1 00:00:04,003 --> 00:00:06,283 CHILDREN CHEER 2 00:00:16,443 --> 00:00:18,643 May 2003. 3 00:00:18,643 --> 00:00:20,923 In the weeks following the invasion of Iraq, 4 00:00:20,923 --> 00:00:24,083 American troops were welcomed onto the streets of Baghdad. 5 00:00:24,083 --> 00:00:26,003 No Saddam. No Saddam. 6 00:00:54,083 --> 00:00:59,483 That sense of joy was a definite truth. 7 00:00:59,483 --> 00:01:02,563 Now, the question is - how long did it last? 8 00:01:04,683 --> 00:01:07,403 And that was not long. 9 00:01:09,243 --> 00:01:11,683 Iraq was in absolute chaos. 10 00:01:11,683 --> 00:01:13,603 What's been going on here? 11 00:01:13,603 --> 00:01:15,523 A fucking war's going on. 12 00:01:15,523 --> 00:01:16,883 GUNSHOTS 13 00:01:16,883 --> 00:01:20,403 GEORGE BUSH: The regime of Saddam Hussein is no more. 14 00:01:20,403 --> 00:01:22,323 America's more secure. 15 00:01:22,323 --> 00:01:23,843 The world is more peaceful. 16 00:01:23,843 --> 00:01:28,163 And the long-suffering people of Iraq are now free. 17 00:01:28,163 --> 00:01:31,123 The politicians have had their say. 18 00:01:31,123 --> 00:01:33,563 The evidence about Saddam having actual biological 19 00:01:33,563 --> 00:01:36,083 and chemical weapons has turned out to be wrong. 20 00:01:36,083 --> 00:01:38,963 In this series, the story of the Iraq War 21 00:01:38,963 --> 00:01:42,643 is told by the civilians, journalists and soldiers 22 00:01:42,643 --> 00:01:45,203 who lived through the 2003 invasion 23 00:01:45,203 --> 00:01:48,123 and the years of chaos that continue to this day. 24 00:01:49,203 --> 00:01:50,683 Through their eyes, 25 00:01:50,683 --> 00:01:54,243 we'll see how events in Iraq have changed the world. 26 00:01:55,243 --> 00:01:57,003 Ultimately, war - 27 00:01:57,003 --> 00:02:02,283 it's a kind of laboratory of the human condition in extremis. 28 00:02:02,283 --> 00:02:04,603 YELLING 29 00:02:06,003 --> 00:02:08,123 You see the best of people and you see the worst. 30 00:02:10,203 --> 00:02:13,603 You see moments of incredible heroism, 31 00:02:13,603 --> 00:02:17,203 and also hatred and irresponsibility. 32 00:02:31,083 --> 00:02:36,563 You know, I think back to Iraq 2003 kind of as the best year 33 00:02:36,563 --> 00:02:39,203 and worst year of my life. 34 00:02:48,483 --> 00:02:50,603 When I got back, I mean, my kids didn't know me 35 00:02:50,603 --> 00:02:53,083 and I didn't know them. At all. 36 00:02:53,083 --> 00:02:55,883 It was weird being back here. 37 00:02:55,883 --> 00:02:58,243 Yeah, and I didn't do good with the reintegration. 38 00:02:59,523 --> 00:03:01,683 I mean, you drive on a highway, 39 00:03:01,683 --> 00:03:05,803 all I could think about for a while was waiting for the IED blast. 40 00:03:05,803 --> 00:03:08,123 And I'm driving, this guy comes around 41 00:03:08,123 --> 00:03:10,483 and totally gives me the finger, and I swear to God, 42 00:03:10,483 --> 00:03:14,203 if I'd had my 9mm, I would have blown his brains out right there. 43 00:03:14,203 --> 00:03:16,123 It would've taken me two seconds. 44 00:03:17,963 --> 00:03:19,323 I was out of control, man. 45 00:03:21,403 --> 00:03:23,083 And I'll never fire a weapon again. 46 00:03:23,083 --> 00:03:24,163 Ever. 47 00:03:25,243 --> 00:03:27,483 Protect and strengthen this band of brothers 48 00:03:27,483 --> 00:03:29,123 as we endeavour to do your will. 49 00:03:29,123 --> 00:03:35,643 A month after the invasion, there were 150,000 US troops across Iraq. 50 00:03:35,643 --> 00:03:37,203 It is for you that we battle. 51 00:03:37,203 --> 00:03:41,123 Lt Col Nate Sassaman led a battalion of almost 1,000 soldiers. 52 00:03:44,723 --> 00:03:47,843 Send along your congratulations to Sgt Howard, as well. 53 00:03:47,843 --> 00:03:50,323 OK, men, that's all I got. You guys are doing a great job. 54 00:03:50,323 --> 00:03:52,083 Yeah, I'm good, I'm there. 55 00:03:52,083 --> 00:03:53,523 I'm right there. 56 00:03:53,523 --> 00:03:55,563 I'm back in Iraq right now. 57 00:03:55,563 --> 00:03:56,883 I rarely go back there. 58 00:03:58,683 --> 00:04:01,363 And frankly, I don't talk about it at all. Ever. 59 00:04:01,363 --> 00:04:02,723 Unless I'm with a veteran. 60 00:04:07,763 --> 00:04:13,723 Nate Sassaman, son of a Methodist minister, star quarterback, 61 00:04:13,723 --> 00:04:17,403 total star in the Army, destined to be a general. 62 00:04:17,403 --> 00:04:21,723 Sassaman was the most impressive officer I met in Iraq. 63 00:04:21,723 --> 00:04:24,803 Dexter Filkins covered the Iraq War for the New York Times. 64 00:04:26,323 --> 00:04:28,523 He wrote about Sassaman's year-long tour. 65 00:04:30,923 --> 00:04:34,443 What Sassaman, I think, experienced was perfect microcosm 66 00:04:34,443 --> 00:04:36,883 for what happened in the war at large. 67 00:04:36,883 --> 00:04:39,203 Hi, I'm Lt Col Nate Sassaman, 68 00:04:39,203 --> 00:04:41,323 former West Point quarterback for 1984, 69 00:04:41,323 --> 00:04:44,883 and the battalion commander for 1st Battalion 8th Infantry Regiment 70 00:04:44,883 --> 00:04:46,403 serving here in Balad, Iraq. 71 00:04:46,403 --> 00:04:50,123 I'd like to introduce you to my special friend... 72 00:04:50,123 --> 00:04:52,043 I seem to be a likeable fella. 73 00:04:52,043 --> 00:04:53,803 I kind of wanted to meet everybody. 74 00:04:53,803 --> 00:04:59,563 How about a little raki coffee here to go with my prayers? 75 00:04:59,563 --> 00:05:04,963 I knew virtually almost nothing on Iraq and the Muslim culture, 76 00:05:04,963 --> 00:05:07,523 as a commander who then got to control 77 00:05:07,523 --> 00:05:11,123 one of the main provinces in the country of Iraq. 78 00:05:12,883 --> 00:05:14,003 Yeah. 79 00:05:16,323 --> 00:05:19,763 In the early days, I actually think we were trying to go in there 80 00:05:19,763 --> 00:05:21,763 and make it right for the folks. 81 00:05:21,763 --> 00:05:23,243 Get some stability. 82 00:05:23,243 --> 00:05:27,643 We would be doing the noble thing of helping reconstruct this country. 83 00:05:43,803 --> 00:05:46,483 This place is Adhamiyah District. 84 00:05:46,483 --> 00:05:49,363 First of all, it's a very old district here in Baghdad. 85 00:05:49,363 --> 00:05:51,843 Second of all, it's very, very public... 86 00:05:51,843 --> 00:05:55,243 After the invasion, things were changing so fast. 87 00:05:55,243 --> 00:05:58,683 Like, you turn from a kid into... 88 00:05:58,683 --> 00:06:02,083 ..someone that has to be rigid, cold, you know, 89 00:06:02,083 --> 00:06:03,603 and it's like, just to survive. 90 00:06:06,043 --> 00:06:11,043 Waleed Nesyif lived in Baghdad and was 18 when the war started. 91 00:06:11,043 --> 00:06:12,563 As an English speaker, 92 00:06:12,563 --> 00:06:16,323 he managed to secure a job as a translator for foreign journalists. 93 00:06:16,323 --> 00:06:18,923 We're going to go now for a very, very public place, 94 00:06:18,923 --> 00:06:20,963 so we have to be careful, OK? 95 00:06:20,963 --> 00:06:24,643 One of the things that I used to do is basically drive around the city. 96 00:06:24,643 --> 00:06:27,803 Take a journalist with me and we'd just drive around. 97 00:06:27,803 --> 00:06:28,963 It's a ghost town... 98 00:06:30,163 --> 00:06:34,963 ..that is destroyed - either by bombs or looting. 99 00:06:41,683 --> 00:06:44,003 And then Iraqis were under this impression, it's like, 100 00:06:44,003 --> 00:06:46,963 "OK, this is the greatest power in the world. 101 00:06:46,963 --> 00:06:50,403 "They're going to come and rebuild everything in, like, months." 102 00:06:53,123 --> 00:06:57,643 Month one passed, there's still no electricity, there's still no water. 103 00:07:03,043 --> 00:07:05,843 Baghdad became like a city of garbage. 104 00:07:12,323 --> 00:07:14,523 You know, like, even during Saddam's time, man, 105 00:07:14,523 --> 00:07:16,883 like, I remember Baghdad was clean. 106 00:07:18,283 --> 00:07:21,443 There was sanitation. And now, it's just like... 107 00:07:25,803 --> 00:07:29,683 And you're meant to continue functioning as a sane human being. 108 00:07:39,643 --> 00:07:41,443 Six weeks after the invasion, 109 00:07:41,443 --> 00:07:45,563 George W Bush landed on an aircraft carrier off the coast of San Diego. 110 00:07:52,083 --> 00:07:55,563 Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. 111 00:07:55,563 --> 00:07:58,803 In the Battle of Iraq, the United States 112 00:07:58,803 --> 00:08:01,803 and our allies have prevailed. 113 00:08:01,803 --> 00:08:04,483 CHEERING 114 00:08:04,483 --> 00:08:06,403 "Mission accomplished." 115 00:08:09,563 --> 00:08:10,643 Yeah? 116 00:08:10,643 --> 00:08:11,683 Seriously? 117 00:08:16,163 --> 00:08:19,043 And now, our coalition is engaged in securing 118 00:08:19,043 --> 00:08:21,443 and reconstructing that country. 119 00:08:21,443 --> 00:08:24,523 That was the time, again, when people started questioning. 120 00:08:24,523 --> 00:08:27,163 You know, it was like, "OK, well, since mission is accomplished 121 00:08:27,163 --> 00:08:31,283 "and everything is good right now, when is security going to be there?" 122 00:08:31,283 --> 00:08:32,803 Because there is no security. 123 00:08:34,403 --> 00:08:36,523 GUNSHOTS 124 00:08:37,923 --> 00:08:40,523 You know, all this by American support. 125 00:08:40,523 --> 00:08:42,363 It happen by the American support. 126 00:08:51,483 --> 00:08:54,323 People started taking matters within their own hands, right? 127 00:08:54,323 --> 00:08:55,403 So, for instance, 128 00:08:55,403 --> 00:08:59,723 security starting being imposed by the people of the neighbourhood. 129 00:09:07,443 --> 00:09:08,923 EXPLOSION 130 00:09:08,923 --> 00:09:10,723 Everybody had a gun. 131 00:09:10,723 --> 00:09:12,963 Strange car comes in, it's like, "Who the fuck are you? 132 00:09:12,963 --> 00:09:15,403 "What do you want? Who are you coming to visit?" 133 00:09:15,403 --> 00:09:18,883 Americans will pass by, they didn't really give a shit. 134 00:09:21,203 --> 00:09:24,683 I remember this image, literally, of a guy with a donkey 135 00:09:24,683 --> 00:09:28,443 pulling a cart with Katyusha rocket launcher on it. 136 00:09:28,443 --> 00:09:30,803 Just driving on the street, you know, 137 00:09:30,803 --> 00:09:33,363 and the Americans passing by, "Hello." 138 00:09:33,363 --> 00:09:35,723 What is he going to do with it? 139 00:09:35,723 --> 00:09:37,243 Use it or sell it, right? 140 00:09:39,043 --> 00:09:43,763 Simple things are what we were asking for. 141 00:09:43,763 --> 00:09:45,483 Very simple. 142 00:09:45,483 --> 00:09:49,883 Dignity, electricity, and some semblance of security. 143 00:09:49,883 --> 00:09:52,643 These things, had they happened, 144 00:09:52,643 --> 00:09:58,443 Iraqis would not have reacted in the way they did to the American Army. 145 00:10:00,283 --> 00:10:03,763 MUSIC: The Star-Spangled Banner 146 00:10:19,763 --> 00:10:24,163 OK, please be seated. We'll have a few words from Col Sassaman. 147 00:10:24,163 --> 00:10:26,603 I pray for a lot of things every day. 148 00:10:26,603 --> 00:10:28,083 But mostly, I pray for wisdom. 149 00:10:28,083 --> 00:10:29,123 I pray for wisdom... 150 00:10:29,123 --> 00:10:35,283 There's this euphoria feeling that, wow, you're in a foreign land... 151 00:10:36,283 --> 00:10:39,443 ..we got a bunch of forces here, we've got a mission. 152 00:10:39,443 --> 00:10:42,083 You know, what is my... What is... 153 00:10:42,083 --> 00:10:45,083 You know, how am I going to make... 154 00:10:45,083 --> 00:10:46,723 ..the best progress 155 00:10:46,723 --> 00:10:52,203 in this 750 sq km area that I've been given as my area of operation? 156 00:10:55,403 --> 00:10:58,483 Sassaman's battalion was stationed just over 50 miles 157 00:10:58,483 --> 00:11:00,803 north of Baghdad, in the city of Balad. 158 00:11:03,883 --> 00:11:06,163 It's right there in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. 159 00:11:06,163 --> 00:11:11,163 We're smack dab in the middle, and this is our home now for the next... 160 00:11:11,163 --> 00:11:12,203 ..for the next year. 161 00:11:14,523 --> 00:11:17,043 On a map, if you start with Baghdad 162 00:11:17,043 --> 00:11:20,243 and go out to basically the Jordanian border, 163 00:11:20,243 --> 00:11:22,923 and then up to Mosul, and then down the Tigris, 164 00:11:22,923 --> 00:11:24,483 it looks like a triangle. 165 00:11:24,483 --> 00:11:27,923 That's where... That's where the majority of the Sunnis are. 166 00:11:27,923 --> 00:11:32,483 Saddam Hussein was born in the Sunni Triangle. 167 00:11:32,483 --> 00:11:34,603 Sassaman and his men found themselves 168 00:11:34,603 --> 00:11:37,483 amongst his most ardent supporters. 169 00:11:37,483 --> 00:11:38,643 How you doing? 170 00:11:51,963 --> 00:11:54,563 That, I think, is like the first time 171 00:11:54,563 --> 00:11:57,883 I accepted an invitation from a sheikh. 172 00:11:57,883 --> 00:12:00,443 Trying to, like, set up some kind of dialogue. 173 00:12:00,443 --> 00:12:01,683 Right here? 174 00:12:01,683 --> 00:12:04,243 It was believed that if the Army won the hearts and minds 175 00:12:04,243 --> 00:12:07,843 of the Iraqi people, that security, democracy, 176 00:12:07,843 --> 00:12:10,803 and the reconstruction efforts would all fall into place. 177 00:12:12,723 --> 00:12:15,003 The way I was winning hearts and minds 178 00:12:15,003 --> 00:12:18,603 was engaging with you in dialogue. 179 00:12:18,603 --> 00:12:21,083 I don't know, I was always trying to find some common ground 180 00:12:21,083 --> 00:12:24,603 and to talk to the sheikhs or the leaders. 181 00:12:24,603 --> 00:12:28,883 Frank, can you get it... Can you get it any closer to me, Frank? 182 00:12:28,883 --> 00:12:30,443 That's what I want to know. 183 00:12:30,443 --> 00:12:33,523 All the soldiers that I was talking to, they said, 184 00:12:33,523 --> 00:12:35,923 "You've got to spend some time with Col Sassaman." 185 00:12:35,923 --> 00:12:37,403 Like, "He's the guy." 186 00:12:39,963 --> 00:12:43,403 And you could tell he had kind of a wider view of the war. 187 00:12:43,403 --> 00:12:47,003 It's my job, along with the sheikhs, to maintain the peace 188 00:12:47,003 --> 00:12:51,083 so that we can rebuild Iraq with dollars. 189 00:12:51,083 --> 00:12:54,323 Along with everything else, we want to be able to get electricity 190 00:12:54,323 --> 00:12:56,363 to everybody all the time. 191 00:12:56,363 --> 00:12:57,963 The Iraqis, like, loved him. 192 00:12:57,963 --> 00:12:59,803 They were, like, gathering around him. 193 00:12:59,803 --> 00:13:01,363 He was incredibly charismatic. 194 00:13:01,363 --> 00:13:04,683 If there's any country in the world that needs a little peace, 195 00:13:04,683 --> 00:13:05,923 it's right here in Iraq. 196 00:13:08,123 --> 00:13:11,803 They quickly realised I enjoy a Coca-Cola. 197 00:13:11,803 --> 00:13:13,883 And I would hold it up and I would go, 198 00:13:13,883 --> 00:13:15,603 "Man, what a great world we live in." 199 00:13:15,603 --> 00:13:19,243 That, like, a Judeo-Christian white man 200 00:13:19,243 --> 00:13:23,603 can come over into your country and we can drink Coke together. 201 00:13:23,603 --> 00:13:27,043 Now, I thought that was funny, I don't think they did as much. 202 00:13:29,003 --> 00:13:32,443 You can see in the video, there's some sceptical dudes in that group. 203 00:13:34,963 --> 00:13:37,123 There was kind of like this, "What just happened?" 204 00:13:37,123 --> 00:13:39,803 It's kind of like the Martians have just landed. 205 00:13:42,203 --> 00:13:44,363 You know, we were trying to do some reconstruction 206 00:13:44,363 --> 00:13:46,003 for the local clinics. 207 00:13:46,003 --> 00:13:48,763 I can remember the first one I went to in that area, 208 00:13:48,763 --> 00:13:51,043 and I'm telling you, the woman running it 209 00:13:51,043 --> 00:13:54,243 had to have been 50 or 60. She was hard as woodpecker lips. 210 00:13:54,243 --> 00:13:58,003 She goes, "I don't want any of your stuff. I don't want you here. 211 00:13:58,003 --> 00:14:00,043 "I want you to go back to the United States. 212 00:14:00,043 --> 00:14:01,883 "I never want to see you again." 213 00:14:01,883 --> 00:14:07,403 That's my first personal effort to reconstruct the area. 214 00:14:09,683 --> 00:14:12,403 They were not interested in the Americans being there 215 00:14:12,403 --> 00:14:15,323 and whatever we were bringing for reconstruction. 216 00:14:15,323 --> 00:14:18,403 And they were definitely not interested in hearts and minds. 217 00:14:22,603 --> 00:14:26,563 In May, George W Bush's presidential envoy arrived. 218 00:14:27,603 --> 00:14:30,963 Paul Bremer was appointed to oversee reconstruction 219 00:14:30,963 --> 00:14:33,563 and implement democracy in Iraq. 220 00:14:33,563 --> 00:14:37,083 He was to become the most powerful man in the country. 221 00:14:37,083 --> 00:14:39,603 We're not here to be a colonial power. 222 00:14:39,603 --> 00:14:42,003 We're here to help turn over, as quickly as we can 223 00:14:42,003 --> 00:14:44,923 efficiently do it, to the Iraqi people their country. 224 00:14:44,923 --> 00:14:46,323 Thank you very much. 225 00:14:53,003 --> 00:14:54,643 Within days of his arrival, 226 00:14:54,643 --> 00:14:59,403 Bremer issued two orders that would irreversibly change Iraq's future. 227 00:15:00,843 --> 00:15:04,203 Saddam Hussein was a truly evil man. 228 00:15:05,323 --> 00:15:09,363 And those who were on high before - in particular the Ba'athists, 229 00:15:09,363 --> 00:15:12,563 who used their power to repress the Iraqi people - 230 00:15:12,563 --> 00:15:14,323 will be removed from office. 231 00:15:15,683 --> 00:15:19,243 Shortly, I will issue an order on measures to extirpate 232 00:15:19,243 --> 00:15:21,883 Ba'athists and Ba'athism from Iraq forever. 233 00:15:23,963 --> 00:15:27,083 They did this whole sham of the de-Ba'athification. 234 00:15:27,083 --> 00:15:29,043 You've got to go and renounce the Ba'ath Party 235 00:15:29,043 --> 00:15:30,963 so you can basically re-engage. 236 00:15:30,963 --> 00:15:32,163 But I was a Ba'athist. 237 00:15:34,083 --> 00:15:37,003 And I was. Everyone in Iraq was Ba'athist. 238 00:15:37,003 --> 00:15:39,123 You cannot not be a Ba'athist. 239 00:15:40,323 --> 00:15:43,283 It's like... It's basically saying no to Saddam. 240 00:15:43,283 --> 00:15:45,123 And who's going to say no to Saddam? 241 00:15:47,043 --> 00:15:49,323 Like, everybody was in the Ba'ath Party, you know? 242 00:15:49,323 --> 00:15:52,523 If you were a school principal, you joined the Ba'ath Party. 243 00:15:52,523 --> 00:15:55,203 If you were a teacher, you joined the Ba'ath Party. 244 00:15:55,203 --> 00:15:58,403 Iraq was a functioning, sophisticated, 245 00:15:58,403 --> 00:16:03,643 middle-class society, and it essentially gutted the Iraqi state. 246 00:16:03,643 --> 00:16:06,243 It just put all those people on the street. 247 00:16:07,643 --> 00:16:09,483 I haven't any money. Do you have a family? 248 00:16:09,483 --> 00:16:10,803 Do you have children? 249 00:16:10,803 --> 00:16:12,963 Yes, I have, a big family. 11. 11. 250 00:16:12,963 --> 00:16:14,963 11 persons. 251 00:16:17,883 --> 00:16:20,843 The de-Ba'athification was the crippling blow 252 00:16:20,843 --> 00:16:22,363 to the reconstruction. 253 00:16:23,963 --> 00:16:26,283 Not only does the whole country come to a standstill 254 00:16:26,283 --> 00:16:29,643 because the teachers can't teach, the hospitals are shutting down, 255 00:16:29,643 --> 00:16:32,003 I mean, we're not letting anybody do their job, 256 00:16:32,003 --> 00:16:33,843 because they have a Ba'athist card. 257 00:16:36,803 --> 00:16:39,363 Who's going to reconstruct the country? Me? 258 00:16:39,363 --> 00:16:41,283 Me and my soldiers, are we going to? 259 00:16:41,283 --> 00:16:43,043 We're going to be the guys to... 260 00:16:45,083 --> 00:16:49,003 ..to restore power and teach the kids? 261 00:16:49,003 --> 00:16:51,203 And set up the police stations? 262 00:16:51,203 --> 00:16:53,523 We're not staying there for the rest of our lives, 263 00:16:53,523 --> 00:16:56,003 so it has to be the guys who have the Ba'athist cards. 264 00:16:58,603 --> 00:17:02,123 Soon afterwards, Bremer issued order number two - 265 00:17:02,123 --> 00:17:04,843 to dissolve the entire Iraqi military 266 00:17:04,843 --> 00:17:07,883 that was seen by many as loyal to Saddam. 267 00:17:07,883 --> 00:17:10,563 SOLDIERS CHANT 268 00:17:16,163 --> 00:17:20,763 This meant there were another 400,000 men out of work. 269 00:17:22,523 --> 00:17:26,443 Every family in Iraq had an army personnel in it, you know, 270 00:17:26,443 --> 00:17:29,203 this was our salaries, this was their job. 271 00:17:29,203 --> 00:17:32,123 This is the only thing that they knew, like, my father being one. 272 00:17:32,123 --> 00:17:33,803 Here's my dad. 273 00:17:36,003 --> 00:17:37,963 Assalaamu alaikum. 274 00:17:37,963 --> 00:17:40,163 THEY CONVERSE IN ARABIC 275 00:17:40,163 --> 00:17:41,483 Erm... 276 00:17:41,483 --> 00:17:42,643 Colonel. 277 00:17:42,643 --> 00:17:44,883 He was a colonel in the army. 278 00:17:44,883 --> 00:17:47,563 CONVERSES IN ARABIC 279 00:17:47,563 --> 00:17:51,043 So you have people like my father, who spent all of his life 280 00:17:51,043 --> 00:17:52,883 serving in the army. 281 00:17:52,883 --> 00:17:54,763 He knew nothing but that. 282 00:17:54,763 --> 00:17:57,643 Now, all of a sudden, you have hundreds of thousands 283 00:17:57,643 --> 00:18:00,163 of individuals with actual skills, 284 00:18:00,163 --> 00:18:05,003 abundance of weapons, abundance. 285 00:18:06,403 --> 00:18:10,083 What I just remember is the streets had been lined 286 00:18:10,083 --> 00:18:13,283 with hundreds if not thousands of young men. 287 00:18:15,003 --> 00:18:17,483 And they couldn't support their families. 288 00:18:17,483 --> 00:18:18,803 I mean... 289 00:18:20,403 --> 00:18:22,243 Oh, man. 290 00:18:29,403 --> 00:18:32,603 You need to help us. I don't need to help you with shit. 291 00:18:32,603 --> 00:18:34,603 Get away from me. Let's go. 292 00:18:34,603 --> 00:18:36,963 THEY CONVERSE IN ARABIC 293 00:18:38,403 --> 00:18:44,523 A lot of young, bearded, man-robed folks that were not happy. 294 00:18:46,963 --> 00:18:49,643 VEHICLE HORNS BLARE 295 00:18:56,443 --> 00:18:59,163 They're not, like, older generation people. 296 00:18:59,163 --> 00:19:02,923 These are the most physically able men in Iraq. 297 00:19:07,563 --> 00:19:10,403 And they're from a long lineage of warriors 298 00:19:10,403 --> 00:19:14,283 who have fought for centuries to protect their homeland there. 299 00:19:15,923 --> 00:19:18,083 Dude, their country's not 200 years old. 300 00:19:21,883 --> 00:19:23,803 We set up the perfect conditions. 301 00:19:23,803 --> 00:19:26,323 It's the perfect storm for an insurgency. 302 00:19:29,043 --> 00:19:31,403 HE SIGHS 303 00:19:33,283 --> 00:19:37,163 So, in the beginning, the insurgency was overwhelmingly, 304 00:19:37,163 --> 00:19:41,283 almost exclusively driven by the Sunni Arabs. 305 00:19:44,323 --> 00:19:47,483 The Sunni Triangle, that was the epicentre of the insurgency. 306 00:19:57,683 --> 00:19:59,483 We knew we were going to be attacked. 307 00:19:59,483 --> 00:20:01,763 Wasn't a matter of if, it was when. 308 00:20:03,763 --> 00:20:08,283 We started seeing a lot of different insurgency cells attacking us. 309 00:20:08,283 --> 00:20:12,243 They started in July, and once the fight started, 310 00:20:12,243 --> 00:20:15,363 I think we started averaging about seven or eight a day. 311 00:20:15,363 --> 00:20:17,403 Guidons, guidons, guidons. 312 00:20:17,403 --> 00:20:18,803 This is Eagle Six, 313 00:20:18,803 --> 00:20:21,563 and welcome to the Friday night Fighting Eagle FM update. 314 00:20:21,563 --> 00:20:23,883 EXPLOSIONS 315 00:20:26,883 --> 00:20:30,483 So you might have small arms, mortars, 316 00:20:30,483 --> 00:20:32,923 IEDs or a combination thereof. 317 00:20:35,963 --> 00:20:38,203 Three to four mortar rounds were reported 318 00:20:38,203 --> 00:20:40,483 as to landing within the vicinity. 319 00:20:40,483 --> 00:20:43,323 We have 18 soldiers who are wounded. 320 00:20:52,483 --> 00:20:56,243 I had some folks that were wounded early on, you know, badly. 321 00:20:58,203 --> 00:21:01,443 Yeah, you know you're in it. I was always like, never underestimate... 322 00:21:01,443 --> 00:21:02,843 I've always been 323 00:21:02,843 --> 00:21:05,283 a never underestimate your enemy type of guy. 324 00:21:05,283 --> 00:21:08,403 I don't care if they're running around in, like, 325 00:21:08,403 --> 00:21:10,683 black pyjamas or rags, 326 00:21:10,683 --> 00:21:13,483 and they're, you know, they're not outfitted. 327 00:21:13,483 --> 00:21:17,843 It's their land, it's their territory, it's their turf. 328 00:21:17,843 --> 00:21:20,563 HELICOPTER BLADES WHIR 329 00:21:26,003 --> 00:21:28,803 During the summer, the fledgling insurgency 330 00:21:28,803 --> 00:21:32,563 spread from the Sunni Triangle to cities across the country. 331 00:21:34,923 --> 00:21:38,363 Waleed witnessed the aftermath of one of the first insurgent attacks 332 00:21:38,363 --> 00:21:40,963 on American forces in Baghdad. 333 00:21:40,963 --> 00:21:44,003 In fact, we're going for Haifa Street in order to do 334 00:21:44,003 --> 00:21:46,963 a follow up for a story 335 00:21:46,963 --> 00:21:51,083 of an explosion happened for a Humvee for the... 336 00:21:51,083 --> 00:21:53,363 I remember going and doing this story. 337 00:21:55,083 --> 00:21:58,003 There is an attack near an American Humvee 338 00:21:58,003 --> 00:22:00,683 but then kids were there and they all got basically 339 00:22:00,683 --> 00:22:04,043 shredded by shrapnel, some of them died, some of them survived. 340 00:22:04,043 --> 00:22:08,363 And something happened that just fucked me up that day 341 00:22:08,363 --> 00:22:09,883 for a long, long time. 342 00:22:10,963 --> 00:22:12,803 WALEED SPEAKS ARABIC 343 00:22:12,803 --> 00:22:16,003 Waleed visited the families three weeks after the attack. 344 00:22:16,003 --> 00:22:20,283 The whole casualties of this was 17 child, 5 of them get killed. 345 00:22:21,723 --> 00:22:23,443 And 12 of them were injured. 346 00:22:24,443 --> 00:22:26,803 A girl lost her eye. 347 00:22:26,803 --> 00:22:28,523 Completely lost her eye. 348 00:22:29,683 --> 00:22:31,323 This is the child. 349 00:22:31,323 --> 00:22:32,923 She lost her eye. 350 00:22:34,083 --> 00:22:35,283 Hello. 351 00:22:51,243 --> 00:22:53,403 WOMAN WEEPS 352 00:23:00,283 --> 00:23:01,643 Alaa... 353 00:23:10,643 --> 00:23:11,763 OK. 354 00:24:08,763 --> 00:24:10,803 WOMAN SHRIEKS 355 00:24:22,843 --> 00:24:24,243 That's it. 356 00:24:30,403 --> 00:24:34,323 Her daughter was seriously injured in this attack. 357 00:24:34,323 --> 00:24:36,083 They were in the street. 358 00:24:37,923 --> 00:24:40,483 WOMAN WAILS 359 00:25:01,803 --> 00:25:04,443 WOMAN WEEPS 360 00:25:39,443 --> 00:25:41,803 FOOTAGE PLAYS 361 00:26:34,763 --> 00:26:36,163 Ai... 362 00:26:46,763 --> 00:26:50,803 This generation have seen absolutely nothing but this now. 363 00:26:50,803 --> 00:26:54,523 If I was lucky enough to live throughout the '80s and the '90s, 364 00:26:54,523 --> 00:26:56,443 where we had some semblance of security, 365 00:26:56,443 --> 00:27:00,563 safety, we had fun with our friends and all of that, 366 00:27:00,563 --> 00:27:03,923 these kids have seen absolutely nothing. 367 00:27:11,803 --> 00:27:15,963 I mean, that girl represents the beginning of the end... 368 00:27:17,563 --> 00:27:18,683 ..for me. 369 00:27:18,683 --> 00:27:22,843 In a sense, that marked to me, like, the destruction of the country 370 00:27:22,843 --> 00:27:26,843 from... in a way that made it irreparable. 371 00:27:32,723 --> 00:27:37,603 The country was disintegrating and getting darker by the day. 372 00:27:37,603 --> 00:27:41,483 And then we would go in and listen to Bremer tell us how good it was. 373 00:27:41,483 --> 00:27:44,523 We have met all of our goals in restoring essential services. 374 00:27:44,523 --> 00:27:47,123 All the schools and hospitals are open. 375 00:27:47,123 --> 00:27:49,723 Electricity is back at pre-war levels. 376 00:27:49,723 --> 00:27:51,643 We're moving ahead with our plan. 377 00:27:51,643 --> 00:27:53,843 Increasingly over time, 378 00:27:53,843 --> 00:27:56,763 it bore absolutely no relationship to reality. 379 00:27:56,763 --> 00:27:59,243 Like, at all. It was like Alice in Wonderland. 380 00:27:59,243 --> 00:28:02,523 The overall thrust is in the right direction and good days outnumber 381 00:28:02,523 --> 00:28:05,683 the bad days, and that's the thing we need to keep in perspective. 382 00:28:08,483 --> 00:28:10,883 PRESIDENT BUSH: Every day, Iraq is making progress. 383 00:28:10,883 --> 00:28:12,683 Every day, Iraq draws closer to the free 384 00:28:12,683 --> 00:28:16,043 and functioning society its people were long denied, 385 00:28:16,043 --> 00:28:19,283 and we will complete the great work we have begun. 386 00:28:19,283 --> 00:28:23,003 The moment when I realised that we were in a situation that we 387 00:28:23,003 --> 00:28:27,043 probably couldn't get out of, was the morning of... 388 00:28:27,043 --> 00:28:28,243 ..it was in October, 389 00:28:28,243 --> 00:28:31,483 it was the first day of Ramadan in 2003. 390 00:28:31,483 --> 00:28:36,643 There was a double suicide car bomb attack 391 00:28:36,643 --> 00:28:39,763 on the International Committee of the Red Cross. 392 00:28:39,763 --> 00:28:42,203 CHAOTIC DIN 393 00:28:46,363 --> 00:28:48,923 SIRENS WAIL 394 00:28:54,603 --> 00:28:58,323 I mean, we got there minutes after the bombs went off, enormous bombs. 395 00:29:00,403 --> 00:29:06,683 It was a horrible situation and I remember standing in the rubble 396 00:29:06,683 --> 00:29:11,123 as people were kind of sobbing and wailing over the bodies 397 00:29:11,123 --> 00:29:13,523 and the body parts that they were finding. 398 00:29:15,123 --> 00:29:19,083 But hearing five other car bombs go off 399 00:29:19,083 --> 00:29:21,523 within the space of about three minutes. 400 00:29:21,523 --> 00:29:24,043 Get back! 401 00:29:24,043 --> 00:29:28,163 And I just thought, you know, "Jesus," you know. 402 00:29:28,163 --> 00:29:31,443 "This is hell, this is hell on Earth." 403 00:29:31,443 --> 00:29:33,563 MAN SHOUTS IN ARABIC 404 00:29:39,723 --> 00:29:41,963 ALARM WAILS 405 00:29:48,563 --> 00:29:53,523 This place is the most dangerous place in Iraq, you know. 406 00:29:53,523 --> 00:29:56,923 I'm asking all the Americans here, or in America or Mr Bush, 407 00:29:56,923 --> 00:30:01,123 because sooner or later we will hate Mr Bush, you know. 408 00:30:01,123 --> 00:30:03,763 Because he is not trying to help civilian people. 409 00:30:03,763 --> 00:30:05,363 SOLDIER: Stay out here. 410 00:30:05,363 --> 00:30:08,283 Why? Why? 411 00:30:08,283 --> 00:30:11,043 We were very safe when Saddam was here. 412 00:30:11,043 --> 00:30:12,723 What happen now? 413 00:30:25,523 --> 00:30:28,963 The attacks spiked in the October, November time period. 414 00:30:28,963 --> 00:30:31,243 Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. 415 00:30:32,763 --> 00:30:35,123 Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. 416 00:30:32,763 --> 00:30:35,123 DEAFENING EXPLOSION 417 00:30:37,803 --> 00:30:41,283 The RPGs and the IEDs, those are all pretty good weapons of terror. 418 00:30:45,243 --> 00:30:47,683 LOUD EXPLOSION 419 00:30:47,683 --> 00:30:49,483 Those things are ruthless. 420 00:30:49,483 --> 00:30:52,523 I mean, it's terrifying, it's paralysing. 421 00:30:52,523 --> 00:30:54,523 It's a paralysing fear. 422 00:30:54,523 --> 00:30:57,003 Allahu Akbar. 423 00:30:57,003 --> 00:30:58,523 LOUD EXPLOSION 424 00:31:05,243 --> 00:31:08,883 After a while, I would start patrolling in the Bradley 425 00:31:08,883 --> 00:31:10,883 with my fingers inside the cupola - 426 00:31:10,883 --> 00:31:13,043 I just didn't want to lose my fingers. 427 00:31:13,043 --> 00:31:14,763 Isn't that funny? 428 00:31:14,763 --> 00:31:18,163 I was always afraid my fingers were going to get blown away. 429 00:31:20,603 --> 00:31:22,683 Despite his men being attacked daily, 430 00:31:22,683 --> 00:31:25,603 Sassaman continued to meet local leaders. 431 00:31:27,963 --> 00:31:30,203 He even took the initiative to set up elections 432 00:31:30,203 --> 00:31:32,163 for the Balad Town Council. 433 00:31:32,163 --> 00:31:34,683 Lots of photos, everybody's having fun. 434 00:31:34,683 --> 00:31:36,763 It's fun, it's exciting. 435 00:31:38,123 --> 00:31:40,683 The whole idea was to like, you know, 436 00:31:40,683 --> 00:31:43,643 get this institution of, you know, political reform. 437 00:31:43,643 --> 00:31:46,923 I mean, this was like, people were walking for miles 438 00:31:46,923 --> 00:31:48,883 to, like, cast their ballot. 439 00:31:54,003 --> 00:31:55,683 We may have been the first area 440 00:31:55,683 --> 00:31:59,603 that ran the first democratic elections in Iraq. 441 00:32:01,083 --> 00:32:03,283 They were, like, hungry to govern themselves 442 00:32:03,283 --> 00:32:06,323 and not to be stomped on all of the time, and you could tell. 443 00:32:10,483 --> 00:32:12,763 It was amazing, it was amazing. 444 00:32:12,763 --> 00:32:15,123 It was moving. I was moved by it. 445 00:32:18,203 --> 00:32:22,683 It was, like, so exciting and you could feel that they had never... 446 00:32:25,603 --> 00:32:29,523 ..they just never had that opportunity to vote, 447 00:32:29,523 --> 00:32:31,963 where they could have a voice. 448 00:32:33,483 --> 00:32:38,003 And this is, this is, this is the core of being a human. 449 00:32:39,363 --> 00:32:41,763 Having a voice in where you live. 450 00:32:44,523 --> 00:32:46,523 Does that sound naive? No. 451 00:32:47,843 --> 00:32:48,963 OK. 452 00:32:54,603 --> 00:32:58,123 Witnessing that scene, I thought, well, God, 453 00:32:58,123 --> 00:33:02,643 if we can do this everywhere, you know, maybe it'll work. 454 00:33:20,043 --> 00:33:23,843 There's the colonel with Hannah and Hashique. 455 00:33:23,843 --> 00:33:26,043 They're ready for another picture. 456 00:33:39,123 --> 00:33:44,283 So it was basically the effort to build an Iraqi state, 457 00:33:44,283 --> 00:33:49,203 and at the same time, this growing insurgency 458 00:33:49,203 --> 00:33:51,443 which threatens the whole thing. 459 00:33:51,443 --> 00:33:53,203 And it was like, you could see it, 460 00:33:53,203 --> 00:33:55,883 it was both of those things were co-existing at the same time 461 00:33:55,883 --> 00:33:58,363 and they were in a race with each other. 462 00:33:58,363 --> 00:34:00,483 You know, which one of these was going to win? 463 00:34:01,763 --> 00:34:05,363 The problem is, we'd have the sheikh meeting and then that night, 464 00:34:05,363 --> 00:34:07,603 they're picking up their weapons and fighting us. 465 00:34:09,243 --> 00:34:11,643 It's like, come on, man. 466 00:34:09,243 --> 00:34:11,643 HE CHUCKLES 467 00:34:13,843 --> 00:34:15,563 LOUD EXPLOSION 468 00:34:15,563 --> 00:34:18,163 NEWS COMMENTARY: Another attack in broad daylight. 469 00:34:20,323 --> 00:34:22,723 In one of the most volatile parts of the country. 470 00:34:22,723 --> 00:34:27,323 Burning wreckage on the horizon and more American dead. 471 00:34:27,323 --> 00:34:31,203 This, the latest of a string of attacks in and around Fallujah, 472 00:34:31,203 --> 00:34:34,763 a killing ground for US troops. 473 00:34:34,763 --> 00:34:37,403 You know, there were units in other places that were just 474 00:34:37,403 --> 00:34:40,003 getting their teeth handed to them through softer tactics, 475 00:34:40,003 --> 00:34:42,403 and some of those units got hurt bad. 476 00:34:42,403 --> 00:34:44,363 That was not how I wanted to run the battalion. 477 00:34:47,843 --> 00:34:49,803 If anyone shot at one of our soldiers, 478 00:34:49,803 --> 00:34:52,523 I was going to do absolutely everything in my power to 479 00:34:52,523 --> 00:34:58,243 make sure that was going to be their last day on the face of the Earth. 480 00:34:58,243 --> 00:35:02,283 And I went to extraordinary lengths to make sure that happened. 481 00:35:02,283 --> 00:35:05,083 You've got to meet aggression with controlled violence. 482 00:35:05,083 --> 00:35:08,043 A lot of people will say violence leads to more violence. 483 00:35:08,043 --> 00:35:11,483 I'll tell you that controlled violence leads to no more violence. 484 00:35:11,483 --> 00:35:13,483 Yesterday, they fired from north west. 485 00:35:15,723 --> 00:35:17,843 SOLDIER CHEERS 486 00:35:18,963 --> 00:35:22,403 There was a large proportion of attacks that were emanating 487 00:35:22,403 --> 00:35:24,283 out of this area. 488 00:35:24,283 --> 00:35:26,123 And guess what? 489 00:35:26,123 --> 00:35:28,043 The attacks went down. 490 00:35:38,883 --> 00:35:42,763 Sassaman's battalion had yet to suffer a fatal casualty. 491 00:35:42,763 --> 00:35:45,563 His aggressive tactics to quell the insurgency 492 00:35:45,563 --> 00:35:48,803 were endorsed by the US Army's most high-ranking officers. 493 00:35:50,083 --> 00:35:53,803 We had three- and four-star generals coming through on a regular basis. 494 00:35:53,803 --> 00:35:56,963 There's only ten four-stars in the entire army, you know, 495 00:35:56,963 --> 00:35:58,883 and we had several come through, 496 00:35:58,883 --> 00:36:00,923 to say, "Look at the model of progress these guys 497 00:36:00,923 --> 00:36:01,963 "have worked through." 498 00:36:01,963 --> 00:36:05,043 First thing is that I'm absolutely proud of you all, 499 00:36:05,043 --> 00:36:06,683 all of you, and what you've done. 500 00:36:06,683 --> 00:36:09,003 What I don't want you to do is to lose your edge, 501 00:36:09,003 --> 00:36:13,003 and to remember that, you know, that there are still bad guys out there, 502 00:36:13,003 --> 00:36:17,163 and that you've got to remain balanced and aggressive, 503 00:36:17,163 --> 00:36:18,883 and, er, to keep your head up. 504 00:36:18,883 --> 00:36:22,003 But you're... you've just done magnificently. 505 00:36:22,003 --> 00:36:25,283 My standard was, everyone was going to come back alive. 506 00:36:25,283 --> 00:36:28,443 But, you know, the plan is great, and it's like Mike Tyson - 507 00:36:28,443 --> 00:36:30,563 the plan is great till somebody hits you in the face, 508 00:36:30,563 --> 00:36:32,923 and then, you know, the plan kind of changes. 509 00:36:32,923 --> 00:36:35,723 VOICE ON RADIO: 5406. 510 00:36:37,243 --> 00:36:41,123 On 17th November, Sassaman's men were patrolling 511 00:36:41,123 --> 00:36:43,763 a few miles outside of Balad in Abu Hishma. 512 00:36:45,803 --> 00:36:49,563 Abu Hishma's hardcore Sunni, dudes want to fight all the time. 513 00:36:49,563 --> 00:36:51,763 But it's a little, sleepy village. 514 00:36:53,283 --> 00:36:55,843 Yeah, there are some bad things that go down there. 515 00:36:58,043 --> 00:36:59,883 And that's when, and that's when, um... 516 00:37:01,123 --> 00:37:02,883 ..Staff Sergeant Dale Panchot is killed, 517 00:37:02,883 --> 00:37:06,243 in what's pretty much the most sophisticated ambush I think we saw, 518 00:37:06,243 --> 00:37:09,763 which was launched with a volley of RPGs, eight or nine. 519 00:37:12,723 --> 00:37:16,563 Staff Sergeant Dale Panchot, I mourn him as a brother. 520 00:37:16,563 --> 00:37:20,883 I will always have a special place in my heart for Dale Panchot. 521 00:37:20,883 --> 00:37:22,483 God bless him and his family. 522 00:37:25,323 --> 00:37:29,843 There is no greater honour than to lead men and women in combat. 523 00:37:29,843 --> 00:37:33,763 But there is no sense of greater failure than to come home... 524 00:37:36,043 --> 00:37:38,163 ..with men on your command that died. 525 00:37:40,163 --> 00:37:41,723 Please rise for roll call. 526 00:37:45,163 --> 00:37:47,603 Private Short. Here, First Sergeant. 527 00:37:47,603 --> 00:37:49,123 Specialist Hamilton. 528 00:37:49,123 --> 00:37:51,043 Here, First Sergeant. 529 00:37:51,043 --> 00:37:52,283 Sergeant Panchot. 530 00:37:54,843 --> 00:37:57,003 Staff Sergeant Dale Panchot. 531 00:37:59,643 --> 00:38:02,363 Staff Sergeant Dale A Panchot. 532 00:38:09,763 --> 00:38:13,723 MUSIC: Last Post 533 00:38:15,483 --> 00:38:20,323 I think 17 November would be an accurate date, 2003, 534 00:38:20,323 --> 00:38:23,843 to say when, er, some of my optimism went away. 535 00:38:30,523 --> 00:38:32,563 This is where Dale Panchot was killed, 536 00:38:32,563 --> 00:38:34,683 just on the outskirts of Abu Hishma. 537 00:38:36,603 --> 00:38:38,043 Yeah, Dale was killed right there. 538 00:38:38,043 --> 00:38:39,803 Hell, yeah, baby! 539 00:38:39,803 --> 00:38:42,283 Burn, motherfucker, burn. 540 00:38:42,283 --> 00:38:45,083 We cleared a square mile of palm trees, 541 00:38:45,083 --> 00:38:47,603 so it couldn't be used again to attack. 542 00:38:47,603 --> 00:38:50,043 That was fucking sweet! 543 00:38:50,043 --> 00:38:51,483 Yeah! 544 00:38:51,483 --> 00:38:53,523 It's just weird, James, because I'm just, 545 00:38:53,523 --> 00:38:55,563 I'm just back in the fight, dude. 546 00:38:55,563 --> 00:38:58,283 I'm just back, I'm back there. I'm like... I'm back. 547 00:39:11,283 --> 00:39:16,203 Rashid Al Hishmawi comes from a family of farmers in Abu Hishma. 548 00:39:26,243 --> 00:39:28,763 Things got real Draconian after that. 549 00:39:28,763 --> 00:39:30,843 We, like, barbed-wired the entire village. 550 00:39:34,043 --> 00:39:37,523 So, we wired them in, with curfews, 551 00:39:37,523 --> 00:39:41,003 and they had to have an ID card to leave and come back in. 552 00:39:43,843 --> 00:39:46,603 We would not have done that if Dale hadn't died. 553 00:39:46,603 --> 00:39:50,563 It was more of just like punishment and retribution for the attacks 554 00:39:50,563 --> 00:39:53,163 that they had been committing on American forces. 555 00:39:53,163 --> 00:39:56,283 DOG BARKS 556 00:39:58,283 --> 00:40:01,083 I was driving around the Sunni Triangle. 557 00:40:01,083 --> 00:40:03,403 We came across Abu Hishma. 558 00:40:03,403 --> 00:40:07,603 I remember Dexter as saying, "Some colonel is doing, like, 559 00:40:07,603 --> 00:40:10,763 "Israeli tactics, and I think we should go and do a story on it." 560 00:40:13,283 --> 00:40:16,483 There's nothing funny about what happened at Abu Hishma at all. 561 00:40:18,043 --> 00:40:20,563 Ashley Gilbertson photographed the war 562 00:40:20,563 --> 00:40:23,643 on assignment for the New York Times. 563 00:40:23,643 --> 00:40:25,083 God, it was so fucked up. 564 00:40:27,843 --> 00:40:30,043 The tactics of wrapping a town in barbed wire 565 00:40:30,043 --> 00:40:35,083 imprisoned an entire Iraqi population in their own homes. 566 00:40:35,083 --> 00:40:38,483 "It was like, "Whoa, what is going on here?" you know? 567 00:40:43,883 --> 00:40:47,883 So, there were signs that said, "If you cross this fence, 568 00:40:47,883 --> 00:40:49,763 "you'll be shot." 569 00:40:51,723 --> 00:40:55,443 I didn't want to put up with any kind of resistance to us. 570 00:40:55,443 --> 00:40:57,003 We were the law. 571 00:41:05,483 --> 00:41:08,003 Man, what are you going to do? Are you going to do this 572 00:41:08,003 --> 00:41:11,043 to every village? You know, are you going to do this to Baghdad? 573 00:41:11,043 --> 00:41:13,483 Like, what are you doing? You know, this is crazy. 574 00:41:13,483 --> 00:41:15,523 And this, I found really troubling. 575 00:41:15,523 --> 00:41:18,523 This is a guy who's having his ID made. 576 00:41:18,523 --> 00:41:21,403 I can only imagine what that must do 577 00:41:21,403 --> 00:41:25,163 to the civilian...occupants of that town - their town. 578 00:41:40,683 --> 00:41:42,323 20357. 579 00:41:42,323 --> 00:41:44,243 Sassaman was enraged. 580 00:41:44,243 --> 00:41:48,203 Sassaman was...feared in the area. 581 00:41:48,203 --> 00:41:50,363 We're having to drop a bomb right now for... 582 00:41:50,363 --> 00:41:53,123 ..for where they shot at us yesterday. 583 00:41:53,123 --> 00:41:55,483 Five-minute window, sir. They want to drop it now. 584 00:41:55,483 --> 00:41:57,923 OK. We're good. 585 00:41:57,923 --> 00:41:59,603 MISSILE WHIZZES 586 00:41:59,603 --> 00:42:00,803 MISSILE EXPLODES 587 00:42:00,803 --> 00:42:03,763 We were trying to eliminate all these different threats. 588 00:42:03,763 --> 00:42:06,883 The rules of engagement were such that, "You can smoke them." 589 00:42:07,883 --> 00:42:09,523 "You can take them out." 590 00:42:09,523 --> 00:42:12,643 This is one of the houses that was destroyed by Sassaman, 591 00:42:12,643 --> 00:42:14,243 er, in an air strike. 592 00:42:29,163 --> 00:42:31,883 Did you have to deal with civilians that had been killed? 593 00:42:31,883 --> 00:42:32,923 Yeah. 594 00:42:34,323 --> 00:42:38,443 Yeah, we dealt with the first one in Abu Hishma, which was... 595 00:42:38,443 --> 00:42:39,803 ..which was, which was, 596 00:42:39,803 --> 00:42:42,403 which was...it was devastating. 597 00:42:42,403 --> 00:42:46,403 Um, you know, it wasn't an attack on their family compound, 598 00:42:46,403 --> 00:42:49,363 it was on targets, but the meteorological data 599 00:42:49,363 --> 00:42:51,883 hadn't been updated, so the rounds fell short. 600 00:42:54,243 --> 00:42:55,603 You know, it's just, I don't know, 601 00:42:55,603 --> 00:42:59,243 it's got to be that way in all of the history of warfare. 602 00:42:59,243 --> 00:43:02,243 That's...that's...that's part of when you push the button 603 00:43:02,243 --> 00:43:06,163 and decide we're going somewhere, that, um... 604 00:43:07,963 --> 00:43:09,963 Yeah, the folks of that land are going to... 605 00:43:09,963 --> 00:43:11,523 There's going to be suffering. 606 00:43:11,523 --> 00:43:13,883 There's going to be a lot of pain and suffering. 607 00:43:18,523 --> 00:43:21,963 GUNSHOTS 608 00:43:21,963 --> 00:43:24,243 Good morning, dickheads. Wake up! 609 00:43:25,363 --> 00:43:27,163 Ladies, get out of the way. 610 00:43:27,163 --> 00:43:28,363 Move out of the way. 611 00:43:46,483 --> 00:43:49,163 Yeah, you fucking speaking English, too, don't you, you little prick? 612 00:43:49,163 --> 00:43:50,483 HE RESPONDS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE 613 00:43:50,483 --> 00:43:52,403 AMERICAN MIMICS PRISONER 614 00:43:50,483 --> 00:43:52,403 Yeah, fuck you, too. 615 00:43:52,403 --> 00:43:54,763 You speak English, and I know you speak English, 616 00:43:54,763 --> 00:43:57,443 and I'm not your boyfriend, so don't smile at me. 617 00:43:57,443 --> 00:44:01,883 Yeah, they took all the guys away, you know, zip-cuffed them. 618 00:44:01,883 --> 00:44:06,563 This is not just futile, this is, er, this is a catastrophe. 619 00:44:07,603 --> 00:44:08,883 The company jail. 620 00:44:08,883 --> 00:44:12,083 Say hello to everyone back home! Hello! Hi. 621 00:44:13,323 --> 00:44:16,523 Oh, he loves America. Awww, isn't that sweet?! 622 00:44:24,603 --> 00:44:26,763 They spend all day in the prison cells, 623 00:44:26,763 --> 00:44:29,483 so they need to get out and do some stretching. 624 00:44:29,483 --> 00:44:31,683 One, two, three. 625 00:44:31,683 --> 00:44:33,843 One, two, three. 626 00:44:38,083 --> 00:44:41,563 ON TAPE: Not too often they see rain, huh? Probably not. 627 00:44:44,883 --> 00:44:46,603 HE SIGHS 628 00:44:48,083 --> 00:44:51,083 This is tough. I watch that clip, I'm like... 629 00:44:51,083 --> 00:44:53,523 INTERVIEWER: Is this something you find sort of 630 00:44:53,523 --> 00:44:55,243 personally a bit troubling? 631 00:44:55,243 --> 00:44:56,723 Yeah. 632 00:44:56,723 --> 00:44:58,123 Yeah. 633 00:44:59,203 --> 00:45:04,843 Just set up for some friction there, and dehumanising kind of deals. 634 00:45:06,563 --> 00:45:09,163 Yeah, yeah. On your knees. On your knees. Come on! Get down! 635 00:45:09,163 --> 00:45:12,563 These tactics weren't limited to Sassaman's battalion. 636 00:45:12,563 --> 00:45:14,363 No. Down. Get down! 637 00:45:14,363 --> 00:45:16,083 MAN GROANS IN PAIN 638 00:45:16,083 --> 00:45:19,603 Other American forces were doing the same across the country. 639 00:45:21,803 --> 00:45:23,803 Get...down. 640 00:45:25,163 --> 00:45:28,323 This is not liberation activity, it's not peacekeeping, 641 00:45:28,323 --> 00:45:31,163 rebuilding, no. It's an all-out war. 642 00:45:32,403 --> 00:45:33,963 They were just hardcore. 643 00:45:39,803 --> 00:45:44,003 American forces had difficulties distinguishing insurgents from 644 00:45:44,003 --> 00:45:48,923 civilians, so the order was to treat everyone as a potential threat. 645 00:45:50,283 --> 00:45:52,443 We went in for some night raids. 646 00:45:52,443 --> 00:45:54,283 There was no discrimination. 647 00:45:54,283 --> 00:45:58,403 They went to every house and, man, they did not knock. 648 00:45:58,403 --> 00:46:00,083 BANGING 649 00:46:02,563 --> 00:46:05,203 You know, they'd go in there and they'd just tear the house up, 650 00:46:05,203 --> 00:46:06,723 like, looking for guns. 651 00:46:06,723 --> 00:46:08,083 Outside! 652 00:46:08,083 --> 00:46:11,123 That was happening across the Sunni Triangle 653 00:46:11,123 --> 00:46:12,523 several times a night. 654 00:46:12,523 --> 00:46:14,843 You know, in villages everywhere, every night. 655 00:46:14,843 --> 00:46:16,843 Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. 656 00:46:18,403 --> 00:46:19,803 Hey, lay the BLEEP down. 657 00:46:19,803 --> 00:46:23,803 Lay the BLEEP down. Lay down. Lay the BLEEP down! Lay down! 658 00:46:23,803 --> 00:46:25,883 FEMALE SOBS 659 00:46:25,883 --> 00:46:29,723 Then three times in a week, you have 40 men go through your house, 660 00:46:29,723 --> 00:46:32,043 go through your wife's underwear drawer. 661 00:46:32,043 --> 00:46:33,283 SHE WAILS 662 00:46:33,283 --> 00:46:34,683 It's humiliating. 663 00:46:38,403 --> 00:46:41,643 PEOPLE SHOUT IN OWN LANGUAGE 664 00:46:48,523 --> 00:46:49,923 SHE SOBS 665 00:47:03,203 --> 00:47:06,243 Every day, all over the country at any given time, 666 00:47:06,243 --> 00:47:07,683 there were doors being kicked in, 667 00:47:07,683 --> 00:47:11,363 there were guys being dragged outside, detained, taken away. 668 00:47:12,923 --> 00:47:14,603 There is humiliation, degradation. 669 00:47:14,603 --> 00:47:16,803 We don't have jobs, we don't have security, 670 00:47:16,803 --> 00:47:20,483 we don't have anything, and now you come and you break down our homes?! 671 00:47:24,043 --> 00:47:26,843 Iraq is a very tribal, patriarchal country. 672 00:47:26,843 --> 00:47:30,643 You know, our honour is represented by those whom we protect. 673 00:47:31,883 --> 00:47:34,643 You know, atop of which stands our women. 674 00:47:37,003 --> 00:47:42,203 And it's also a society in which you are obligated to avenge 675 00:47:42,203 --> 00:47:43,883 a wrong or a humiliation. 676 00:47:43,883 --> 00:47:46,323 You are absolutely required to do that. 677 00:47:49,083 --> 00:47:54,483 Anyone who was not a member of the insurgency 678 00:47:54,483 --> 00:47:56,403 when you went into that village 679 00:47:56,403 --> 00:48:00,083 would sure as hell be a member of the insurgency by the time you left. 680 00:48:03,603 --> 00:48:09,563 You took this tiny insurgency, uh, tiny in the beginning, 681 00:48:09,563 --> 00:48:12,563 and then just, you know, like pumped it up. 682 00:48:12,563 --> 00:48:15,443 It was like a wildfire. You know, it was everywhere. 683 00:48:15,443 --> 00:48:20,443 We make some...calamitous mistakes. 684 00:48:20,443 --> 00:48:23,803 You're making folks enemies for life, 685 00:48:23,803 --> 00:48:24,963 like that. 686 00:48:24,963 --> 00:48:27,083 Fire in the hole! 687 00:48:52,403 --> 00:48:55,123 SHE LAUGHS 688 00:49:15,003 --> 00:49:17,963 SPEAKS TEARFULLY IN OWN LANGUAGE 689 00:49:20,283 --> 00:49:23,163 SHE SOBS 690 00:49:40,923 --> 00:49:43,803 Sassaman and his men were placed in an impossible situation. 691 00:49:43,803 --> 00:49:46,843 They didn't speak the language, they were surrounded by a population 692 00:49:46,843 --> 00:49:49,763 that loathed them, and their mission was to, like, 693 00:49:49,763 --> 00:49:53,523 bring order and, like, build a democracy, or build a new state. 694 00:49:55,243 --> 00:49:58,163 Like... Good luck, man. You know? 695 00:50:02,683 --> 00:50:05,203 So we deal with Dale's death... 696 00:50:05,203 --> 00:50:07,843 And then I got orders to take the battalion to Samara. 697 00:50:11,643 --> 00:50:16,443 Samara, 80 miles north of Baghdad, had a largely Sunni population. 698 00:50:17,643 --> 00:50:21,203 Saddam Hussein had been captured in December 2003... 699 00:50:21,203 --> 00:50:24,083 MACHINE-GUN FIRE 700 00:50:24,083 --> 00:50:28,323 ..which led to an upsurge in violence against US forces. 701 00:50:28,323 --> 00:50:31,003 PEOPLE CHANT 702 00:50:32,643 --> 00:50:34,763 Now I was going to have to pick up the battalion 703 00:50:34,763 --> 00:50:36,083 and go up to this place, 704 00:50:36,083 --> 00:50:38,803 because the unit up there couldn't get it done. 705 00:50:38,803 --> 00:50:40,563 "Send Sassaman." 706 00:50:40,563 --> 00:50:42,363 Yeah. Send Sassaman. 707 00:50:43,843 --> 00:50:46,163 The only reason we were asked to go up there is 708 00:50:46,163 --> 00:50:48,563 cos we were aggressive, so it was like... 709 00:50:48,563 --> 00:50:50,003 Showdown. 710 00:50:50,963 --> 00:50:54,843 Samara, for too long, has been pushing folks around, 711 00:50:54,843 --> 00:50:58,363 and terrorising it, and it ends... it ends this morning. 712 00:50:59,763 --> 00:51:03,003 NEWSREEL: The soldiers blew their way into house after house, 713 00:51:03,003 --> 00:51:07,003 each door pushed in by a quarter pound of plastic explosive. 714 00:51:07,003 --> 00:51:09,323 Samara's completely out of control. 715 00:51:09,323 --> 00:51:11,883 They openly defied American authority. 716 00:51:11,883 --> 00:51:15,843 So what day is today? It's Christmas. It's Christmas. 717 00:51:15,843 --> 00:51:18,363 And so, what's the mission... 718 00:51:15,843 --> 00:51:18,363 AUDIO FADES OUT 719 00:51:20,883 --> 00:51:23,363 # Holy night... # 720 00:51:23,363 --> 00:51:25,683 Yeah, so Christmas in Samara was not where I thought 721 00:51:25,683 --> 00:51:27,363 we would spend Christmas. 722 00:51:27,363 --> 00:51:30,683 The missions sucked and the people hated us. 723 00:51:30,683 --> 00:51:33,923 We hunkered down in this warehouse. 724 00:51:33,923 --> 00:51:41,883 # Round yon virgin mother and child 725 00:51:41,883 --> 00:51:47,003 # Holy infant so tender... # 726 00:51:47,003 --> 00:51:50,443 Dude, it was chaos, man. With guys who want to fight. 727 00:51:53,163 --> 00:51:58,603 We were in a godforsaken place, and I'm clearly on the dark side now. 728 00:52:04,243 --> 00:52:07,843 When I say going over to the dark side, 729 00:52:07,843 --> 00:52:12,043 I get really focused on combat operations. 730 00:52:12,043 --> 00:52:13,723 Are you more dangerous? 731 00:52:15,003 --> 00:52:18,603 Yeah. We were... Yeah, we were lethal. 732 00:52:23,883 --> 00:52:26,163 What do you do if you're Colonel Sassaman? 733 00:52:26,163 --> 00:52:27,923 You, like, take the gloves off, 734 00:52:27,923 --> 00:52:29,403 and you kill more people. 735 00:52:36,963 --> 00:52:38,563 He lost it. You know? 736 00:52:38,563 --> 00:52:41,723 Man, he like, spun out of control, you know? 737 00:52:41,723 --> 00:52:43,843 Nobody's getting away with nothing. 738 00:52:46,723 --> 00:52:48,803 GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS 739 00:52:52,483 --> 00:52:55,283 It was akin to killing an ant with a sledgehammer. 740 00:52:56,923 --> 00:52:58,963 They were going to disappear. 741 00:53:01,003 --> 00:53:03,203 You're surrounded by this death. 742 00:53:03,203 --> 00:53:06,763 Not just death, but then this...just carnage. 743 00:53:06,763 --> 00:53:08,243 HE WAILS 744 00:53:10,483 --> 00:53:11,883 What I hoped to believe, 745 00:53:11,883 --> 00:53:17,083 all in the name of giving the Iraqi people an opportunity for a... 746 00:53:17,083 --> 00:53:19,683 ..for a better... For a better deal for them. 747 00:53:22,163 --> 00:53:24,603 But, man, sometimes it's hard to see that. 748 00:53:29,603 --> 00:53:34,683 My whole experience over months with Colonel Sassaman was, 749 00:53:34,683 --> 00:53:36,963 it was a kind of descent, 750 00:53:36,963 --> 00:53:43,763 but it was totally clear that that was the kind of logical progression 751 00:53:43,763 --> 00:53:45,883 of where things were headed, you know? 752 00:53:45,883 --> 00:53:48,083 And not just with him, but like everywhere. 753 00:53:48,083 --> 00:53:51,323 It was becoming more violent everywhere, everywhere. 754 00:53:52,483 --> 00:53:54,523 GUNFIRE, SHOUTING 755 00:54:06,363 --> 00:54:10,563 And so, it became this kind of psychotic, bloodthirsty, you know... 756 00:54:10,563 --> 00:54:12,563 "Begin the apocalypse of Iraq." 757 00:54:12,563 --> 00:54:15,523 GUNFIRE 758 00:54:17,203 --> 00:54:20,443 Once you think that you've hit that threshold of, OK, 759 00:54:20,443 --> 00:54:22,883 this is the bottom now, we've reached it... 760 00:54:24,163 --> 00:54:26,523 ..obviously things are going to get better. 761 00:54:26,523 --> 00:54:30,843 But no, got worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. 762 00:54:40,523 --> 00:54:43,363 CAR HORNS 763 00:54:56,283 --> 00:55:00,723 In 2004, Nate Sassaman was officially reprimanded 764 00:55:00,723 --> 00:55:02,443 after some of his men were convicted 765 00:55:02,443 --> 00:55:04,963 for the assault of two Iraqi detainees. 766 00:55:07,243 --> 00:55:09,923 A year later, he retired from the army. 767 00:55:09,923 --> 00:55:13,963 You know, I'm retired military. I had the... 768 00:55:13,963 --> 00:55:18,483 ..just the honour to lead over 1,000 men and women in combat, 769 00:55:18,483 --> 00:55:22,283 and lucky us, we got to be right in the middle of the Sunni Triangle, 770 00:55:22,283 --> 00:55:23,723 so it was really exciting. 771 00:55:23,723 --> 00:55:27,603 I had about five years of leadership experiences packed into about 772 00:55:27,603 --> 00:55:29,883 13... 12, 13 months. 773 00:55:29,883 --> 00:55:31,363 Do you consider yourself a leader? 774 00:55:32,603 --> 00:55:35,523 AS VOICEOVER: I like just to say I teach leadership. Yeah, I really 775 00:55:35,523 --> 00:55:38,643 enjoy being in the classroom. I have a passion for people, you can see. 776 00:55:38,643 --> 00:55:42,403 It's relationship-based leadership. You got to know your people. 777 00:55:42,403 --> 00:55:44,043 You got to know each other. 778 00:55:44,963 --> 00:55:49,643 VOICEOVER: As I sit here now 16 years later, I'm still trapped, 779 00:55:49,643 --> 00:55:53,243 commanding my battalion in Iraq, and I can't get out of it. 780 00:55:56,243 --> 00:55:58,363 HE SIGHS 781 00:56:00,563 --> 00:56:03,203 It's not a physical fight, it's a mental fight now. 782 00:56:07,963 --> 00:56:10,803 Trucks, as far as you can see. 783 00:56:10,803 --> 00:56:13,363 And there comes the new guys! 784 00:56:14,443 --> 00:56:16,363 Sad for them. 785 00:56:16,363 --> 00:56:19,003 Two little kids wandering by. 786 00:56:19,003 --> 00:56:21,363 You know what, the kids were great. 787 00:56:21,363 --> 00:56:22,883 The kids were great. 788 00:56:22,883 --> 00:56:24,643 Right now we've got a whole... 789 00:56:26,043 --> 00:56:29,523 Kids just want to be kids, and we robbed those kids of that. 790 00:56:29,523 --> 00:56:31,363 We did. 791 00:56:31,363 --> 00:56:32,683 We did that. 792 00:56:33,843 --> 00:56:37,083 We did that when we pressed that button and we put everybody... 793 00:56:37,083 --> 00:56:38,723 And that's just...that's just it. 794 00:56:38,723 --> 00:56:42,203 War as an institution is pure evil. 795 00:56:42,203 --> 00:56:44,963 It's pure evil. But I just... 796 00:56:44,963 --> 00:56:47,563 You know, this is really the sole reason I'm sitting 797 00:56:47,563 --> 00:56:50,763 in this chair, is that when we get to 2038, 798 00:56:50,763 --> 00:56:53,723 and there's a whole nother generation of lawmakers, 799 00:56:53,723 --> 00:56:58,283 instead of us rushing into things, I feel like we rushed so badly, 800 00:56:58,283 --> 00:57:02,523 that we sit back and we go through a whole bunch of other options 801 00:57:02,523 --> 00:57:06,163 before we set the force in action, 802 00:57:06,163 --> 00:57:10,043 because once the force is put into action, you can't pull it back. 803 00:57:10,043 --> 00:57:12,283 SHOUTING AND SCREAMING ON VIDEO 804 00:57:17,443 --> 00:57:19,163 LOUD SCREAM 805 00:57:22,083 --> 00:57:23,963 SHE SNIFFS 806 00:57:31,003 --> 00:57:32,803 SHE CRIES 807 00:58:13,123 --> 00:58:15,683 Fallujah was bad from the beginning. 808 00:58:15,683 --> 00:58:18,603 It had become, like, a giant car bomb factory. 809 00:58:30,203 --> 00:58:33,443 Every time I look at the number of deaths, 810 00:58:33,443 --> 00:58:37,003 I see that one of those guys died because of a decision that I made. 811 00:58:38,283 --> 00:58:40,683 I'm here today because another man died.