Tom Lassiter with Knight Ridder news services has recently issued several reports that are simply fascinating for the insight provided when reporters are able to step outside the box in reporting from Iraq. Yesterday I posted on one of these articles which detailed how the Kurdish Peshmerga had infiltrated the Iraqi national army with an eye to killing their commanders and storming the city of Kirkuk when given the command to do so by the Peshmerga. Today brings two more fascinating articles, one of which details the internal divisions in the Iraqi army based upon ethnicity, and the other on how Mr. Lassiter was able to bring us these stories.
Friks appretiative homily, with various other observations continues below. It is also Cross posted @ Club Lefty
First
let us consider how Kurdish and Arab men in the same unit clash regarding a possible future civil war in Iraq:
"If the Kurds want to separate from Iraq it's OK, as long as they keep their present boundaries," said Sgt. Hazim Aziz, an Arab soldier who was stubbing out a cigarette in a barracks room. "But there can be no conversation about them taking Kirkuk. ... If it becomes a matter of fighting, then we will join any force that fights to keep Kirkuk. We will die to keep it."
Kurdish soldiers in the room seethed at the words.
"These soldiers do not know anything about Kirkuk," Capt. Ismail Mahmoud, a former member of the Kurdish Peshmerga militia, said as he got up angrily and walked out of the room. "There is no other choice. If Kirkuk does not become part of Kurdistan peacefully we will fight for 100 years to take it."
Reading the article I posted about yesterday, one may wonder if the Kurdish captain would really qualify as a "former member" of the Peshmerga militia. Look at this sentiment from Col. Sabar Saleem, also a "former" Peshmerga member:
"War is just another kind of political solution," said Saleem, a former Peshmerga.
He said that while he wore an Iraqi army uniform he had a much larger mission in mind.
"I tell you that I am a part of the Iraqi army, but when it comes to the Kurdish cause I am willing to offer my life, my head, for one inch of Kurdish land," Saleem said. "Especially for Kirkuk."
This kind of reporting is simply must read and very hard to find in the American media. He is giving us raw first hand information that when considered in the overall context of the Iraqi conflict presages dire consequences for the region. I agree that Kurdistan is a worthy goal and would like to see the Kurds get their homeland without a regional blood bath. But the current American plan for Iraq does not envision a Kurdish homeland, and it is clear the Kurds are dead set intent on independence, whatever the cost may be. If we stay the course it is apparent the two visions for the region come into conflict, and Mr. Lassiter on a local level in his area has pulled the shades from a window that we would be well served to look through
It is through the reporting of Tom Lassiter that we are finally getting a feel for how this could turn from the derailment we are currently experiencing to a horrendous regional train wreck. How is it then that it seems only Mr. Lassiter is giving us this type of reporting? (Not to denigrate other reporters mind you, but these articles by Mr. Lassiter are simply one of a kind.) The answer is found in this article titled "how the story was reported". Put quite simply, Mr. Lassiter does not let the American or Iraqi military guidelines that specify he must be accompanied by an "American military assistance team" stop him from using contacts to get these stories.
For this story, I took a commercial flight from Baghdad to Irbil on Dec. 20 and, working with a Kurdish translator, contacted the Peshmerga leadership. Peshmerga leaders then opened many doors, arranging visits to Peshmerga militia units that turned out to be units of the Iraqi army.
For example, the Peshmerga arranged for Iraqi soldiers at a base in Irbil to meet me on the afternoon of Dec. 21 and take me - along with two pickup loads of soldiers with AK-47s and heavy machine guns - to the Kurdistan Democratic Party's headquarters in Mosul.
Party officials then escorted me across the street to an Iraqi army brigade headquarters, where I spent the evening conducting interviews and going on patrols. The next morning, I was taken to the division headquarters in Mosul and spent the day doing interviews. I rode back to Irbil with a brigade commander in a convoy of sport utility vehicles and pickups equipped with heavy machine guns.
There is no doubt that the job of a journalist in Iraq is hazardous in the extreme. So we who care for the truth and accuracy in the news we consume should really be appreciative of the steps taken by Mr. Lassiter to step outside the box and bring us these reports. On a very small level and for what it's worth I would like to express my gratitude to him for doing his job so well in such dangerous conditions, and wish him good luck going forward.