All language subtitles for Once Upon aIraq - 1x01_track3_eng

This programme contains scenes
which some viewers may find
upsetting and some strong language.

Now, what are your preferences
with regards to vaping or not?

Do you... Whatever you want to do,
yeah. Yeah?

Whatever makes you feel more
relaxed. Thank you.

TRANSLATION:

GEORGE W BUSH: Removing Saddam
Hussein from power was the
right decision,

and rescued millions
from unspeakable horrors.

TONY BLAIR: This isn't about a lie

or a conspiracy or a deceit
or a deception.

It's a decision.

And I do genuinely believe that the
world is safer as a result.

The politicians have had their say.

In this series, the story of the
Iraq War is told

by the civilians, journalists,
and soldiers who lived through

the 2003 invasion, and the years
of chaos that continue to this day.

Anybody can invade a country.

Anybody can go to war.

It's what happens if you win.

Through their eyes,

we'll see how events in Iraq have
changed the world.

Hi, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Nate
Sassaman and the battalion commander

for First Battalion Eighth
Infantry Regiment...

We sowed the seeds of Isis in 2003.

We did.

HE EXHALES

The only choice you have is either
to be a victim,

or to be the killer.

Are we starting? Yeah, we can start.

I'm interested at where you would
begin in a series like this.

Oh, man. Um...

Well, Iraq should not be
connected to 9/11

but unfortunately it is, you know?

Go! Go back!

That was the kick-off.

Iraq continues to flaunt its
hostility toward America

and to support terror.

States like these and their
terrorist allies constitute

an axis of evil.

That's when we knew, "Shit.

"We are getting blamed for this."

There was a sense of relief.

NEWS FOOTAGE: Allied troops have
begun moving into position near the
Iraqi border...

The war plans are finalised,
the training is over,

the combat units are at battle
positions...

It seems increasingly likely that
military action

against Iraq could be imminent.

At the start of 2003,

over 300,000 coalition troops
from mostly America and Britain

had been deployed in preparation
for the invasion of Iraq.

And the whole country knew
war was coming.

OK, New York,
we're starting the show.

Five, four, three, two, one...

Hi, and welcome.
I'm Vanessa Ray and today,

we're participating in a historic
discussion between the young people

of two countries on the
brink of war.

Let's everyone in New York say hi to
everyone over in Baghdad.

Hi!

And if you guys could say hi back to
us just so we know that you saw us.

ALL: Hi! Hi, people of America!

It's...

It's very weird looking at yourself,
you know?

As a young man, I think I was 18
years old at that time. Oh, it's...

I mean, am I wrong or did
I sound like Borat?!

You know, it's like I don't know...

IMITATING BORAT:
"Hello, people of America!"

HE LAUGHS

I'm generally interested
in computers

and I like internet, I like e-mail
and all this stuff.

Let's live a happy life,
and let's rock and roll.

You know, I love rock a lot.

Listen for some Metallica,
it will help you.

Let's take a little bit more of an
in-depth look with this first video

from Waleed who, as we all know
by now, is a rocker.

Let's check it out.

ROCK MUSIC

So, I formed this little group.

And we were the only
heavy-metal band in Iraq.

CROWD CHANTING: Hey, hey, hey!

I was infatuated with the West.

I wanted everything
that was Western.

It was like...
I wanted the blue jeans,

I wanted the skateboards,
I wanted the headphones,

I wanted all of these things
that I grew up watching.

And that's how I learned English
was from movies and songs.

It's a cool place.

But it's a fake McDonald.

We thought it's real McDonald,
and the first moment that we saw it,

"Oh! We have McDonald's here in
Iraq!"

But this is not McDonald's.

There are two girls, very beautiful
girls here, are sitting there.

You know, I hadn't met that many
Americans at that time.

But there are so many things
about America

that we appreciated, we like,
we want.

So, when I hear, you know,
statements like,

"They hate our freedom
and our democracy," it's like,

"No, we actually love it!

"We freaking love it!
That's all we wanted."

MUSIC: Everybody

by Backstreet Boys

Despite 24 years
of Saddam's brutal regime,

Baghdad was considered to be
one of the most liberal

and cosmopolitan cities
in the Middle East.

I want to ask about Backstreet Boys.
What do you know about them?

What are their latest?

I got to be honest, I think the
Backstreet Boys

have some really, really
catchy tunes.

So, I'm definitely down with
the Backstreet Boys.

They are sucks, you know?

I always want to be
one of the Backstreet Boys,

when I was a teenager.
I even know the dances like...

I had the same clothes - the
white pants, and the open shirts.

# Backstreet's back, all right! #

And I go to high school with
these things.

"Sup, my name is Kevin," not Ahmed.

No!

Ahmed Albasheer is now
a famous comedian.

He presents a satirical show
that's watched by 19 million Iraqis

and regularly pokes fun
at the leaders of Isis.

SINGING:

But as a teenager,

he had to hide his interest
in the West from his family.

I have a tape player and I play
it, like, at a very low level.

So, sometimes I would put it up
to my ear so I can hear the music.

And later on, I bring my tapes
in the car when I drive the car.

MUSIC: Candy Shop

by 50 Cent

My father was very religious.

I remove the Koran tape.

I put my music in.

# I'll take you to the
candy shop... #

I go crazy. The music is very high.

# I'll have you spending
all you got

# Keep going
until you hit the spot... #

SINGS BEAT TO CANDY SHOP

I was always asking myself why
I wasn't born in the Western world.

"I shouldn't be born in this world."

Being a teenager in Iraq
is an interesting time.

On the one hand, teenagers are
teenagers wherever you are.

But then you have the extra spice of
being in Iraq

and Baghdad at that time.

Cos there was darkness in us

that was induced by where we are and
what was happening all around us,

that is quite dangerous.

IN ENGLISH:

You have to have a song for Saddam
in case the Iraqi intelligence

basically are to come and are like,
"Who are these guys?

"Why they singing American music?"

# Following our leader
Saddam Hussein

# We'll make them fall,
we'll drive them all insane

# Following our leader
Saddam Hussein

# We'll make them fall, we'll drive
them all insane... #

Everything was pro-Saddam.

There is no such thing
as not pro-Saddam.

Like, it doesn't exist.

In public? It does not exist.

MUSIC PLAYS

SINGING:

Regime propaganda was everywhere,
and a whole generation

of Iraqis had grown up only knowing
life under Saddam.

I remember...

..is when I get into the school,
I see paintings of Mickey Mouse...

..and the picture of Saddam Hussein.

I saw his picture everywhere.

CHILDREN SING

Whatever his name is mentioned,
you not just mentioned his name.

You have to say, "May God protect
him, may God save him,

"may Allah give him more life.

"May God take our lives
and give it to him

"because without him
we can't survive."

And being a child,
I thought he is immortal.

We are humans
but he is something different.

APPLAUSE

At some point, I thought he's
my grandfather.

Because I see him everywhere and it
was like,

"Yeah, this is my grandfather, he's
cute, he's good," blah, blah, blah.

"He's brave." This is what
they teach us in the schools.

And then when I was, like, 12
or maybe 11-12,

I realised that no, he's the
president of the country

and I have to never say anything bad
about him because I will be killed.

And there's this guy
who's like...

SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

..which means, "Shit on Saddam."

Every time he says it, it's like,
"Oh, my God, just shut the fuck up!"

Like, "Sh, sh, zip it!"

And he's like, "So, it's OK to
say, 'Fuck God?'"

And I was like, "Yes."

But "Fuck Saddam?"
And I was like, "No!"

HE LAUGHS

Cos you don't know who's listening.

And that's what he created.

The idea that your next-door
neighbour, your brother,

your cousin - anyone - could be
the one that reports you.

MEN SCREAM

How many of you feel hopeful that
things could resolve themselves?

I don't think anybody is hopeful
cos President Bush went up

and said, "I will bomb Iraq."
Do you think we have any hope?

We don't want any more wars, OK?

The infamous deck of cards, the 55.

Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash.

She was part of the government -
one of the only females

in Saddam's cabinet, you know,
this very high-ranking individual,

was sitting as you are sitting,
looking right at us.

And she was like,
"And know that Iraq depends on you

"to transfer a good image about what
we truly are all about."

I think that Saddam Hussein has had
12 years since the Persian Gulf War

to get rid of his
weapons of mass destruction.

And he should be ousted for the sake
of the Iraqi people

as well as for the sake of peace in
the world.

We have a solution.

Your government will quit and give
up and just turn the soldiers

back home and have a rest,
and let the world be in peace.

Yet, we were free enough
during Saddam's time

to go back and forth
without worrying about a car bomb

or this Islamic group
or that religious group, you know?

That's what Saddam actually
provided proper to Iraq.

It was safety and security,

from everything else, not from him.

Saddam's opponents called his police
state the Republic of Fear.

But many Iraqis were genuinely
devoted to their president.

He was especially popular with
Sunni Muslims.

Though a minority, their sect had
governed Iraq for centuries.

Iraqis, they love moustache.

They think it's very nice and sexy
for the men.

And I think in that time, it was
trending, the moustache thing.

"We love Saddam very much
so we will make this big moustache."

People are arse kissers.

Arse kissers? Yes.

Though oil had made Iraq rich,

most of the people in rural areas
were still living in poverty.

This woman grew up on a farm
in Al Alam,

near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.

Like most of Central Iraq, it was
assumed to be loyal to Saddam.

I was pro-war.

Absolutely pro-war.

Saddam Hussein and his sons

must leave Iraq within 48 hours.

Their refusal to do so will
result in military conflict.

When we started hearing the murmurs
that we are about to be invaded,

I was excited.

"It's almost the end!

"Let's just push through.

"Let's push through,
let's get this shit done,

"and then a better
thing is going to come.

"The land of dreams."

AIR RAID SIRENS

EXPLOSION

DISTANT GUNFIRE

EXPLOSION

CAR ALARMS BLARE

You must've been scared!

SIREN BLARES

WOMAN WAILS

Down with Bush.

All the peoples with Saddam Hussein.

And said,
"Here's to Saddam Hussein."

PLANE ROARS OVERHEAD

RAPID GUNFIRE

I was going out amidst all of that.

I was looking for cigarettes.

I'm a heavy smoker.

And I heard that one of the shops
are still open

and they're still selling
cigarettes.

So I stole, or took - borrowed -
my cousin's small little bike.

So it was a small little bike
and here I am, you know...

..you know, cycling on this thing.

GUNFIRE

But then all of a sudden,
it got dark.

And I look up and there is this
black cloud

that engulfed EVERYTHING around me.

And I remember, like, I was just
like, "What's going on?!"

And then I discovered what it was.

Here's what Saddam did.

They dug wells,
and they dumped crude oil in it,

and they lit it on fire...

..so that they can create visual
distraction for the American pilots.

They were thinking that these guys
are using visuals to actually bomb,

not satellite-guided missiles and
stuff like that.

They thought that,
"Oh, the plane's going to come,

"the pilot looks like this, and he's

"like, 'Oh, yes, there is a target
over here,

"'let's shoot right over there!'"

HE LAUGHS

So, all of Baghdad - all off a
sudden, you had all of these wells

of oil burning up and the sky
literally just going dark!

SIRENS BLARE

GUNFIRE

During the invasion,

Saddam reassured the country that
Iraq was winning the war.

But the Americans were broadcasting
a very different message.

The Iraqi soldiers and officers must
ask themselves

whether they want to die fighting
for a doomed regime?

What will follow will not be
a repeat of any other conflict.

It will be of a force and scope

and scale beyond what has been
seen before.

All American!

Where are we?

Just crossed the border to Iraq
about ten miles ago.

Destination North.

As the first bombs fell,

an army of over 170,000 coalition
troops crossed into Iraq.

The American soldiers didn't have
much idea what was going on.

And they don't really tell you
anything when you're 19

and you're like a private
in the Army.

They thought,
"We're going to run up to Baghdad

"and take down Saddam,
and then we're going home."

Dexter Filkins had come to Iraq
after reporting

on the Afghan War
for the New York Times.

People have asked me whether I got
addicted to violence
and the answer is no.

I think what I was addicted to is
the kind of largeness of the thing.

When you're in an historic situation
like that,

it's like the continental plates
are slipping.

It's incredible.

It's like breathing pure oxygen.

The British led a smaller force to
the city of Basra while Dexter

followed the main invasion
as it pushed north to Baghdad.

Soon, it will be all over.

Iraq will be liberated.

And we will be drinking
Jack Daniels to celebrate.

HELICOPTER BLADES WHIR

Did you think that Iraq would be
victorious?

No.

When I used to compare
between the American soldier

and the Iraqi soldier,

there is no way to compare them.

MEN SING

What can the soldier
do in front of Rambo?

Yeah, I mean, this is the way I saw
the Americans.

I mean, they are Rambo.

And he is not defeatable.

He's Rambo.

Brother, could you get me another
shot of that tequila? Yeah, buddy.

Is this difficult for you to talk
about? No.

Yeah, maybe.

Here, just give me the bottle,
I'll take a swig.

There we go. Thanks, bro.

Sergeant Rudy Reyes was one of
a small group of elite recon Marines

sent ahead of the main invasion
to destroy strategic targets

and clear a path
for the regular Army.

Well, to be a reconnaissance Marine,
first of all,

they're like the Jedis of the
Marine Corps.

Of 300,000 Marines,
there's 300 recon Marines.

We went three weeks straight
with no sleep, straight fighting.

Three weeks.

Yeah.

No armour, no doors, no roofs.

Just very capable
violent professionals.

GUNFIRE

It was heavy and as personal
and as bloody as you can imagine

except we killed them
before they could kill us.

Maybe those bad guys didn't get
the word to fucking run.

Cos we were so far ahead,
30km ahead.

60 men spearheading the blitzkrieg
to get to Baghdad.

Damn.

That's immense.

My mission was to destroy
any capacity

they have for artillery or mortars.

And also, of course, the NBC -

nuclear, biological,
chemical weapons.

It's the smell.

The acridness of Iraq and seeing
the dust in the eye covers.

it actually makes you feel kind of
good cos

I knew I could fight in this better
than anybody else.

Better than the Iraqis.

Incoming, outgoing artillery.
Small arms, machine guns,

birds and rotary wing and
the sound of all the engines.

And the radios going nonstop,
we're going back and forth.

Imagine seeing the freaking Cobras
crisscrossing above you.

And the bass of the boom, boom,
boom, boom...

It was godlike.

ECHOES OF GUNFIRE

We're systematically
programmed to kill...

..so there was no issue
for me killing.

Looking back,
I guess that changes you.

I didn't even think about my wife.

I didn't think about anything
except be excellent for my team.

Our purpose in the next few minutes
is to acquaint you

with the philosophy behind
Marine Corps training -

the kind of training which helps
keep the Marine Corps ready.

Do you know, in our boot camp...

..do you know how we say
the word yes?

Kill!

That's the only thing
you can say for yes.

Kill!

That loud, every time.

When the drill instructor needs
recruits to come do something,

"Gimme ten bodies."

We speak of people as bodies...

..and acknowledge an order
by screaming "kill".

Then we go into ballistics.

Then we're watching real world...

..erm, head shots.

Footage of sniper kills.

And then they're slowing it down
in slow motion.

Head expanding three times
the size...

..then vacuum collapse,
then brain, some skull.

When I saw that,

I looked at myself inside
and I said,

"I don't know if I have
what it takes to do this...

"..because there is still
some human in me."

I was looking for the reaction
of the Iraqis...

..and I didn't know
what that was going to be,

because in Afghanistan, it was a...
it was a no-brainer.

People were just, like, euphoric.

You know, they were pulling
their turbans off

and people were dancing
and they were, like, hugging us.

Much more complicated in Iraq.

Much more complicated.

It was much more guarded,
much more sad.

I mean, first, there was this kind
of overwhelming sense of tragedy.

Even though they were being told,
this is your deliverance,

I don't think
they really believed that.

They were terrified.

They thought that somehow this
was going to come back to them.

"We're going to get in trouble
for this.

"Something bad's going to happen."

Cos that's the way
it had always been,

so there was this kind of feeling
of foreboding as well.

They had been through so much
already

that, erm, people
were just in shock.

And I felt like...

I felt like we had pried the doors
off a mental institution.

And that's really the first moment
when I realised, like,

"Oh, my God,
what are we getting into here?"

After 13 years
of economic sanctions,

many Iraqis felt they had been
unnecessarily punished by the West.

And in southern Iraq, they had extra
reason to distrust the Americans.

Just two hours ago,

Allied air forces began an attack

on military targets in Iraq.

After the first Gulf War,

America encouraged Shia Muslims
in the south

to rise up against Saddam,
but didn't protect them

when he sent helicopter gunships
to end the rebellion.

HEAVY GUNFIRE

He massacred over 80,000
of his own people.

Saddam was able to strengthen
his hold on the country

and, for some,
the war with America never ended.

I started hearing about America
in the '90s.

But, to be honest,
not the war with America.

The first thing I heard about
America is the name Bill Clinton.

Who is Bill Clinton? I don't know.

I was told that Bill Clinton
bombed Iraq

because he hates Iraq.

AIR RAID SIREN

I ordered our Armed Forces

to strike military and strategic
targets in Iraq.

Then, the second name was Rumsfeld.

With each passing day,

Saddam Hussein advances his arsenal
of weapons of mass destruction.

And then, growing up more...

..I saw Bush.

What did you think?

I don't like him.

He has the devil in his face.

This is George W Bush,
the President of the United States.

At this moment,
the regime of Saddam Hussein

is being removed from power

and a long era of fear
and cruelty is ending.

The government of Iraq
and the future of your country

will soon belong to you.

Just three weeks after
the start of the invasion,

American tanks rolled into
the heart of Baghdad.

Al-Sahhaf, who was the Minister
of Media and Information,

saying, "We're defeating Americans,
we have destroyed them here,

"we have destroyed them here,
we have destroyed them here."

My feelings, as usual,

we will slaughter them all.

"They're not in Baghdad,
they are not near us,

"they have not even
entered the city."

And literally there was a tank
driving over one of the bridges

that connects to where he is.

HE LAUGHS

Those invaders, their tombs
will be here in Iraq.

Like, sure, buddy. Sure.

HE LAUGHS

CHEERING

Like most Iraqis, Sally had only
ever seen Americans

on state approved TV.

SHE LAUGHS

The welcome here
has been pretty good.

Everybody's helped us out
and been friendly

so better than being shot at.

Where are you from? From Texas.

Is it like Texas being here or
a lot different? A lot different.

I can understand what everybody
is saying in Texas.

We never thought that Saddam
will be removed. Never.

Until I saw two American soldiers
standing in the street.

I was very happy to see them
at that time.

"Hi! I can speak English!"

So when I saw them, I felt hope.

I had this dream that my country

is becoming one of the good
countries in the Middle East.

Or maybe in the world.

A country like America.

This was my dream.

Actually, that was lots
of people's dream.

There was a genuine sense of hope.

It was like, "They're here,
they're here."

You know?

And then when we saw the statue...

My uncle looked at us
and he was like,

"It's over. It's done."

CHEERING

CHEERING

CROWD: Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!

Allahu Akbar! Allahu...!

Slowly but surely,
the belief started becoming

more and more cemented that this
is actually happening right now.

And then, oops, all of a sudden,
we see Saddam in the streets.

CHEERING

At the same time as the Americans
were pulling down his statue,

Saddam was rallying the people
of Baghdad just a few miles away.

CHANTING

CHEERING

And then he disappeared
and nobody knew where he was.

Just...

..gone.

But, yeah, he just fucking left.

Is Saddam going to come back?

Because he wasn't captured.

Where was he?
Did he have another plan?

We didn't know.

CROWD: Allahu Akbar!

Things were changing so fast.

We couldn't cope.

I remember the day
that Baghdad fell.

We all watched it on the news
in the hotel

and thought we'd missed the war.

I mean, what we didn't realise
was...

..that the invasion wasn't the war,
the war was to come.

Though there hadn't been
much resistance in Baghdad,

coalition troops were still
fighting in other cities.

GUNFIRE

SUDDEN EXPLOSION

Mosul was really, really dangerous.

The situation on the ground
was a disaster.

When Ashley Gilbertson arrived
in northern Iraq,

he was a 26-year-old
freelance photographer

with virtually no experience
of war.

I had no idea what I was doing.

All of these reporters started
coming into the north.

They have all of this shit -

the flak jackets with the plates
and the helmets

and these chemical masks with
the things you screw in the bottom.

I didn't have a flak jacket,
I didn't have a helmet.

We didn't even have a medical kit
in the truck.

And then we filled the truck
with beer and whisky

and a bit of food
and just drove around.

We should have been killed.

A thousand times over
we should have been killed.

Saddam was still the president
of Iraq in Mosul...

..and all the mosques

were preaching the same prayer

of, "May God protect Saddam,"

and then they start, like,
shouting against the Americans.

After a few minutes,
a Humvee stopped by the mosque

and this very same preacher,
all of a sudden,

changed his mind, and he started
shouting against Saddam.

I was shocked.

What just happened?

Many people followed him
and swapped sides...

..in a moment.

And then there was chaos.

You would see people
running to everywhere,

stealing things from buildings,

from the schools, from everything.

I was stood by the Central Bank
as everybody looted it.

They were trying to get into the
safe in the basement of the bank.

Everyone's banging on this thing
with mallets and trying to open it.

Obviously, they're not opening
the safe of the Central Bank.

Until a guy goes down the driveway
leading to the safe

with an RPG on his shoulder and
fires the fucking RPG at the safe

and then money starts raining down.

EXPLOSION

It's total bedlam, it's total chaos.

And American soldiers standing by
doing nothing.

They are looting everything,
destroying everything.

I don't know why.

Goodbye.

When you have years and years
of poverty

and then all of a sudden
the floodgates are open,

with no supervision...

..what would you do?

I mean, I was tempted.

And I remember, you know,
seeing American soldiers

just waving by, you know,

as people literally just looting
every single government building,

schools, hospitals, you name it.

With the exception of
the Ministry of Oil.

That was the one ministry
that immediately got protection

by the American Army.

Everything else was free game.

If you go from a repressive regime,

we've seen in that transition
period there's untidiness.

Freedom's untidy and free people
are free to make mistakes

and commit crimes and do bad things.

Stuff happens.

You'd hear the stuff
coming out of the White House

and it was like,
"What are you talking about?"

The whole city, the whole country
has been stripped and looted.

There is no government.
There is nothing. There's nothing.

How can you let this happen?

How can you tell your soldiers
to let this happen

and not have a plan for what's
going to take place tomorrow?

When all the money,
when all the currency is gone,

when all the hospitals
are looted and burned.

What are you going to do?

We need protection
very, very, very badly.

You know, when you hold a gun
and examine a patient,

he himself will not like that,
the patient,

examined by a doctor
carrying his machine-gun.

Starting to see that chaos,

I started to question
what on earth was going on.

Primarily, our big concern right now
is trying to get things

back to normal here in Baghdad.

They had a lot of problems
with locals out here looting.

It's a pretty tough situation
because we're not a police force

and we can't go through patrolling,

acting as policemen,
guarding everybody.

We wanted to do something
but we were told to stand down.

Then we got the order to go out
and help with basic first aid,

medical and water.

We take orders
and then execute them.

But there are things that happen

that I really have a hard time
remembering.

We killed some civilians

because we put up signs in Arabic.

"This is a roadblock, turn around
or else we will engage you."

We didn't know they can't read.

So they came pouring through
in their vehicles,

we killed every one of them.

Grandpa, mommy,

and the kids.

I feel sad for them.

But that is the profession.

A threat or possible threat,
you must neutralise.

When you look back at your time in
Iraq, do you think it was worth it?

Yes, it's worth it.

I mean, it has to be worth it.
What's the...

..what's the alternative?

ECHOES OF GUNFIRE

At least I can have remorse now.

You know, I've been carrying
dead bodies with me forever.

But I'm lucky.

Not everybody gets through it
as well as I have.

I remember watching the city burn...

..and, erm, we did nothing.

Baghdad just ripped to pieces.

And I remember thinking, like,

"Oh, my God," like...

.."Never. We're never going to put
this back in.

"We're never going to get it
back in the bottle. Never."

I remember that feeling very well.

The entire public infrastructure
of Iraq was stripped clean,

gone to zero,

and so...

..the Americans just dug themselves
into this terrible hole.

Terrible.

And they spent the next nine years
trying to, like,

stand this thing up on its own.

That's what the whole
story of the war is.

Immediately after the invasion,
one of the only ways

to earn money in Baghdad
was working as a translator.

We were negotiating the price and I
didn't know what the rate would be.

I was ready to work for a dollar.

And they were like,
"Would $50 be OK?"

And I was like, "$50 a what?",
you know,

and I'm trying to compose myself.

And they were like, "A day."

And I was like, 50 fucking bucks?!

That's freaking awesome!

50 bucks was my dad's salary
for six months.

I was making it in a day.

And I was like,
"All right, we've got a deal."

I would hire a cab,

would take a journalist with me,
and we'd just drive around.

This is Mutanabbi Street.

This is one of the most
old streets in Baghdad.

And it's such an odd feeling
because, before the war started,

shops are open, people are walking,

buying, selling, eating, drinking...

..and now, it's a ghost town.

There is no police any more,
no firefighters,

no electricity, no water.

It's an impossible situation
for anyone that was there.

On the one hand, you're hopeful.

Oh, the future's going to be great,
and all of that.

At the same time, you're seeing
clear evidence that...

..things are not good.

So we're looking for stories

and we heard of this man in Karbala,

he's a Bedouin.

And then we get to a spot where
the car cannot drive any more.

And then I got to see
the true face of invasion.

He's saying that this is his home.

According to his story,

in one afternoon,
three Apaches came...

..hovered,

and then they just opened fire
on him and his family,

and they just murdered everyone
and everything that was alive.

Everything.

Him and another brother of his
were the only ones that survived.

Erm...

..honestly, I had my reservations,

and I was like,
"This is just very unreal.

"This is too much. Too much.

"People can't be that bad.
They can't be that evil."

And then he starts frantically
digging through the sand,

showing us the remnants
and the remains

of what used to be his family.

I mean, that doesn't make any sense.

HE SIGHS

We were all hopeful
at the beginning.

But then, soon after,

truth started coming up...

..and the myth that we were sold
unravelled itself

into this nightmare that
we all knew now we're stuck in.

They had never had
that opportunity to vote

and for them it was sheer joy.

This is the core of being a human
is...having a voice.

Does that sound naive?

I was super impressed
with Colonel Sassaman.

There's some good things happening.
The thing could work.