Original subtitles

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

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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.