1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,000 This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing and very strong language. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,560 CHILDREN CHEER 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,600 May 2003. 4 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:20,880 In the weeks following the invasion of Iraq, 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,040 American troops were welcomed onto the streets of Baghdad. 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:25,960 No Saddam. No Saddam. 7 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:59,440 That sense of joy was a definite truth. 8 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,520 Now, the question is - how long did it last? 9 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,360 And that was not long. 10 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,640 Iraq was in absolute chaos. 11 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,560 What's been going on here? 12 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,480 A fucking war's going on. 13 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:16,840 GUNSHOTS 14 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,360 The regime of Saddam Hussein is no more. 15 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:22,280 America's more secure. 16 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:23,800 The world is more peaceful. 17 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,120 And the long-suffering people of Iraq are now free. 18 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,080 The politicians have had their say. 19 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,520 The evidence about Saddam having actual biological 20 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,040 and chemical weapons has turned out to be wrong. 21 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,920 In this series, the story of the Iraq War 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,600 is told by the civilians, journalists and soldiers 23 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,160 who lived through the 2003 invasion 24 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,080 and the years of chaos that continue to this day. 25 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:50,640 Through their eyes, 26 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,200 we'll see how events in Iraq have changed the world. 27 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:56,960 Ultimately, war - 28 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:02,240 it's a kind of laboratory of the human condition in extremis. 29 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,560 YELLING 30 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,080 You see the best of people and you see the worst. 31 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,560 You see moments of incredible heroism, 32 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,160 and also hatred and irresponsibility. 33 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:36,520 You know, I think back to Iraq 2003 kind of as the best year 34 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,160 and worst year of my life. 35 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:50,560 When I got back, I mean, my kids didn't know me 36 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,040 and I didn't know them. At all. 37 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,840 It was weird being back here. 38 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,200 Yeah, and I didn't do good with the reintegration. 39 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,640 I mean, you drive on a highway, 40 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:05,760 all I could think about for a while was waiting for the IED blast. 41 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,080 And I'm driving, this guy comes around 42 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,440 and totally gives me the finger, and I swear to God, 43 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,160 if I'd had my 9mm, I would have blown his brains out right there. 44 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,080 It would've taken me two seconds. 45 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:19,280 I was out of control, man. 46 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,040 And I'll never fire a weapon again. 47 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:24,120 Ever. 48 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,440 Protect and strengthen this band of brothers 49 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,080 as we endeavour to do your will. 50 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:35,600 A month after the invasion, there were 150,000 US troops across Iraq. 51 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:37,160 It is for you that we battle. 52 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,080 Lt Col Nate Sassaman led a battalion of almost 1,000 soldiers. 53 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,800 Send along your congratulations to Sgt Howard, as well. 54 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,280 OK, men, that's all I got. You guys are doing a great job. 55 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,040 Yeah, I'm good, I'm there. 56 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:53,480 I'm right there. 57 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,520 I'm back in Iraq right now. 58 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:56,840 I rarely go back there. 59 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,320 And frankly, I don't talk about it at all. Ever. 60 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:02,680 Unless I'm with a veteran. 61 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:13,680 Nate Sassaman, son of a Methodist minister, star quarterback, 62 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,360 total star in the Army, destined to be a general. 63 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,680 Sassaman was the most impressive officer I met in Iraq. 64 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,760 Dexter Filkins covered the Iraq War for the New York Times. 65 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:28,480 He wrote about Sassaman's year-long tour. 66 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,400 What Sassaman, I think, experienced was perfect microcosm 67 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:36,840 for what happened in the war at large. 68 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,160 Hi, I'm Lt Col Nate Sassaman, 69 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,280 former West Point quarterback for 1984, 70 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:44,840 and the battalion commander for 1st Battalion 8th Infantry Regiment 71 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:46,360 serving here in Balad, Iraq. 72 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,080 I'd like to introduce you to my special friend... 73 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:52,000 I seem to be a likeable fella. 74 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,760 I kind of wanted to meet everybody. 75 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:59,520 How about a little raki coffee here to go with my prayers? 76 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:04,920 I knew virtually almost nothing on Iraq and the Muslim culture, 77 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,480 as a commander who then got to control 78 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,080 one of the main provinces in the country of Iraq. 79 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:13,960 Yeah. 80 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:19,720 In the early days, I actually think we were trying to go in there 81 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:21,720 and make it right for the folks. 82 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:23,200 Get some stability. 83 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,600 We would be doing the noble thing of helping reconstruct this country. 84 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,440 This place is Adhamiyah District. 85 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,320 First of all, it's a very old district here in Baghdad. 86 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:51,800 Second of all, it's very, very public... 87 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,200 After the invasion, things were changing so fast. 88 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,640 Like, you turn from a kid into... 89 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,040 ..someone that has to be rigid, cold, you know, 90 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:03,560 and it's like, just to survive. 91 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Waleed Nesyif lived in Baghdad and was 18 when the war started. 92 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:12,520 As an English speaker, 93 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:16,280 he managed to secure a job as a translator for foreign journalists. 94 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:18,880 We're going to go now for a very, very public place, 95 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:20,920 so we have to be careful, OK? 96 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,600 One of the things that I used to do is basically drive around the city. 97 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,760 Take a journalist with me and we'd just drive around. 98 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:28,920 It's a ghost town... 99 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,920 ..that is destroyed - either by bombs or looting. 100 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,960 And then Iraqis were under this impression, it's like, 101 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,920 "OK, this is the greatest power in the world. 102 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,360 "They're going to come and rebuild everything in, like, months." 103 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:57,600 Month one passed, there's still no electricity, there's still no water. 104 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,800 Baghdad became like a city of garbage. 105 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,480 You know, like, even during Saddam's time, man, 106 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:16,840 like, I remember Baghdad was clean. 107 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,400 There was sanitation. And now, it's just like... 108 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,640 And you're meant to continue functioning as a sane human being. 109 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,400 Six weeks after the invasion, 110 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,520 George W Bush landed on an aircraft carrier off the coast of San Diego. 111 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,520 Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. 112 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,760 In the Battle of Iraq, the United States 113 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,760 and our allies have prevailed. 114 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,440 CHEERING 115 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:06,360 "Mission accomplished." 116 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:10,600 Yeah? 117 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:11,640 Seriously? 118 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,000 And now, our coalition is engaged in securing 119 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,400 and reconstructing that country. 120 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,480 That was the time, again, when people started questioning. 121 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,120 You know, it was like, "OK, well, since mission is accomplished 122 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:31,240 "and everything is good right now, when is security going to be there?" 123 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:32,760 Because there is no security. 124 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:36,480 GUNSHOTS 125 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,480 You know, all this by American support. 126 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:42,320 It happen by the American support. 127 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,280 People started taking matters within their own hands, right? 128 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:55,360 So, for instance, 129 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,680 security starting being imposed by the people of the neighbourhood. 130 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:08,880 EXPLOSION 131 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:10,680 Everybody had a gun. 132 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:12,920 Strange car comes in, it's like, "Who the fuck are you? 133 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:15,360 "What do you want? Who are you coming to visit?" 134 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,840 Americans will pass by, they didn't really give a shit. 135 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,640 I remember this image, literally, of a guy with a donkey 136 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:28,400 pulling a cart with Katyusha rocket launcher on it. 137 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,760 Just driving on the street, you know, 138 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,320 and the Americans passing by, "Hello." 139 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,680 What is he going to do with it? 140 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:37,200 Use it or sell it, right? 141 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,720 Simple things are what we were asking for. 142 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:45,440 Very simple. 143 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,840 Dignity, electricity, and some semblance of security. 144 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,600 These things, had they happened, 145 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:58,400 Iraqis would not have reacted in the way they did to the American Army. 146 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,720 The Star-Spangled Banner 147 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:24,120 OK, please be seated. We'll have a few words from Col Sassaman. 148 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,560 I pray for a lot of things every day. 149 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:28,040 But mostly, I pray for wisdom. 150 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:29,080 I pray for wisdom... 151 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:35,240 There's this euphoria feeling that, wow, you're in a foreign land... 152 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,400 ..we got a bunch of forces here, we've got a mission. 153 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,040 You know, what is my... What is... 154 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,040 You know, how am I going to make... 155 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:46,680 ..the best progress 156 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:52,160 in this 750 sq km area that I've been given as my area of operation? 157 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,440 Sassaman's battalion was stationed just over 50 miles 158 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,760 north of Baghdad, in the city of Balad. 159 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,120 It's right there in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. 160 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:11,120 We're smack dab in the middle, and this is our home now for the next... 161 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:12,160 ..for the next year. 162 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,000 On a map, if you start with Baghdad 163 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,200 and go out to basically the Jordanian border, 164 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:22,880 and then up to Mosul, and then down the Tigris, 165 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:24,440 it looks like a triangle. 166 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,880 That's where... That's where the majority of the Sunnis are. 167 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:32,440 Saddam Hussein was born in the Sunni Triangle. 168 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:34,560 Sassaman and his men found themselves 169 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:37,440 amongst his most ardent supporters. 170 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:38,600 How you doing? 171 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:54,520 That, I think, is like the first time 172 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,840 I accepted an invitation from a sheikh. 173 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,400 Trying to, like, set up some kind of dialogue. 174 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:01,640 Right here? 175 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,200 It was believed that if the Army won the hearts and minds 176 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,800 of the Iraqi people, that security, democracy, 177 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,760 and the reconstruction efforts would all fall into place. 178 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:14,960 The way I was winning hearts and minds 179 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,560 was engaging with you in dialogue. 180 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:21,040 I don't know, I was always trying to find some common ground 181 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:24,560 and to talk to the sheikhs or the leaders. 182 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:28,840 Frank, can you get it... Can you get it any closer to me, Frank? 183 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:30,400 That's what I want to know. 184 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,480 All the soldiers that I was talking to, they said, 185 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,880 "You've got to spend some time with Col Sassaman." 186 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:37,360 Like, "He's the guy." 187 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,360 And you could tell he had kind of a wider view of the war. 188 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,960 It's my job, along with the sheikhs, to maintain the peace 189 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,040 so that we can rebuild Iraq with dollars. 190 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,280 Along with everything else, we want to be able to get electricity 191 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:56,320 to everybody all the time. 192 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:57,920 The Iraqis, like, loved him. 193 00:12:57,920 --> 00:12:59,760 They were, like, gathering around him. 194 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:01,320 He was incredibly charismatic. 195 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:04,640 If there's any country in the world that needs a little peace, 196 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:05,880 it's right here in Iraq. 197 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:11,760 They quickly realised I enjoy a Coca-Cola. 198 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:13,840 And I would hold it up and I would go, 199 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:15,560 "Man, what a great world we live in." 200 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:19,200 That, like, a Judeo-Christian white man 201 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:23,560 can come over into your country and we can drink Coke together. 202 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:27,000 Now, I thought that was funny, I don't think they did as much. 203 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:32,400 You can see in the video, there's some sceptical dudes in that group. 204 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,080 There was kind of like this, "What just happened?" 205 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,760 It's kind of like the Martians have just landed. 206 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,320 You know, we were trying to do some reconstruction 207 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:45,960 for the local clinics. 208 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,720 I can remember the first one I went to in that area, 209 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:51,000 and I'm telling you, the woman running it 210 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,200 had to have been 50 or 60. She was hard as woodpecker lips. 211 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,960 She goes, "I don't want any of your stuff. I don't want you here. 212 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:00,000 "I want you to go back to the United States. 213 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:01,840 "I never want to see you again." 214 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:07,360 That's my first personal effort to reconstruct the area. 215 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,360 They were not interested in the Americans being there 216 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,280 and whatever we were bringing for reconstruction. 217 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,360 And they were definitely not interested in hearts and minds. 218 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:26,520 In May, George W Bush's presidential envoy arrived. 219 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,920 Paul Bremer was appointed to oversee reconstruction 220 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,520 and implement democracy in Iraq. 221 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:37,040 He was to become the most powerful man in the country. 222 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,560 We're not here to be a colonial power. 223 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:41,960 We're here to help turn over, as quickly as we can 224 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,880 efficiently do it, to the Iraqi people their country. 225 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:46,280 Thank you very much. 226 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:54,600 Within days of his arrival, 227 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:59,360 Bremer issued two orders that would irreversibly change Iraq's future. 228 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,160 Saddam Hussein was a truly evil man. 229 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:09,320 And those who were on high before - in particular the Ba'athists, 230 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,520 who used their power to repress the Iraqi people - 231 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,280 will be removed from office. 232 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,200 Shortly, I will issue an order on measures to extirpate 233 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,840 Ba'athists and Ba'athism from Iraq forever. 234 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,040 They did this whole sham of the de-Ba'athification. 235 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,000 You've got to go and renounce the Ba'ath Party 236 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:30,920 so you can basically re-engage. 237 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:32,120 But I was a Ba'athist. 238 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,960 And I was. Everyone in Iraq was Ba'athist. 239 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,080 You cannot not be a Ba'athist. 240 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,240 It's like... It's basically saying no to Saddam. 241 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,080 And who's going to say no to Saddam? 242 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,280 Like, everybody was in the Ba'ath Party, you know? 243 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,480 If you were a school principal, you joined the Ba'ath Party. 244 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,160 If you were a teacher, you joined the Ba'ath Party. 245 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,360 Iraq was a functioning, sophisticated, 246 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:03,600 middle-class society, and it essentially gutted the Iraqi state. 247 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,200 It just put all those people on the street. 248 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:09,440 I haven't any money. Do you have a family? 249 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:10,760 Do you have children? 250 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:12,920 Yes, I have, a big family. 11. 11. 251 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:14,920 11 persons. 252 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,800 The de-Ba'athification was the crippling blow 253 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:22,320 to the reconstruction. 254 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:26,240 Not only does the whole country come to a standstill 255 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,600 because the teachers can't teach, the hospitals are shutting down, 256 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,960 I mean, we're not letting anybody do their job, 257 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:33,800 because they have a Ba'athist card. 258 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,320 Who's going to reconstruct the country? Me? 259 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:41,240 Me and my soldiers, are we going to? 260 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:43,000 We're going to be the guys to... 261 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,960 ..to restore power and teach the kids? 262 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,160 And set up the police stations? 263 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,480 We're not staying there for the rest of our lives, 264 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:55,960 so it has to be the guys who have the Ba'athist cards. 265 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:02,080 Soon afterwards, Bremer issued order number two - 266 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,800 to dissolve the entire Iraqi military 267 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,840 that was seen by many as loyal to Saddam. 268 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,520 SOLDIERS CHANT 269 00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:20,720 This meant there were another 400,000 men out of work. 270 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,400 Every family in Iraq had an army personnel in it, you know, 271 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,160 this was our salaries, this was their job. 272 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,080 This is the only thing that they knew, like, my father being one. 273 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:33,760 Here's my dad. 274 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:37,920 Assalaamu alaikum. 275 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,120 THEY CONVERSE IN ARABIC 276 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:41,440 Erm... 277 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:42,600 Colonel. 278 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:44,840 He was a colonel in the army. 279 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,520 CONVERSES IN ARABIC 280 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:51,000 So you have people like my father, who spent all of his life 281 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:52,840 serving in the army. 282 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:54,720 He knew nothing but that. 283 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,600 Now, all of a sudden, you have hundreds of thousands 284 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,120 of individuals with actual skills, 285 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:04,960 abundance of weapons, abundance. 286 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:10,040 What I just remember is the streets had been lined 287 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,240 with hundreds if not thousands of young men. 288 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:17,440 And they couldn't support their families. 289 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:18,760 I mean... 290 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:22,200 Oh, man. 291 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:32,560 You need to help us. I don't need to help you with shit. 292 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,560 Get away from me. Let's go. 293 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:36,920 THEY CONVERSE IN ARABIC 294 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:44,480 A lot of young, bearded, man-robed folks that were not happy. 295 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,600 VEHICLE HORNS BLARE 296 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,120 They're not, like, older generation people. 297 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:02,880 These are the most physically able men in Iraq. 298 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,360 And they're from a long lineage of warriors 299 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:14,240 who have fought for centuries to protect their homeland there. 300 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,040 Dude, their country's not 200 years old. 301 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:23,760 We set up the perfect conditions. 302 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:26,280 It's the perfect storm for an insurgency. 303 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,360 HE SIGHS 304 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,120 So, in the beginning, the insurgency was overwhelmingly, 305 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:41,240 almost exclusively driven by the Sunni Arabs. 306 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:47,440 The Sunni Triangle, that was the epicentre of the insurgency. 307 00:19:57,640 --> 00:19:59,440 We knew we were going to be attacked. 308 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:01,720 Wasn't a matter of if, it was when. 309 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:08,240 We started seeing a lot of different insurgency cells attacking us. 310 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:12,200 They started in July, and once the fight started, 311 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,320 I think we started averaging about seven or eight a day. 312 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,360 Guidons, guidons, guidons. 313 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:18,760 This is Eagle Six, 314 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,520 and welcome to the Friday night Fighting Eagle FM update. 315 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:23,840 EXPLOSIONS 316 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,440 So you might have small arms, mortars, 317 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,880 IEDs or a combination thereof. 318 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,160 Three to four mortar rounds were reported 319 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,440 as to landing within the vicinity. 320 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,280 We have 18 soldiers who are wounded. 321 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,200 I had some folks that were wounded early on, you know, badly. 322 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,400 Yeah, you know you're in it. I was always like, never underestimate... 323 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:02,800 I've always been 324 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,240 a never underestimate your enemy type of guy. 325 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,360 I don't care if they're running around in, like, 326 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:10,640 black pyjamas or rags, 327 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,440 and they're, you know, they're not outfitted. 328 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,800 It's their land, it's their territory, it's their turf. 329 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,520 HELICOPTER BLADES WHIR 330 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,760 During the summer, the fledgling insurgency 331 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,520 spread from the Sunni Triangle to cities across the country. 332 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,320 Waleed witnessed the aftermath of one of the first insurgent attacks 333 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,920 on American forces in Baghdad. 334 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,960 In fact, we're going for Haifa Street in order to do 335 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,920 a follow up for a story 336 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:51,040 of an explosion happened for a Humvee for the... 337 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,320 I remember going and doing this story. 338 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,960 There is an attack near an American Humvee 339 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,640 but then kids were there and they all got basically 340 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,000 shredded by shrapnel, some of them died, some of them survived. 341 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,320 And something happened that just fucked me up that day 342 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:09,840 for a long, long time. 343 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:12,760 WALEED SPEAKS ARABIC 344 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,960 Waleed visited the families three weeks after the attack. 345 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:20,240 The whole casualties of this was 17 child, 5 of them get killed. 346 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:23,400 And 12 of them were injured. 347 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:26,760 A girl lost her eye. 348 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,480 Completely lost her eye. 349 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,280 This is the child. 350 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:32,880 She lost her eye. 351 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:35,240 Hello. 352 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,360 WOMAN WEEPS 353 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:01,600 Alaa... 354 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:11,720 OK. 355 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,760 WOMAN SHRIEKS 356 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:24,200 That's it. 357 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:34,280 Her daughter was seriously injured in this attack. 358 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,040 They were in the street. 359 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,440 WOMAN WAILS 360 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,400 WOMAN WEEPS 361 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,760 FOOTAGE PLAYS 362 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:36,120 Ai... 363 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,760 This generation have seen absolutely nothing but this now. 364 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,480 If I was lucky enough to live throughout the '80s and the '90s, 365 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:56,400 where we had some semblance of security, 366 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:00,520 safety, we had fun with our friends and all of that, 367 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,880 these kids have seen absolutely nothing. 368 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,920 I mean, that girl represents the beginning of the end... 369 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:18,640 ..for me. 370 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,800 In a sense, that marked to me, like, the destruction of the country 371 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,800 from... in a way that made it irreparable. 372 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:37,560 The country was disintegrating and getting darker by the day. 373 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,440 And then we would go in and listen to Bremer tell us how good it was. 374 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,480 We have met all of our goals in restoring essential services. 375 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,080 All the schools and hospitals are open. 376 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,680 Electricity is back at pre-war levels. 377 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:51,600 We're moving ahead with our plan. 378 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:53,800 Increasingly over time, 379 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,720 it bore absolutely no relationship to reality. 380 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,200 Like, at all. It was like Alice in Wonderland. 381 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,480 The overall thrust is in the right direction and good days outnumber 382 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,640 the bad days, and that's the thing we need to keep in perspective. 383 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:10,840 Every day, Iraq is making progress. 384 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:12,640 Every day, Iraq draws closer to the free 385 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,000 and functioning society its people were long denied, 386 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,240 and we will complete the great work we have begun. 387 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,960 The moment when I realised that we were in a situation that we 388 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,000 probably couldn't get out of, was the morning of... 389 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:28,200 ..it was in October, 390 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,440 it was the first day of Ramadan in 2003. 391 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:36,600 There was a double suicide car bomb attack 392 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,720 on the International Committee of the Red Cross. 393 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,160 CHAOTIC DIN 394 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,880 SIRENS WAIL 395 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:58,280 I mean, we got there minutes after the bombs went off, enormous bombs. 396 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:06,640 It was a horrible situation and I remember standing in the rubble 397 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:11,080 as people were kind of sobbing and wailing over the bodies 398 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,480 and the body parts that they were finding. 399 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,040 But hearing five other car bombs go off 400 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,480 within the space of about three minutes. 401 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,000 Get back! 402 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,120 And I just thought, you know, "Jesus," you know. 403 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,400 "This is hell, this is hell on Earth." 404 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,520 MAN SHOUTS IN ARABIC 405 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:41,920 ALARM WAILS 406 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:53,480 This place is the most dangerous place in Iraq, you know. 407 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,880 I'm asking all the Americans here, or in America or Mr Bush, 408 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:01,080 because sooner or later we will hate Mr Bush, you know. 409 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,720 Because he is not trying to help civilian people. 410 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,320 Stay out here. 411 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,240 Why? Why? 412 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,000 We were very safe when Saddam was here. 413 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:12,680 What happen now? 414 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,920 The attacks spiked in the October, November time period. 415 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,200 Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. 416 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:35,080 Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. DEAFENING EXPLOSION 417 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,240 The RPGs and the IEDs, those are all pretty good weapons of terror. 418 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,640 LOUD EXPLOSION 419 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,440 Those things are ruthless. 420 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,480 I mean, it's terrifying, it's paralysing. 421 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:54,480 It's a paralysing fear. 422 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,960 Allahu Akbar. 423 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:58,480 LOUD EXPLOSION 424 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,840 After a while, I would start patrolling in the Bradley 425 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:10,840 with my fingers inside the cupola - 426 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,000 I just didn't want to lose my fingers. 427 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,720 Isn't that funny? 428 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,120 I was always afraid my fingers were going to get blown away. 429 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:22,640 Despite his men being attacked daily, 430 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,560 Sassaman continued to meet local leaders. 431 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,160 He even took the initiative to set up elections 432 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:32,120 for the Balad Town Council. 433 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,640 Lots of photos, everybody's having fun. 434 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,720 It's fun, it's exciting. 435 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,640 The whole idea was to like, you know, 436 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,600 get this institution of, you know, political reform. 437 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,880 I mean, this was like, people were walking for miles 438 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:48,840 to, like, cast their ballot. 439 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:55,640 We may have been the first area 440 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:59,560 that ran the first democratic elections in Iraq. 441 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,240 They were, like, hungry to govern themselves 442 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,280 and not to be stomped on all of the time, and you could tell. 443 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:12,720 It was amazing, it was amazing. 444 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,080 It was moving. I was moved by it. 445 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:22,640 It was, like, so exciting and you could feel that they had never... 446 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:29,480 ..they just never had that opportunity to vote, 447 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:31,920 where they could have a voice. 448 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,960 And this is, this is, this is the core of being a human. 449 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:41,720 Having a voice in where you live. 450 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,480 Does that sound naive? No. 451 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:48,920 OK. 452 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,080 Witnessing that scene, I thought, well, God, 453 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:02,600 if we can do this everywhere, you know, maybe it'll work. 454 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,800 There's the colonel with Hannah and Hashique. 455 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,000 They're ready for another picture. 456 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:44,240 So it was basically the effort to build an Iraqi state, 457 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:49,160 and at the same time, this growing insurgency 458 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,400 which threatens the whole thing. 459 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,160 And it was like, you could see it, 460 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:55,840 it was both of those things were co-existing at the same time 461 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,320 and they were in a race with each other. 462 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:00,440 You know, which one of these was going to win? 463 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:05,320 The problem is, we'd have the sheikh meeting and then that night, 464 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:07,560 they're picking up their weapons and fighting us. 465 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:11,600 It's like, come on, man. HE CHUCKLES 466 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:15,520 LOUD EXPLOSION 467 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,120 Another attack in broad daylight. 468 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,680 In one of the most volatile parts of the country. 469 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:27,280 Burning wreckage on the horizon and more American dead. 470 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:31,160 This, the latest of a string of attacks in and around Fallujah, 471 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:34,720 a killing ground for US troops. 472 00:34:34,720 --> 00:34:37,360 You know, there were units in other places that were just 473 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,960 getting their teeth handed to them through softer tactics, 474 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:42,360 and some of those units got hurt bad. 475 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,320 That was not how I wanted to run the battalion. 476 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:49,760 If anyone shot at one of our soldiers, 477 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,480 I was going to do absolutely everything in my power to 478 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:58,200 make sure that was going to be their last day on the face of the Earth. 479 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:02,240 And I went to extraordinary lengths to make sure that happened. 480 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:05,040 You've got to meet aggression with controlled violence. 481 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:08,000 A lot of people will say violence leads to more violence. 482 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,440 I'll tell you that controlled violence leads to no more violence. 483 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:13,440 Yesterday, they fired from north west. 484 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:17,800 SOLDIER CHEERS 485 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,360 There was a large proportion of attacks that were emanating 486 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,240 out of this area. 487 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:26,080 And guess what? 488 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:28,000 The attacks went down. 489 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:42,720 Sassaman's battalion had yet to suffer a fatal casualty. 490 00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:45,520 His aggressive tactics to quell the insurgency 491 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,760 were endorsed by the US Army's most high-ranking officers. 492 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:53,760 We had three- and four-star generals coming through on a regular basis. 493 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,920 There's only ten four-stars in the entire army, you know, 494 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:58,840 and we had several come through, 495 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:00,880 to say, "Look at the model of progress these guys 496 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:01,920 "have worked through." 497 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,000 First thing is that I'm absolutely proud of you all, 498 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:06,640 all of you, and what you've done. 499 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:08,960 What I don't want you to do is to lose your edge, 500 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:12,960 and to remember that, you know, that there are still bad guys out there, 501 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:17,120 and that you've got to remain balanced and aggressive, 502 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:18,840 and, er, to keep your head up. 503 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:21,960 But you're... you've just done magnificently. 504 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:25,240 My standard was, everyone was going to come back alive. 505 00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:28,400 But, you know, the plan is great, and it's like Mike Tyson - 506 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,520 the plan is great till somebody hits you in the face, 507 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:32,880 and then, you know, the plan kind of changes. 508 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,680 5406. 509 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,080 On 17th November, Sassaman's men were patrolling 510 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,720 a few miles outside of Balad in Abu Hishma. 511 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:49,520 Abu Hishma's hardcore Sunni, dudes want to fight all the time. 512 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:51,720 But it's a little, sleepy village. 513 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:55,800 Yeah, there are some bad things that go down there. 514 00:36:58,000 --> 00:36:59,840 And that's when, and that's when, um... 515 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:02,840 ..Staff Sergeant Dale Panchot is killed, 516 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,200 in what's pretty much the most sophisticated ambush I think we saw, 517 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,720 which was launched with a volley of RPGs, eight or nine. 518 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:16,520 Staff Sergeant Dale Panchot, I mourn him as a brother. 519 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:20,840 I will always have a special place in my heart for Dale Panchot. 520 00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:22,440 God bless him and his family. 521 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,800 There is no greater honour than to lead men and women in combat. 522 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,720 But there is no sense of greater failure than to come home... 523 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,120 ..with men on your command that died. 524 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:41,680 Please rise for roll call. 525 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,560 Private Short. Here, First Sergeant. 526 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,080 Specialist Hamilton. 527 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,000 Here, First Sergeant. 528 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,240 Sergeant Panchot. 529 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:56,960 Staff Sergeant Dale Panchot. 530 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,320 Staff Sergeant Dale A Panchot. 531 00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:13,680 Last Post 532 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:20,280 I think 17 November would be an accurate date, 2003, 533 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,800 to say when, er, some of my optimism went away. 534 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,520 This is where Dale Panchot was killed, 535 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:34,640 just on the outskirts of Abu Hishma. 536 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:38,000 Yeah, Dale was killed right there. 537 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:39,760 Hell, yeah, baby! 538 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,240 Burn, motherfucker, burn. 539 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:45,040 We cleared a square mile of palm trees, 540 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:47,560 so it couldn't be used again to attack. 541 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,000 That was fucking sweet! 542 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:51,440 Yeah! 543 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:53,480 It's just weird, James, because I'm just, 544 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:55,520 I'm just back in the fight, dude. 545 00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,240 I'm just back, I'm back there. I'm like... I'm back. 546 00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:16,160 Rashid Al Hishmawi comes from a family of farmers in Abu Hishma. 547 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:28,720 Things got real Draconian after that. 548 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:30,800 We, like, barbed-wired the entire village. 549 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,480 So, we wired them in, with curfews, 550 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:40,960 and they had to have an ID card to leave and come back in. 551 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:46,560 We would not have done that if Dale hadn't died. 552 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:50,520 It was more of just like punishment and retribution for the attacks 553 00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,120 that they had been committing on American forces. 554 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,240 DOG BARKS 555 00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:01,040 I was driving around the Sunni Triangle. 556 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:03,360 We came across Abu Hishma. 557 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:07,560 I remember Dexter as saying, "Some colonel is doing, like, 558 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,720 "Israeli tactics, and I think we should go and do a story on it." 559 00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:16,440 There's nothing funny about what happened at Abu Hishma at all. 560 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,520 Ashley Gilbertson photographed the war 561 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,600 on assignment for the New York Times. 562 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:25,040 God, it was so fucked up. 563 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,000 The tactics of wrapping a town in barbed wire 564 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:35,040 imprisoned an entire Iraqi population in their own homes. 565 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:38,440 "It was like, "Whoa, what is going on here?" you know? 566 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:47,840 So, there were signs that said, "If you cross this fence, 567 00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:49,720 "you'll be shot." 568 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,400 I didn't want to put up with any kind of resistance to us. 569 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:56,960 We were the law. 570 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:07,960 Man, what are you going to do? Are you going to do this 571 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:11,000 to every village? You know, are you going to do this to Baghdad? 572 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:13,440 Like, what are you doing? You know, this is crazy. 573 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,480 And this, I found really troubling. 574 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,480 This is a guy who's having his ID made. 575 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,360 I can only imagine what that must do 576 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:25,120 to the civilian...occupants of that town - their town. 577 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:42,280 20357. 578 00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,200 Sassaman was enraged. 579 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,160 Sassaman was...feared in the area. 580 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:50,320 We're having to drop a bomb right now for... 581 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,080 ..for where they shot at us yesterday. 582 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:55,440 Five-minute window, sir. They want to drop it now. 583 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:57,880 OK. We're good. 584 00:41:57,880 --> 00:41:59,560 MISSILE WHIZZES 585 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:00,760 MISSILE EXPLODES 586 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:03,720 We were trying to eliminate all these different threats. 587 00:42:03,720 --> 00:42:06,840 The rules of engagement were such that, "You can smoke them." 588 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:09,480 "You can take them out." 589 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:12,600 This is one of the houses that was destroyed by Sassaman, 590 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:14,200 er, in an air strike. 591 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:31,840 Did you have to deal with civilians that had been killed? 592 00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:32,880 Yeah. 593 00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:38,400 Yeah, we dealt with the first one in Abu Hishma, which was... 594 00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:39,760 ..which was, which was, 595 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,360 which was...it was devastating. 596 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,360 Um, you know, it wasn't an attack on their family compound, 597 00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:49,320 it was on targets, but the meteorological data 598 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:51,840 hadn't been updated, so the rounds fell short. 599 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:55,560 You know, it's just, I don't know, 600 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:59,200 it's got to be that way in all of the history of warfare. 601 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:02,200 That's...that's...that's part of when you push the button 602 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:06,120 and decide we're going somewhere, that, um... 603 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:09,920 Yeah, the folks of that land are going to... 604 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:11,480 There's going to be suffering. 605 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,840 There's going to be a lot of pain and suffering. 606 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,920 GUNSHOTS 607 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:24,200 Good morning, dickheads. Wake up! 608 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:27,120 Ladies, get out of the way. 609 00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:28,320 Move out of the way. 610 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:49,120 Yeah, you fucking speaking English, too, don't you, you little prick? 611 00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:50,440 HE RESPONDS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE 612 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:52,360 AMERICAN MIMICS PRISONER Yeah, fuck you, too. 613 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:54,720 You speak English, and I know you speak English, 614 00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:57,400 and I'm not your boyfriend, so don't smile at me. 615 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:01,840 Yeah, they took all the guys away, you know, zip-cuffed them. 616 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:06,520 This is not just futile, this is, er, this is a catastrophe. 617 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:08,840 The company jail. 618 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,040 Say hello to everyone back home! Hello! Hi. 619 00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,480 Oh, he loves America. Awww, isn't that sweet?! 620 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:26,720 They spend all day in the prison cells, 621 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:29,440 so they need to get out and do some stretching. 622 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:31,640 One, two, three. 623 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:33,800 One, two, three. 624 00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:41,520 Not too often they see rain, huh? Probably not. 625 00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:46,560 HE SIGHS 626 00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:51,040 This is tough. I watch that clip, I'm like... 627 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:53,480 Is this something you find sort of 628 00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:55,200 personally a bit troubling? 629 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:56,680 Yeah. 630 00:44:56,680 --> 00:44:58,080 Yeah. 631 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:04,800 Just set up for some friction there, and dehumanising kind of deals. 632 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,120 Yeah, yeah. On your knees. On your knees. Come on! Get down! 633 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,520 These tactics weren't limited to Sassaman's battalion. 634 00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:14,320 No. Down. Get down! 635 00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:16,040 MAN GROANS IN PAIN 636 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:19,560 Other American forces were doing the same across the country. 637 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,760 Get...down. 638 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:28,280 This is not liberation activity, it's not peacekeeping, 639 00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:31,120 rebuilding, no. It's an all-out war. 640 00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:33,920 They were just hardcore. 641 00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,960 American forces had difficulties distinguishing insurgents from 642 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:48,880 civilians, so the order was to treat everyone as a potential threat. 643 00:45:50,240 --> 00:45:52,400 We went in for some night raids. 644 00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:54,240 There was no discrimination. 645 00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:58,360 They went to every house and, man, they did not knock. 646 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,040 BANGING 647 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:05,160 You know, they'd go in there and they'd just tear the house up, 648 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:06,680 like, looking for guns. 649 00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:08,040 Outside! 650 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:11,080 That was happening across the Sunni Triangle 651 00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:12,480 several times a night. 652 00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:14,800 You know, in villages everywhere, every night. 653 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:16,800 Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. 654 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:19,760 Hey, lay the BLEEP down. 655 00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:23,760 Lay the BLEEP down. Lay down. Lay the BLEEP down! Lay down! 656 00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:25,840 FEMALE SOBS 657 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:29,680 Then three times in a week, you have 40 men go through your house, 658 00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:32,000 go through your wife's underwear drawer. 659 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:33,240 SHE WAILS 660 00:46:33,240 --> 00:46:34,640 It's humiliating. 661 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,600 PEOPLE SHOUT IN OWN LANGUAGE 662 00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:49,880 SHE SOBS 663 00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:06,200 Every day, all over the country at any given time, 664 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:07,640 there were doors being kicked in, 665 00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:11,320 there were guys being dragged outside, detained, taken away. 666 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:14,560 There is humiliation, degradation. 667 00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:16,760 We don't have jobs, we don't have security, 668 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:20,440 we don't have anything, and now you come and you break down our homes?! 669 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,800 Iraq is a very tribal, patriarchal country. 670 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,600 You know, our honour is represented by those whom we protect. 671 00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,600 You know, atop of which stands our women. 672 00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:42,160 And it's also a society in which you are obligated to avenge 673 00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:43,840 a wrong or a humiliation. 674 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,280 You are absolutely required to do that. 675 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:54,440 Anyone who was not a member of the insurgency 676 00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:56,360 when you went into that village 677 00:47:56,360 --> 00:48:00,040 would sure as hell be a member of the insurgency by the time you left. 678 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:09,520 You took this tiny insurgency, uh, tiny in the beginning, 679 00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:12,520 and then just, you know, like pumped it up. 680 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:15,400 It was like a wildfire. You know, it was everywhere. 681 00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:20,400 We make some...calamitous mistakes. 682 00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:23,760 You're making folks enemies for life, 683 00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:24,920 like that. 684 00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:27,040 Fire in the hole! 685 00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:55,080 SHE LAUGHS 686 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:17,920 SPEAKS TEARFULLY IN OWN LANGUAGE 687 00:49:20,240 --> 00:49:23,120 SHE SOBS 688 00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:43,760 Sassaman and his men were placed in an impossible situation. 689 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:46,800 They didn't speak the language, they were surrounded by a population 690 00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:49,720 that loathed them, and their mission was to, like, 691 00:49:49,720 --> 00:49:53,480 bring order and, like, build a democracy, or build a new state. 692 00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:58,120 Like... Good luck, man. You know? 693 00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:05,160 So we deal with Dale's death... 694 00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:07,800 And then I got orders to take the battalion to Samara. 695 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:16,400 Samara, 80 miles north of Baghdad, had a largely Sunni population. 696 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:21,160 Saddam Hussein had been captured in December 2003... 697 00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:24,040 MACHINE-GUN FIRE 698 00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:28,280 ..which led to an upsurge in violence against US forces. 699 00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:30,960 PEOPLE CHANT 700 00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:34,720 Now I was going to have to pick up the battalion 701 00:50:34,720 --> 00:50:36,040 and go up to this place, 702 00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:38,760 because the unit up there couldn't get it done. 703 00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:40,520 "Send Sassaman." 704 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:42,320 Yeah. Send Sassaman. 705 00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:46,120 The only reason we were asked to go up there is 706 00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:48,520 cos we were aggressive, so it was like... 707 00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:49,960 Showdown. 708 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:54,800 Samara, for too long, has been pushing folks around, 709 00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:58,320 and terrorising it, and it ends... it ends this morning. 710 00:50:59,720 --> 00:51:02,960 The soldiers blew their way into house after house, 711 00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:06,960 each door pushed in by a quarter pound of plastic explosive. 712 00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:09,280 Samara's completely out of control. 713 00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:11,840 They openly defied American authority. 714 00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:15,800 So what day is today? It's Christmas. It's Christmas. 715 00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:18,320 And so, what's the mission... AUDIO FADES OUT 716 00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:23,320 # Holy night... # 717 00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:25,640 Yeah, so Christmas in Samara was not where I thought 718 00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:27,320 we would spend Christmas. 719 00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:30,640 The missions sucked and the people hated us. 720 00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:33,880 We hunkered down in this warehouse. 721 00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:41,840 # Round yon virgin mother and child 722 00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:46,960 # Holy infant so tender... # 723 00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:50,400 Dude, it was chaos, man. With guys who want to fight. 724 00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:58,560 We were in a godforsaken place, and I'm clearly on the dark side now. 725 00:52:04,200 --> 00:52:07,800 When I say going over to the dark side, 726 00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:12,000 I get really focused on combat operations. 727 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:13,680 Are you more dangerous? 728 00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:18,560 Yeah. We were... Yeah, we were lethal. 729 00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:26,120 What do you do if you're Colonel Sassaman? 730 00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:27,880 You, like, take the gloves off, 731 00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:29,360 and you kill more people. 732 00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:38,520 He lost it. You know? 733 00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:41,680 Man, he like, spun out of control, you know? 734 00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:43,800 Nobody's getting away with nothing. 735 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:48,760 GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS 736 00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:55,240 It was akin to killing an ant with a sledgehammer. 737 00:52:56,880 --> 00:52:58,920 They were going to disappear. 738 00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,160 You're surrounded by this death. 739 00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:06,720 Not just death, but then this...just carnage. 740 00:53:06,720 --> 00:53:08,200 HE WAILS 741 00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:11,840 What I hoped to believe, 742 00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:17,040 all in the name of giving the Iraqi people an opportunity for a... 743 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:19,640 ..for a better... For a better deal for them. 744 00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:24,560 But, man, sometimes it's hard to see that. 745 00:53:29,560 --> 00:53:34,640 My whole experience over months with Colonel Sassaman was, 746 00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:36,920 it was a kind of descent, 747 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:43,720 but it was totally clear that that was the kind of logical progression 748 00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:45,840 of where things were headed, you know? 749 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:48,040 And not just with him, but like everywhere. 750 00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:51,280 It was becoming more violent everywhere, everywhere. 751 00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:54,480 GUNFIRE, SHOUTING 752 00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:10,520 And so, it became this kind of psychotic, bloodthirsty, you know... 753 00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:12,520 "Begin the apocalypse of Iraq." 754 00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:15,480 GUNFIRE 755 00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:20,400 Once you think that you've hit that threshold of, OK, 756 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:22,840 this is the bottom now, we've reached it... 757 00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:26,480 ..obviously things are going to get better. 758 00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:30,800 But no, got worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. 759 00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:43,320 CAR HORNS 760 00:54:56,240 --> 00:55:00,680 In 2004, Nate Sassaman was officially reprimanded 761 00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:02,400 after some of his men were convicted 762 00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:04,920 for the assault of two Iraqi detainees. 763 00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:09,880 A year later, he retired from the army. 764 00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:13,920 You know, I'm retired military. I had the... 765 00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:18,440 ..just the honour to lead over 1,000 men and women in combat, 766 00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:22,240 and lucky us, we got to be right in the middle of the Sunni Triangle, 767 00:55:22,240 --> 00:55:23,680 so it was really exciting. 768 00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:27,560 I had about five years of leadership experiences packed into about 769 00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:29,840 13... 12, 13 months. 770 00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:31,320 Do you consider yourself a leader? 771 00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:35,480 I like just to say I teach leadership. Yeah, I really 772 00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:38,600 enjoy being in the classroom. I have a passion for people, you can see. 773 00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:42,360 It's relationship-based leadership. You got to know your people. 774 00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:44,000 You got to know each other. 775 00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:49,600 As I sit here now 16 years later, I'm still trapped, 776 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:53,200 commanding my battalion in Iraq, and I can't get out of it. 777 00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:58,320 HE SIGHS 778 00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:03,160 It's not a physical fight, it's a mental fight now. 779 00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:10,760 Trucks, as far as you can see. 780 00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:13,320 And there comes the new guys! 781 00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:16,320 Sad for them. 782 00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:18,960 Two little kids wandering by. 783 00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:21,320 You know what, the kids were great. 784 00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:22,840 The kids were great. 785 00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:24,600 Right now we've got a whole... 786 00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:29,480 Kids just want to be kids, and we robbed those kids of that. 787 00:56:29,480 --> 00:56:31,320 We did. 788 00:56:31,320 --> 00:56:32,640 We did that. 789 00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:37,040 We did that when we pressed that button and we put everybody... 790 00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:38,680 And that's just...that's just it. 791 00:56:38,680 --> 00:56:42,160 War as an institution is pure evil. 792 00:56:42,160 --> 00:56:44,920 It's pure evil. But I just... 793 00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:47,520 You know, this is really the sole reason I'm sitting 794 00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:50,720 in this chair, is that when we get to 2038, 795 00:56:50,720 --> 00:56:53,680 and there's a whole nother generation of lawmakers, 796 00:56:53,680 --> 00:56:58,240 instead of us rushing into things, I feel like we rushed so badly, 797 00:56:58,240 --> 00:57:02,480 that we sit back and we go through a whole bunch of other options 798 00:57:02,480 --> 00:57:06,120 before we set the force in action, 799 00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:10,000 because once the force is put into action, you can't pull it back. 800 00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:12,240 SHOUTING AND SCREAMING ON VIDEO 801 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:19,120 LOUD SCREAM 802 00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:23,920 SHE SNIFFS 803 00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:32,760 SHE CRIES 804 00:58:13,080 --> 00:58:15,640 Fallujah was bad from the beginning. 805 00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:18,560 It had become, like, a giant car bomb factory. 806 00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:33,400 Every time I look at the number of deaths, 807 00:58:33,400 --> 00:58:36,960 I see that one of those guys died because of a decision that I made. 808 00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:40,640 I'm here today because another man died.