http://www.centerforamericanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?cid=%7BE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7D&bin_id=%7BAF7C8CCD-7111-43C0-8274-0DC578471F5C%7DDay One In Iraq
by Lawrence J. Korb
November 5, 2003
Greetings from Baghdad.
We’re part of the Bush administration’s effort to convince the American people of the progress the U.S. is making in Iraq since the end of major combat. The Secretary of Defense has decided to send delegations here to be briefed and exposed to realities on the ground. According to Secretary Rumsfeld’s office, these delegations consist of a “key” group of military analysts, journalists, and other national security “experts” who would travel to Iraq in order “to enhance their knowledge of the coalition’s progress toward reconstruction and self-governance in Iraq.”
The Defense Department invited 21 people to travel to Iraq from November 2 to 7 and told us that they would limit the delegation to 17. Of the original 21 invitees, only three of us accepted. Those who turned down the invitation included Fred Barnes, Jackson Diehl, William Safire and George Will. After they extended more invitations, eventually 10 people accepted.
Our delegation is made up of two journalists, three scholars from think tanks, three people from the private sector, and a clergyman (boy, was I glad to have him on board, especially after the Chinook helicopter was shot down the day we left). We were joined by three officials from the Defense Department.
The first delegation went to Iraq in early September and came back with different impressions. As detailed in dueling op-eds in the Washington Post, Jessica Matthews, the president of the Carnegie Endowment, was skeptical of the progress while Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution was supportive of the perspectives of the Bush administration. Based on my first day in Iraq, I am leaning heavily in Jessica’s direction.
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But when one looks out the window or talks to the soldiers a different perspective emerges. Baghdad is not bustling. Mortars are being fired. The soldiers are not sure of their mission. The situation seems at first glance to be getting worse instead of better. Iraqis who once may have, or still, support the U.S. are afraid to even tell their families for fear of what might happen to them.
Our soldiers are uncertain when they are going home (the date they were told was later than the one we read in the official briefings). Moreover, the 1st American Division which arrived in March 2003 is not even sure if they are going back to their home base in Germany. And if this uncertainty wasn’t enough, reaching out to their families is a costly undertaking. There are not enough telephones and our men and women are paying $2 a minute to call home.
More tomorrow...
Lawrence J. Korb is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.