What We Don't Know About Iraq. And Filkins' Forever War. And new doc Brothers at War.

Much needed, thought provoking article by Philip Bennett today in the Wash Post Outlook section on the lack of coverage of Iraqi civilians in the media and hence our general lack of knowledge of the impact of this war on Iraqis. We think of it as 'our' war, Bennett states, America's war, and are only concerned insofar as it directly impacts American lives.

What got us into this war was this narrow minded Amerocentric thinking.

Bennett mentions Dexter Filkins' book Forever War as one exception. It really is just about the best thing to happen to this war. I read it in 4 hours. It is amazing. Put down whatever you are reading right now and read it. It captures the war on the ground and the interactions between Iraqis and soldiers and the lives of Iraqis affected by the US. I will do a separate post on it eventually. Bennett quotes my favorite line from the book: "there were always two conversations in Iraq, the one Iraqis were having with the Americans and the one they were having with themselves."

He also quotes one of my other favorite lines from George Packer's Assassins' Gate: "The war's meaning would be the sum of all the ways that all of them understood one another and the events that had thrust them together."

Other options for learning about impact of war on Iraqis:

Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War by Anthony Shadid
Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraq Civilians by Chris Hedges and Leila Al Arian
My Country, My Country - documentary
Iraq in Fragments - documentary
Read Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group reports
Hard Way Home (which I posted on below about Iraq refugees - whole move can be watched on the website)
Iraq Body Count http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

I read Collateral Damage a couple weeks back. It is a depressing and devastating condemnation of how soldiers have treated Iraqis. I will write a separate post on it.

A few hours after reading the Bennett article I went to see the newly released documentary "Brothers at War" by Jake Rademacher. Interesting juxtaposition - it definitely fit Bennett's bill, another story of soldiers. But it was a moving film and one that left me conflicted.

I was reminded of the honorable and amazing sacrifice that young men and women make for this country. People serve in the military for different reasons, and many are truly out there because they believe in America, which is great. I admire their service. The kids and men in this movie were brave and funny.

My conflict arises with this admiration and the treatment of Iraqis by US soldiers during this war - the record of indiscretion and atrocities committed by US soldiers is long. In addition to these indiscretions the general attitude toward Iraqis was that they were not equals, they were dirty, violent, they were others, in some cases inhumane creatures, not fellow human beings. (See Iraq Body Count and read Collateral Damage.) I know not all soldiers think of Iraqis like this, but some do, and the Iraq population has the scars and stories to show. These are just coming out in the works listed above. They are what Bennett reveals are missing from the Iraq war narrative. And they can be implied in places in the film.


Overall I blame soldiers' indiscretions and discriminatory attitudes on policy makers sending these troops into an unplanned and unmanageable (from afar and on the ground) war. They were put into an impossible situation. Many of these were young kids with little to no college education, even those with higher education probably hadn't studied the Middle East. They had little to no knowledge of the region - its history and culture - how people there live and interact with one another, how they look at foreigners, especially westerners, especially those in uniform with guns.

In addition to lacking knowledge the region, I think age was an issue. A 30 year is going to have FAR better perspective (social skills) on how to treat others, especially those he or she doesn't understand, than a 19 year old. I saw these kinds of issues when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco - in general (not always) younger volunteers there just didn't get how to culturally integrate, their insecurities due to inexperience and youth made them aggressive and unwilling to learn from others. I can't imagine adding a gun and uniform into this equation. That really scares me. This is something I have thought about hundreds of times over the past few years.

Some of these issues came out in the movie to an extent. Isaac, the older brother seemed calm and collected and rational, thoughtful and tempered. Joe, the younger brother, talked during the film about loving to kick down doors, the adrenalin rush and excitement of war. This was a bit disturbing. Maybe he didn't mean it, I don't know. Because when you are that young maybe you don't think about or care about WHOSE door you are blasting down. (I am sure there they are older soldiers who don't think about that either. I am also sure there are soldiers who don't love breaking down doors.) Also soldiers in the film discussed getting kills as a sniper, and that when one of their own is shot the urge to fire indiscriminately.

This is the type of behavior that drives some of the kids over there - it is why Joe says he goes - and that is a problem. It is why Iraqis don't like us. Maybe some of these attitudes changed as of late, after Patraeus' decision to win over the population - to protect them. But I don't know, I am fairly pessimistic, we think they like us because we build a hospital here and there - and that stuff is going on and is great - but it doesn't make up for the fact that bc of our invasion, 5 of their family members are dead.