could the Americans. Soldiers who were having flowers tossed at them less than 12 months earlier were now getting pelted with stones. That was on the good days; on the bad days they were putting parts of their friends into body bags after yet another bomb attack. By the end of the year it was clear that the country had entered a violent downward spiral. Moving outside Baghdad by road was virtually impossible - even within the city limits, extreme caution was needed. Many media organisations hired armed guards and purchased armoured vehicles to keep their correspondents alive. Freelancers had to make do with battered taxis and hoped to slip under the radar. No journalists lived in private houses any longer: now they hunkered together in two run-down hotel complexes, the Palestine and the Al-Hamra, outside the “safe haven” known as the Green Zone. In 2005 even these ‘safe havens’ from which to scurry and gather some news came under attack. Both were hit by multiple suicide bombs within a month of each other. I was asleep in the Al-Hamra when my windows exploded into the room as a 200 kilo car bomb smashed into the security wall and detonated; moments later it was followed by another bigger explosion, 500 kilos this time. The blast ripped the window frames from the walls, the ceilings in the hallway collapsed and the doors were torn from their hinges. At last I felt as though I truly appreciated what the Iraqis go through everyday on their way to work or school. The feeling of insecurity is complete and all-pervading. As the suicide bombers and death squads go about their ethnic cleansing and the forces of the shrinking coalition admit that they cannot even control the capital, let alone the rest of the country, what hope is there for Iraq? Will it become another Somalia? Is Iraq destined for nothing more than decades of death, destruction and misery? Other countries around the world are experiencing the fallout from the calamitous action taken in Iraq by the coalition forces. There have been bombings in London and Madrid. Bali was stunned by a vicious bombing, and Thailand’s Muslim insurgency in its southernmost provinces is taking on a different and more complex countenance. As the world moves forward technologically, so it seems to be regressing in terms of racial and religious tolerance. The actions of the new empire builders are radicalizing many more everyday. Those who were once happy to keep their heads down and go about their business are now prepared to die making a statement in defence of their culture and religion. I feel very fortunate to have been able to travel to such flashpoints as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Colombia, and to have recorded first-hand the impact of conflicts on both the local people and those fighting on all sides. It can be depressing to witness the repetitious cycles of violence that countries and regions go through. It can only be hoped that the stories and images from these conflicts can in some way contribute to finding a way to break these cycles. •



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