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Live From Baghdad
Sharon Waxman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 12, 2003; 1:00 p.m ET
At a mass grave on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraqis last weekend dug out bodies from a site that may contain the remains of scores of army deserters executed during the final days of Saddam Hussein. On Tuesday, trumpets blared in the capital to announce the arrival of Sherif Ali bin Hussein, heir to the short-lived, now defunct Iraqi throne. And on the streets, security is a major concern -- not only for Iraqis but for American occupation forces.
Washington Post staff writer Sharon Waxman was online Thursday, June 12 at 1 p.m. ET, to take your questions and comments about the latest news from Baghdad.
Waxman has been in Baghdad writing feature stories for the Post Style section about the post-war situation in Iraq. She has worn the full abaya, a new experience for her.
A transcript follows.
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Sharon Waxman: Hey there from Baghdad. It's 9 pm and there is a raucous wedding going on outside my window at the al-Hamra hotel, trumpets, drums and ululating. The wedding party undoubtedly wanted to wait until the 115-plus temperatures dropped, but they only have two hours until curfew, then everyone must be inside. This is the first wedding I"ve heard here, probably a good sign that people are getting married again. Sometimes we have tanks going by outside the window, patrolling. Sometimes they're just coming to the hotel for lunch.
I've been in Iraq for about 10 days, and things seem to be finding some semblence of normalcy in that the markets are full, people have electricity and water in the cities. Security remains a problem. Mainly it's witheringly hot here. I'd be happy to take questions on any subject, though I've been focusing on talking to women here lately, and went out with the experts who find the mass graves this week. They have found 70 sites so far, and there are many more to be found. But ask away....
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Silver Spring, Md.:
My husband is serving in Baghdad with the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, his reserve unit. Can you explain how the various military and non-military groups charged with rebuilding are coordinated, and if you see that they are having any success on particular fronts? What is the true attitude of the Iraqi public on these efforts?
Sharon Waxman: Hi to Silver Spring, I'm sure your husband misses you plenty. The troops I've met here seem very motivated, very professional, impressive on the whole. The military operation is being conducted out of Central Command in Florida and a regional headquarters in Doha, Qatar. That contrasts with the civil operation run by L Paul Bremer, the new king of Iraq - the man can and does issue and sign fiats, though they probably have another name for them - whose headquarters is in Saddam's old palace complex in central Baghdad.
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Arlington, Va.:
We keep hearing about mass graves from the Saddam Hussein era. How about mass graves from the recent war?
Sharon Waxman: The number of mass graves here is quite mind boggling. As I mentioned, U.S. and British experts have designated 70 sites to be mass graves so far, though many of those sites comprise groups of several mass graves. All of those found so far appear to be from previous purges, notably Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1988, 1991 and again in 1998. The only mass grave of recent vintage is the one I wrote about this week, a grave outside of Baghdad which appears to have held about 100-plus victims shot on the eve of Saddam's fall from power. This one was inside an intelligence compound, off limits to Iraqis until the fall of the regime. The American authorities presume there are more, as there were reports of soldiers and prisoners going missing in the middle of the US offensive. But they need to be found. It is very difficult to find these graves unless someone survived the executions or saw them; the sites were selected so that they would never be found. Human rights groups believe there are up to 290,000 people in the mass graves, which would be more than one percent of Iraq's population.
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Washington, D.C.:
Hi. Why are you choosing to wear the abaya? Is this common among Western woman reporters in Iraq? Do you find that Iraqi men will talk to you more easily this way?
Sharon Waxman: I should explain; no, I'm not wearing the abaya most of the time. When I have gone to the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, I have worn the abaya; all the women there do, and it is a necessary sign of respect. In other areas I and other women just make sure to be covered up. I do not cover my hair here, though, unless I'm somewhere conservative, or rural. I covered my hair, for example, at the mass grave, which was out in the desert. It's often better just to err onj the side of caution. I do not have any trouble talking to Iraqi men, or women for that matter.
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Washington, D.C.:
Sharon? Sharon Waxman of Hollywood and Vine?
What are you doing in Baghdad, girl?
Sharon Waxman: Yes, I got an email from someone in Hollywood who was very confused; he said he presumed there were two Sharon Waxmans writing for The Washington Post. I told him I thought that was pretty inventive thinking, though you've got to consider the odds of that....
Some of you may know that I have a long-standing interest in the Middle East, and spent many (most) of my career abroad before moving to Hollywood for the Post. The paper has been good enough to let me come back and lend a hand to the amazingly talented group covering this story.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Do the Iraqi people know how most of the world seems to not care that there are all these unearthings of mass graves, including ones for children, around Iraq? It amazes me how seemingly short the European continent's memories of their own mass graves are.
Sharon Waxman: I don't know if it is true that most of the world does not care about these mass graves. Those most concerned, for obvious reasons, are those who lost family members under Saddam's regime and are desperate to get some sense of closure about the fate of their loved ones. Then there is the question of criminal prosecution, as these graves are all crime scenes. I am writing a larger feature on the issue, on the challenges faced by the forensic archeologists working here, a new scientific expertise that unfortunately has become necessary in the world we live in.
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Fairfax, Va.:
I lived in Baghdad in the 1980s. If traditions have lasted since then, the groom will soon be hanging a bloody sheet out of his hotel window.
That's not an abayah you are wearing in the picture on this site. An abayah is that nasty, hot, black shroud Saudi women wear. Don't wear one. Iraqis used to be more open minded, and didn't force non-Moslems to dress like that.
Sharon Waxman: Yes, I am sweatily aware of what the abaya is, I didn't wear it at the grave site, just in Najaf and Karbala, as I mentioned. You are right, Iraqi society did use to be more open for women - the Baath party was a secular, socialist regime, however totalitarian - and it's another subject I've written about in a piece that's waiting to run. Iraq, like other Arab countries, has experienced a religious revival, and women have come under pressure in recent years to wear the veil and abaya, to stop working, to stay home.
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Washington, D.C.:
Do you feel as though you're in constant immediate danger there, or do you feel safe most of the time?
Sharon Waxman: Not at all. From reading the paper you may think that there are constant firefights and a sense of tension everywhere; that's not really the case. I feel quite secure in Baghdad and travelling outside the city. You have to be more careful in the Saddam strongholds, Tikrit, Fallujah, Ramadi, where the recent attacks on US soldiers have happened. It's also where the US is still staging a large round-up operation in an attempt to get at who is attacking them. It's not clear to me that they know exactly who it is, or how organized they are.
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Hartford, Conn.:
What do the people of Iraq want from the U.S?
Sharon Waxman: Simple question, complicated answer. Iraqis were not happy to be attacked by America, but - speaking generally - they are happy to have Saddam gone. My sense is that it's humiliating for them to be occupied and run by America, which is likely what any of us would feel if we were run by a dictator and rescued and occupied by some foreign country. There is a sense that the US is some all-powerful force, and can - if it just tried hard enough - fix what is wrong with Iraq. There is also a real sense of bitterness, quite justified, over the US abandoning IRaqis who dared to rise up against Saddam in 1991. The man who found the mass grave yesterday, a subsistence farmer who doesn't wear shoes, and basically lives exactly the same as farmers did 3,000 years ago looked me in the eye and said, 'You have a resonsibility for this,' referring to the mass grave. I could not argue with him; the purges in the south after the failed uprising were brutal.
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Morrisville, N.C.:
What is going on there? Lately, all I read and listen to on television is WMD and looting. Do the Iraqi people, in Baghdad, have electricity, drinking water? What is the attitude about U.S. occupation?
Sharon Waxman: The looting is over, the American forces have put a stop to it. Or, possibly, there is nothing left to loot. The markets are full, full, full here of scrap metal, much of it from various looted sites. Even at the mass grave south of Baghdad, the local were carting away the RAILROAD TIES inside the intelligence compound, for scrap. On the one hand you could say it's quite entrepeneurial. On the other hand, it can go a little far: the US is having trouble putting the telephone system back together, for example, because of looting. Two telephone towers in Baghdad were dismantled and removed to sell for scrap.
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Alexandria, Va.:
"It is very difficult to find these graves unless someone survived the executions or saw them; the sites were selected so that they would never be found."
I read this and wonder why the world seems to think we'd find the WMD sites right away. The Hussein regime surely is more concerned with hiding its toys than hiding its victims.
Sharon Waxman: Yes, but it does seem implausible that no one would come forward from the ancien regime to cut a deal and offer information about all the WMDs if they're here. The scientists are still here, as are many in the security apparatus.
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Blacksburg, Va.:
From what you've seen and heard, do most of the people in Baghdad seem angry about our military presence or are many hopeful that the overthrow of Saddam was a good thing that will lead to a better future?
Sharon Waxman: some are both. iraqis definitely want the occupation to end as soon as possible, they are wisely cynical about our means and motives for being here. on the other hand, they are mainly very friendly, not hostile except in those places i mentioned. i definitely find a sense of optimism and real resilience among people. i met 2 iraqi-british young men who have come to visit relatives in the south for the first time in their lives; they came back and reported that people are very optimistic. but of course it will vary. what i have not found here, and i am surprised by it, is a sense of defeatism, or of depression, that i have seen in countries where dictators have beat the people down for so many years, say, romania, for example. (this may be a harsh thing to say, but it is true that i felt much more defeatism on the native american reservations i visited recently in the us than here in iraq.)
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Herndon, Va.:
Ms. W: Are the any of the loud speakers for the five daily calls to prayer close to your hotel? My wife was in Jakarta a few years back and the sound waves blasted her out of bed at 5 a.m.
Sharon Waxman: no, not close enough to blast me out of bed, happily. just a pleasant call in the background. i did have one near my window, however, when i lived in cairo. it can get your attention...
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Gaylord, Mich.:
Why do terrorists do what they do? I think we need to find this out, so we can stop terrorism at the source. This should be the point of emphasis right now for our country. Why do you think they do what they do? And what do you think the appropriate steps to take are? Thank you.
Sharon Waxman: That's an awfully big question, and the answer certainly depends on your world view. certainly it is difficult for americans who live in relative properity and an orderly, civil not to mention democratic society to understand why people would kill innocent people to make a political point. i guess they would argue that they are desperate, powerless and have no other way of getting our attention. others might argue that we need to look at the root causes of terrorism - poverty, lack of democracy and opportunity in developing nations, resentment of american power and, often, arrogance.
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Washington, D.C.:
Sharon, I really enjoyed your piece about the prince heir coming back to Iraq. When you identify yourself as a reporter from a U.S. newspaper, what is the first and most general reaction you get from the Iraqis. Do they separate you as a journalist from you as the American? Thanks!
Sharon Waxman: first and most general reaction to me as US reporter:
"You are most welcome." And then, oddly, at the end of the conversation: "Hallo."
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Norwalk, Conn.:
The more I read about Iraq, the more I am confused. What is the truth:
Baghdad electricity -- getting better?, What steps are being taken to improve the service?
Baghdad hospitals -- How many are operational? Are they adequately staffed?
Baghdad Security -- Status of police force? Are they adequately staffed with equipment? Have our soldiers raped women as claimed by some Iraqis? Now you make think that last question is stupid, but it is symptomatic of the reporting; a lot of antedotal accusations from Iraqis with no factual follow through reporting. How can we get a sense of what is really going on in Iraq on macro and micro level --please give the facts.
Sharon Waxman: The story of that rape is interesting and very instructive. It happened to involve a new newspaper i visited and got to know for a story about the burgeoning media scene. Assaah newspaper reported this week that 2 iraqi girls had died after a gang rape by us soldiers, needless to say a scarily inflammatory item that most of us american reporters found dubious. the american authorities went ballistic, issued a statement saying they had checked it out and found it false, and went on to warn the paper for publishing unverfied info and denounce its publisher as a former friend of saddam who had called for resistance to the american forces. today the paper published a full retraction and a story saying it had fired the 2 reporters who had reported the story, said the ed in chief had gone down to the town (kut) and found the story to be false. still, damage is done as undoubtedly some will still believe it to be true.
and on the humoristic side, i made the back page of that same paper today, as one of the journalists i interviewed used me as the lead in his column. he described me as 'milky white,' which for this country perhaps i am...
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Arlington, Va.:
Madam,
I am very interested in the Iraqi public's perception of Americans. Do they have access to media that may reflect the anti-war/anti-Bush movement in this country, or do they see all Americans as gunslinging cowboys? Thanks.
Sharon Waxman: The Iraqis do seem aware that there was a strong anti-war movement, for that reason they like the French, even though they're glad to be rid of Saddam. I'm not very clear on whether they realized there was a strong antiwar movement in the states, but again, even people who don't like Bush seem to separate between American people and American government.
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Castle Shannon, Pa.:
I saw something about a boy band coming out of Iraq now that Saddam is gone. Do you know anything about this? I'm just curious as to what kind of music they play and if Iraqis are open to something like this.
Sharon Waxman: i saw those guys on arabic cable news too, very cute. sure, why wouldn't they have a shot at stardom in the new iraq? as to their style, what i heard was a cappella.
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New York, N.Y.:
Does there seem to be a clear sense of responsiblity and accountability between Jay Garner and his team, on one hand, and the U.S./British forces, on the other? What is the view of the Iraqi people about the progress being made in establishing public order, getting economic activity moving again and beginning the larger reconstruction effort?
Sharon Waxman: Yes there's a clear difference between the two, though it's Paul Bremer who's running the country now, not Jay Garner.
On the whole I'd say it seems to me that the Iraqi people are willing to wait a while and see if the Americans live up to their promises to reestablish an independent government, restart the economy, begin reconstruction and then leave. If we do not do those things, clearly resentment and discontent will begin to coalesce and find a real expression against American forces here. There are too many soft targets to mention. There will always be, I think, groups inimicably opposed to our presence here, and of course they could do a lot of damage too even without having a lot of support. It strikes me that with basic service mostly back on, we are in a sort of grace period here; but I don't think that me or anyone can tell you how long that will last.
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Norwalk, Conn.:
In your response to a question on Iraqi sentiment on occupation you say they are "wisely cynical" and then you say in the same response that they have "optimism". Can you explain this apparent contradiction.
Sharon Waxman: Just because they are happy to be rid of Saddam doesn't mean they don't think the United States came here for its own strategic and other interests. After all, we could have toppled Saddam and liberated Iraq 12 years ago without a lot less fuss and international resistance - and we chose not to. That said, the Iraqis do expect Americans to behave like the good and decent folks they see on all those television programs (old Star Trek episodes, CHIPS etc); and by the way, the soldiers I've seen here do act quite decently and go out of their way to be respectful. There are exceptions that I have heard about, though not seen myself, and as time goes on I'm sure there will be more of those as the lines blur, soldiers get tired, etc. We are not, as Sherif Ali said, very good as an imperial power.
That's it, I've got to sign off, but it's been fun as always talking to the Post's thoughtful readers. Take care, ciao, or rather - Maa Salaam.
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