Control Room (2004)

[bunniefuu]

You cannot wage a w*r without rumors,

without media,
without propaganda.

Any m*llitary planner...

that plans for a w*r,

if he doesn't put media, propaganda...

on top of his agenda...

he's a bad m*llitary.

- Okay, fine.
- seconds.

Okay, I'll give you a countdown.

- Ten...
- Nine...

Not yet, lmad. Not yet.

Ten...

Nine, eight, seven...

Six, five, four...

Three, two, one.

- Cue.
- Cue.

Cue.

My fellow citizens,

the United Nations Security Council

has not lived up to its responsibilities,

so we will rise to ours.

S*ddam Hussein and his sons

must leave Iraq within hours.

Their refusal to do so will
result in m*llitary conflict

commenced at a time of our choosing.

For their own safety,
all foreign nationals

including journalists and inspectors,

should leave Iraq immediately.

Many Iraqis can hear me tonight
in a translated broadcast,

and I have a message for them:

If we must begin a m*llitary campaign,

it will be directed against the lawless men
who rule your country,

and not against you.

Your fate will depend on your actions,

and it will be no defense to say,

'I was just following orders.'

It is too late for S*ddam Hussein
to remain in power.

We will tear down the apparatus of terror,

and we will help you to build a new Iraq

that is prosperous and free.

I've never, ever in my life

I thought I would live to see this, ever.

Mr Bush is talking about peace.
What peace?

People will be k*lled

and bombarded with all sorts of weapons.

And what about the Arabs?

The Arabs are saying nothing,
objecting to nothing and sleeping.

Do you know what I mean?

If Arabs have the will,
they can stand up to

any enemy.

Do I have the right to kick you
out of your own house

and move in there myself?

The problem now is not S*ddam,

the problem is what the people will go through.

As for S*ddam, I think
if only ten Irakis are left alive,

he will be one of them.

We should pray that God grants him victory.

It's true that S*ddam Hussein was wrong

when he invaded Kuwait,

but now it's different.

To find now, people--

you know, just normal
workers, not intellectuals--

basically saying that S*ddam is our hero,

that says something.

That America managed to--
the American policy of Bush--

managed to galvanize people for S*ddam

in a way that it's just... so amazing.

It's amazing.

My own feeling is that
the message of Al Jazeera is,

first of all, educational,
to educate the Arab masses

on something called democracy.

Respect of the other opinion.

The free debate.
Really free debate.

No taboos.
Nothing is called taboo.

Everything should be dealt with intelligently

and, uh, with openness,

and to try,
while using all these things,

to shake up these rigid societies.

To awaken them.
Tell them, 'Wake up! Wake up!

'There is a world around you.

'Something is happening in the
world. You're still sleeping.

Wake up.' This is the message of Al Jazeera.

Did you get the visas

for the cameramen we're sending to Baghdad?

Yes, we got the go-ahead

and they can leave immediately.

Some of the equipment we're
taking to Baghdad with us.

This is our working gear. Huh?

When are you going to work?

But I don't think we are gonna wear all this.

This and camera...
I don't think so.

We gave our locations
in Mosul, Baghdad and Basra

to the authorities in Washington
and the Pentagon.

We sent official letters
to give them our co-ordinates.

They know the location
of our offices in Baghdad,

as well as the location of
our offices in Basra and Mosul.

How are you, lbrahim?

I am going to CentCom now.

I will not involve Al Jazeera
in anything. Don't worry.

Thank you.

- 'Hello, how are you?'
- Hello. I'm fine.

You're such a star.

What are these people preparing
for, a concert or something?

CentCom blues.

We've seen some, uh, movement
of Republican forces south.

We've been seeing that for a week.

There are a number of
suspicious sites throughout Irak

that we have sensitive site exploitation teams.

Have you gotten any information

on the whereabouts of S*ddam
Hussein and the regime leaders?

I don't have specific information
on where S*ddam Hussein is.

If I did, we'd... we'd go
find him there right now.

But it's about more than
one man, more than men.

It's about the million people of Irak
and bringing them freedom.

That's what we're really here to do.

Hi. How are you?

Josh Rushing.

I was your colleague in
BBC World long time ago.

Yes. Very long time,
in Bush House.

- Yes.
- Yeah. How are you?

- Fine. How are you?
- Who are you working for?

- Al ALJeezra.
- Of Course.

Why 'of course'?

Because everybody who works for the BBC
eventually works for ALJeezra

We believe that Irak
has weapons of mass destruction,

that they had the will to use them against us.

When?
What do you mean?

When did they use them against you?

That they have the will to use them against us?

When? I mean,
do you think Sad--

When you say someone has
the will, that's like saying...

S*ddam will thr*aten the U.S.
with weapons of mass destruction?

Yes.

When?

That's news to me. I'm sorry.

- This is... Now this is news to me.
- Okay...

When? When did S*ddam thr*aten
the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction?

Oh, I see. I'm sorry.
I misunderstood your question.

We believe he had the will

to give them the forces
to use against us, and...

Well, go ahead.

I'm just conveying to you
what people are saying,

that the U.S. is inventing
a purpose as it goes along.

In the beginning it was weapons
of mass destruction, and then

the whole thing transformed
into removing S*ddam from power.

Why do they think we're doing it?
What do they think our motives are?

- No one knows. People think you're...
- Really?

People think you're there
to basically, uh, control, uh,

the oil of Irak,
control the Iraki,

uh, foreign, uh, politics.

Uh, to control the, uh, region.

I won't back down off of my point

when we talk about our intent
in this... in what we're doing.

We're not here to-to occupy an Arab land.

We're not here to take
their oil. We're not here...

to-to k*ll Arabs or take mosques,

or any of the other...
myriad of reasons.

The American media were h*jacked

by some people within their administration...

so as to be used as...

uh...

a leverage for inducing

some fears within the American public.

Every time he used
to elevate the level of danger

from yellow to orange to,
uh, violet or purple.

I don't know what. Okay?

So as to make the Americans always feel

that they are under siege,

and there is a thr*at,
and this thr*at...

was represented by S*ddam Hussein and Irak.

'This guy... could develop
weapons of mass destruction

and give them to O*ama b*n L*den to att*ck us.'

So, when-when y--

a polling, uh,
institute comes to you,

'Do you feel threatened?'

You want to say, 'Yes,
of course I feel threatened.'

'Do you know that this thr*at comes from

a guy called S*ddam Hussein?'

'Huh? Is it?

So nuke him!'

Baghdad? Baghdad?

The sound has dropped.

Are you OK, Maged?

They dropped three missiles on the same target.

He says there is heavy bombing.

Yes. They failed to get S*ddam.
See, what they were hoping for

is cruise missiles falling on Baghdad,

then paratroopers going
in and finishing the job.

Well, that failed.

They bombed this, uh,
place in Northern Irak.

- Smashed completely.
- Pulverized.

Dead bodies en masse.
I mean, why?

We got the pictures and we show them.

Of course we'll get...
we'll get grief

from the Americans for showing
these pictures because...

I guess we would be inciting
rebellion, and it would be

basically instigating anti-American sentiments.

I mean, I'm sorry. They can 't
have their cake and eat it.

I mean, yeah. Okay.

You are the most powerful
nation on Earth. I agree.

You can defeat everybody.
I agree.

You can crush everyone.
I agree.

But don't ask us...
to love it as well.

The question is,
who's going to stop it?

Or to stop the United States?
Who's going to do that?

You need a new, uh, new group.
You need a powerful group.

The United States is going
to stop the United States.

I have absolute confidence
in the American Constitution.

And I have absolute confidence

in the ability of the American people.

The United States people

are going to stop the United States empire.

- Make way.
- Make way.

Make way.
Make way. Make way. Make way.

Civilian casualties are being reported

on the b*ttlefield through a number of sources.

We regret the loss of any
civilians on the b*ttlefield,

and we have done all that we can reasonably do

to prevent that from happening
from the air or on the ground.

But we know for certain there have been
civilians k*lled in this operation

because of the decisions taken by the regime--

to put them in front,
to hide behind 'em,

to use pregnant women
to blow up cars at checkpoints.

We've seen this happen on the b*ttlefield.

Those are not being
investigated by us at this point.

Thanks very much, ladies
and gentlemen. Have a good day.

Here is, uh,
Command Headquarters,

which you call...
What's your little phrase?

Central Command?
Don't you have a short version?

CentCom news desk?

CentCom...
Right. Okay.

CentCom.

Huh?

It's C-E-N-T-C-O-M.

It sounds too much like
'sitcom.' You gotta be careful.

- CentCom...
- Uh-huh.

with U.S. Army and State
Department spokesmen...'

- Right?
- Mm-hmm.

I've gone live on Al Jazeera,
and their questions were...

extremely combative.

They are biased toward S*ddam's regime.

I will give you one example.

When they cut away to
commercial, they have a, uh,

probably a - to -second
montage of video that plays.

Yeah.
Promo video.

It is American w*r planes.
American bombs exploding,

American tanks goin ' across the desert.

And then a... a baby child with
bandages on her head, crying.

And it never shows Iraki troops.

You don't see American troops
treating a wounded P.O.W.

No. You don't see Iraki troops, uh, you know,

taking hostage families
or forcing people to fight

or f*ring on their own.

That brings us back to my point.

Nobody has those pictures.
We, as Americans,

given all the historic,
psychological,

political problems,
vis-à-vis the Arab relations,

have to work a little harder.

And, I repeat, every one
of these damaging assertions...

And I have no reason to disbelieve them,

because they certainly...
there's no reason why

S*ddam Hussein and the Ba'athist
regime isn't doing it,

- Mm-hmm.
- isn't using human shields.

Nevertheless, we don't have the picture of it.

That's why pictures of
these things are so desperate.

That child was basically another
Iraki w*apon of mass destruction.

Wow.

Democracy.

This one. This one.
This one. Get in there.

Get on the f*cking floor!
Get on the f*cking floor!

Get on the f*cking floor!

Face f*cking front!

Face the f*cking front!

So, here's my point.
This guy, S*ddam, is probably

- the biggest thr*at to Arab Muslims
- Mm-hmm.

- that exists on the planet today.
- Right.

He's probably k*lled more Muslims

- than anyone on the planet.
- No question.

No question about it. So...

Al Jazeera should be reporting him as that,

rather than protecting him as that,

- because I think they owe it to their audience.
- Right.

This is a thr*at.
This is a bad guy.

If the Muslim world doesn't know it,
that's 'cause they're not reporting it.

I think they're that ubiquitous
in-in-in the Muslim world.

These people, you know,
the whole world--

but particularly Arabs
who we always empathize with--

have been watching lsraeli troops,

especially in the last year,

crashing into civilian districts, okay,

in Gaza, in the West Bank.

So, what they saw was an lsraeli Army,
which is highly technological. Right?

And the officers are all European-looking,

like you look, like I look.

And these images, unfortunately,
in the Arab psyche

are mingling now,
and the lsraeli soldier

and the American soldier beCome one image.

And the Palestinian civilians
who are being brutalized

somehow blend into the image
of this collateral damage,

or accidental bombings,

and it all becomes one image,
and that's disaster...

for the American side of it in
the... in the Arab perception.

Hey, invaders! Hey, invaders!

You Americans, you cowards!

Welcome to my house,
Mr Bush.

Look at this!
Do you have any humanity?

How can you accept seeing a little girl

crying for her mum and dad?

Where is your humanity?
Where is your conscience?

Where is your God?

We know that ALJeezra has

a pattern of playing propaganda

over and over and over again.

What they do is-is,
when there's a b*mb goes down,

they-they grab some children and some women

and pretend that the b*mb
hit the women and children.

It seems that it's up to all
of us to try to tell the truth,

to say what we know, what
we don 't know, and recognize

that we're dealing with people
that are willing to...

to lie to the world to attempt
to further their case.

And to the extent people lie,

ultimately they are caught lying
and they lose their credibility.

It wouldn't take long for that to happen
dealing with people like this.

Thank you.

We wanted to show that

any w*r has a human cost.

Okay? We focused on that.

There is a human cost.
Because we care for the Iraki people.

We are not like Rumsfeld who says,

'We care for the Iraki people.'
He doesn't care at all.

Okay? We care for them.

We are Arabs like them.
We are Muslims like them.

Your heart can be with your people.

Your soul can be with your people.

But, as a journalist, your primary duty
is to get information.

- Absolutely right.
- Otherwise you would be something else.

A soldier or a diplomat.

I know what you mean, but...
Professionality, l... Okay.

I am representing my, uh, s-station,
but I am also representing my people.

You wanna help your people?
Get information.

Get news for your people.

Yeah. And he's a nice guy,
the lieutenant. You know?

Go to him. Say, 'l really
appreciate it if you could...'

You could interview him.
He'll get on camera in front of you.

You know, but just don't be
combative. That's all. Smile.

- And-and-and be friendly.
- But we are facing w*r here.

I know, but you know
what I mean. I'm talking about the...

Yeah. But you were advising me to smile.

- Yes. But I meant...
- How? How could...

I don't really mean that.
I didn't really...

How could I smile while my people
are being k*lled in Irak? You know?

I was told early this morning

that perhaps our troops were captured,

and if there is somebody captured,

I expect those people to be treated humanely.

Bill and then M ike.

I raqi TV has shown what
appear to be American POWs

and also what appear to be American dead.

I expect them to be treated...

The POWs I expect to be treated humanely.

And, uh, uh...

Just like we're treating...

the prisoners that we have captured, humanely.

I don't understand.

- Yes?
- I don't understand.

From where you came from America?

From Kansas.

Why do you come?

'Cause I was told to come here.

I just follow orders.

You come to k*ll...
to k*ll Iraki people?

No. I come to fix broke stuff.

I-I told to sh**t only if I'm sh*t at.

And they sh*t at me first,
so I sh**t back.

I know... I don't want to k*ll anybody.

Uh, what's your name?

Specialist Joseph Hudson,
.

Where do you come from?

Comin' from El Paso, Texas.

Say again?

Uh...

Why do you come from Texas to Irak?

I follow orders.

What's your name?

Edgar.

What's your name?

Edgar.

Country?

My name is Edgar from United States.

My name... My name is Edgar
from the United States.

What's your name?

Sergeant James Riley.

Where are do you come from?

Texas.

You come from Texas?

Yes.

How... how old are you?

Thirty.

- Yes?
- Thirty.

Thirty...

...calling the kettle black.

Rumsfeld is saying parading
the, uh, footage of the captives

uh, is a violation of the Geneva Convention.

What do you call Guantanamo Bay?
What do you call the Iraki

soldiers parading yesterday
on American television?

What do you call bombing
a city without authorization

from the U. N. Coun-- uh, Security Council?

Now there's a Geneva Convention?

The decision by Al Jazeera
to broadcast such material

is deplorable,

and we call on them to desist
from future broadcasts

of such a nature.

Are we sure about this news?
Are we sure?

Okay.

There's a lot of pressure,
obviously, on Al Jazeera

to withdraw those pictures.

Were you surprised by the
reaction to those photographs?

Um...

I think, uh, they were understandable.

The reactions didn't really surprise me.

If you're an American and you're
seeing dead Americans,

of course it's going to,
um, affect you,

and you're gonna have an emotional reaction.

But, you know, let the people...

understand that this is a w*r
and people are dying.

It's not a clean w*r.
It's a very messy w*r.

It will continue to get messier.

Your journalists have...

have a position on the w*r.

Are they capable of being objective?

That's a good question,
but I ask the same question.

I'll answer the question
by asking the question.

Are any U.S. journalists...

objective about this w*r?

Are any of the news broadcasts that I tune into

not taking a position on the w*r?

And that's absolutely...

Does that justify your position, then?

No. But I'm just trying to show
that this word 'objectivity'

is almost, uh, a mirage.

Um, you know,
if you're in the States...

I mean, the amount of rage directed against us

because we showed soldiers

who had d*ed in combat or in an ambush...

They were soldiers who had d*ed in a w*r zone.

There was rage directed against us.

If there was no agenda,
if there was no...

if there was true neutrality,
there would be a welcoming

of any and all information from all sides.

The night they showed the POWs
and the dead soldiers--

Al Jazeera showed 'em--

it was powerful, 'cause America
doesn 't show those images.

Most of the news in America
won 't show really gory images,

and this showed American soldiers in uniform

strewn about a floor,
a cold tile floor,

and it was, uh, revolting.

It was absolutely revolting.
It made me sick at my stomach.

And then what hit me was,
the night before,

there had been some kind of bombing in Basra,

and Al Jazeera had shown

uh, images of the people.

And the... they were equally,
if not more, horrifying images.

And I remember having seen it in the
Al Jazeera offices and thought to myself,

'Wow. That- That- That's...
That's gross. That's bad.'

And then goin ' away
and eating dinner or something.

You know, it didn't affect me as much. So...

The impact that had on me,
me realizing that...

I-I just saw people on the other
side, and those Al Ja--

people in the Al Jazeera office

must've felt the way I was feeling that night,

and it upset me on a profound level

that I wasn't as bothered
as much the night before.

It-lt makes me hate w*r.

But it doesn't make me
believe that we're in a world

that can live without w*r yet.

Day by day, the Iraqi people
are closer to freedom.

I warn Al Jazeera - stop
your American propaganda.

This w*r is costing billions of dollars.

Where will the US get the money?

They'll get it from Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait and the Emirates.

- They've all opened their safes.
- Irak! They'll get it from Irak.

No! They won't take Irak,
not while we're still breathing.

They might take over some cities

but will they be able to keep control?

Like in Afghanistan, the oil
pipelines are easy to destroy.

Every time they rebuild,
we'll destroy them.

The US m*llitary give information
to the news agencies.

And you and I treat it as
unbiased reporting when, in fact,

it is m*llitary propaganda.

So, for example, they say

they captured a bridge over the Tigris River.

But there are no bridges over that river,

except in the city of Al Kut.

Now the Americans say that
they're still on the way to Al Kut.

So, how could they have taken
the bridge if they're still not there?

So, this American news,
it's all nonsense?

Let's get our graphics producer

and summarise this live on our show.

Welcome back. We now continue with our coverage

of the w*r in Irak.

They say they are km from
the southern tip of Baghdad.

However, they don't specify

what they consider to be
the southern tip of Baghdad,

so they could be km away from Baghdad.

Cut. Thank you. Well done.

Good job.

Al Jazeera has been critical,
but, at the same time,

they've been quite open to us,
inviting the U.S. government officials

to speak directly on their channel

and express the American point of view.

And, uh, that's good.

While we may disagree with certain

editorial policies that they follow,

we do have respect for them as an institution

that has wide reach in the Arab world.

And, uh, as such,

uh, we feel the need
to have their points of view

and the points of view of some of their guests

balanced by our own points of view.

I want to tell you what's on my mind

about what's happening in the Arab world today.

It's similar to what happened
during the w*r.

The shock that happened to the Arab people.

The first few days of the w*r,
the Arab media exaggerated.

They kept talking about

destroying enemy planes and tanks

and built up their hopes
of defeating the opposition.

And in three or four days,

Israel occupied the Sinai,
Ramallah and Jerusalem.

The people were shocked.

And now you keep telling us

about this heroic resistance,

and that the Americans miscalculated

and that the w*r will go on for months.

The Arab media is relying on
emotions and wishful thinking.

OK. But, for example,

we heard that Basra would fall in two days

because it's a Shi'a town.

But it took much longer than that.

We just show different points of view.

What do you think?

Uh, this w*r, American and
British people lose the w*r.

- Will lose the w*r? Why?
- Ya.

- You lose the w*r.
- Why?

Why? Because Iraqi have...

These are the Shi'a of Southern I raq

who are receiving the Americans with flowers.

... uhhhh, forces.

You lose the wars.

We're now watching Al Jazeera,

and, uh, I can tell...

what... what they're showing,

and then I can tell what they're
not showing... by-by choice.

Same thing when I watch Fox on
the other end of the spectrum.

I know which of the stories
they're picking up on,

and which ones they're not giving much bounce.

It benefits Al Jazeera to play to Arab
nationalism, because that's their audience,

just like Fox plays to American patriotism

for the exact same reason,
American nationalism, because

that's their demographic audience
and that's what they wanna see.

The part that disappoints me

is that Arab nationalism has
to include the anti-Americanism.

- Hi.
- How are you?

I've had it.

Since the start of the w*r,
I haven't had a single day off.

The lsraelis and the United
States are trying to change...

everything in this area

in order to suit the president of lsrael.

See, the problem with the Middle East--

everything is an lsraeli...
conspiracy. Everything.

If a water pipe breaks
in the center of Damascus,

it will be blamed on the lsraelis,

instead of blaming it on our incompetence.

And don't tell me it's Americanization.

Yeah, America is dominating,

but the rest of the world is not castrated.

People are against this w*r,
and people are resisting.

And people matter.

I hope everybody in the world
will get the American passport

one day so this world will be quiet.

God.

This is a defeatist attitude.

Eventually, you will have to find a solution

that doesn't include bombing
people into submission.

'Democratize,
or I'll sh**t you.' Hmm.

It just doesn't...
doesn't work this way.

Where have you been?

The session starts in two minutes.

Didn't I say I'd be here at o'clock?

- Who am I interviewing?
- Jeffrey Steinzberg.

- Who?
- Jeffrey Steinzberg.

- Steinzberg?
- Steinzberg... Steinberg.

Steinberg?

- Jeffrey Steinberg. Trust me.
- Look it up.

- Jeffrey Steinberg.
- Jeffrey Steinberg.

- Steinberg.
- Jeffrey Steinberg.

And we have,
from Washington, uh,

Mr. Jeffrey Steinberg,
the political analyst.

Mr. Steinberg, would you say that the
Americans want to stay, militarily, in Irak?

STEINBERG: What is
happening now in the w*r in Irak

follows an agenda of the Pentagon

and some of the people in the White House.

They want the US to become a new empire.

Their goal is to dominate the Iraki m*llitary

and control all the oil reserves in the region.

Uh, Mr., uh, Jeffrey Steinberg from Washington,

thank you very much for being
with us live on our program.

That's it. I don't think
he was the right guest.

I have to talk to our,
uh, interview producer

to tell him that, uh,
this was a very bad choice.

- Where did you get that guy?
- Wasn't he good?

That was sh*t.
He's just a crazy activist.

But he was talking about his own country.

So what? It's not our concern
if he's for or against his country.

- But he was analysing.
- That wasn't analysis.

That was hallucination. It was all
nonsense - no logic, no balance.

Why? He was talking about his own country.

No, no, my friend.
No, that's not how it's done.

If you're doing an opinion programme,

bring him on and he can express his opinion.

But not on our news programme.

There, we want guests who are balanced.

We want guests who can give us

both sides of the story.

This was only one side of the story.

Business as usual.

Iraq, uh... and then Iraq,

and then Iraq.

But, between us,

if I'm offered a job with Fox,
I will take it.

To change the Arab nightmare
into American Dream.

I still have that dream.

Maybe I will never be able to do it,

but, uh, I have plans for my children.

When they finish their high school,

I will send them to America to study.

I will pay for their study,

and they will stay there.

I really think the big thing
for my generation is for

these two perspectives-- my perspective,

the Western perspective,
and the Arab perspective--

to understand each other better.

It's our responsibility to try
to understand their perspective,

and I hope they feel the same way,

that they need to reach out
and understand our perspective.

Because, truly, the two worlds

are colliding at a rapid rate right now.

Al Jazeera, they've got the best
food. Best food, Al Jazeera.

They're also the nicest guys.

I'm so thankful because I'm not a girl.

You know why? 'Cause I'd fall
in love with him directly.

All right, Johnny.
All right.

That's embarrassing.

I've met so many great Arabs
since I've been here.

I've been tryin' to learn Arabic
and they've been helping me. It's been fun.

You're welcome to come see us
in our workspace, if you like.

I respected Al Jazeera in the
sense that they were certainly

doing something that had never
been done in the Arab world,

and they were reaching a lot
of viewers, and they were...

ruffling a lot of feathers which
is a great part of journalism.

Part of what Al Jazeera is struggling with is

how, when there isn't a long
tradition of being independent

and being able to say anything you want
in any of these kingdoms,

how do you establish that now?

We've got years of
being able to build on that

in our country, and I think
that helps journalism.

Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen.

Coalition governments have identified

a list of key regime leaders

who must be pursued and brought to justice.

This list has been provided to
Coalition forces on the ground

in several forms to ease identification

when contact does occur.

And this deck of cards is
one example of what we provide

to soldiers out... soldiers
and Marines out in the field,

with faces of the individuals
and what their role is.

Um, your deck of most wanted...

Um, does that include the
foreign lnformation Minister?

Because every pack needs a joker.

Well said, Jeff. Well said.

I was wondering if we can get
copies of these, um, cards

as a part of the press pack
that we never got. Thank you.

Card packs are focused to go elsewhere.

We don't have enough to distribute,

but we can make 'em
available for you to look at.

Ladies and gentlemen,
thanks very much.

This argument has gone in there.
We've just spent ten minutes

talking with the general,
and he's not givin' up the pack.

If you've only got one,
could we just have them

put them on the wall,
and we can all have a look?

We've had this discussion.

Just borrow it for half
an hour and take pictures?

I know how to say 'no' in several languages.

So, that's where we stand.

But that is... unbelievably inept to do that.

I'll be sure to convey your thoughts to him.

Well, do. This isn't just a m*llitary operation.
It's a media operation.

And that is an incredibly inept thing to do,

to offer that up and then
not have them available.

It is unbelievably inept.

You feel that you're more important...

No. It's not more important.
It's the fact...

You just said it was more
important, and it's not.

I'm sorry, madam. It's
common sense to have two packs.

You put one on a wall.

Next time I run a w*r,
I'll remember that.

He's gone with his pack of
cards. He won't give 'em up.

We're not here to give,
uh, coverage to the press.

Uh, we're here to liberate the people of Irak.

Although you may not be seeing
a blow-by-blow account

of what's happening,
uh, rest assured,

we're on our mission
and we're completing our goals.

Not even allowed to touch
them or see them again.

All right. Bye.

They wanted to know if I had the deck of cards.

Or if I could get them.

Sure.

If I had them, I wouldn't
be sitting here talking to you.

No. I mean, that thing
at the press conference...

He holds up this deck.

'These are the members of the
regime we want dead or alive.'

Gone.

All right. We'll do this.

Specifically, how this thing
that General Brooks mentioned

right outta the gate today,
evidence, as you mentioned...

I said, 'Could I have them for an hour?'

He said no. They've shown us by
holding them up in the briefing,

but beyond that are not willing
to release 'em just quite yet.

We haven't, uh, gotten to look
at the cards up close yet...

One question it raises was who's
gonna be the joker in the pack?

They say the list includes
the regime's top leaders,

and many more.

Change.

Run, Five. Count.

from beginning and standby, please.

Sadness is permeating the city

and can been seen in people's faces.

Their bombardment has turned
their lives into a living hell,

but it has not broken their spirits.

Tarek Ayyoub for Al Jazeera in Baghdad.

Major, what is the situation now in Baghdad?

We are operating in
and around the city of Baghdad,

and that we have had
special forces on the ground

in and out of the city of
Baghdad for some time now.

- Thank you very much, sir.
- Thank you, sir.

- Hey, babe!
- Hello.

- How are you?
- Fine.

What about pictures of tanks going into Baghdad

and people waving and smiling
at them. What's all that about?

Tanks entering Baghdad and people waving?

Yeah.

That's part of the propaganda w*r

because according to the BBC,
not Al Jazeera,

there are no tanks inside
'Baghdad' - 'that's bullshit.'

Gosh. Okay, when do
you finish your shift today?

- : .
- : tonight? Oh.

Okay, bubby.

The first demand to be made
at today's press conference

will be for Brigadier General Vincent Brooks.

The General will be asked to prove on video

that the troops are in control of the airport

and are inside the city of Baghdad.

- Hello. How are you?
- Fine, thank you.

So, how's everything going?

We don't know what's going on.

You said something, Irak said
something. What's happened?

We want to know what's going on.

The operation continues.
You know?

Uh, we are... we are in Baghdad.

And so, you know,
when we want to...

What's meaning exactly 'in Baghdad'?

Right now? Right now?

I can't point out on a map, because...

that would let you know where everybody is.

We'll see at the press conference.

Did they tell you what would be at this press
conference today? They did? They came by?

Okay. It's Jessica Lynch.

Jessica Lynch.
The rescue mission.

You remember the girl that we rescued?

Yes, yes, yes.

They're going... Yes.
They're going to tell you more

about her today.

We need to know more details
on what's going on...

In Baghdad.

That's the most important...

I know. I know.
He will try to do his best.

- Jessica is...
- I know. Okay.

In the situation we're talking
about with Private Lynch...

On about the rd of March,

her maintenance company was ambushed.

A number of the members of that
maintenance company were k*lled,

a number captured, and a number
were unaccounted for, she being one of them.

I was upset that they spent so much time

giving us all of the minute-by-minute,

this happened, she said this,
we said that,

this was our objective.

And on a day when you have
forces going into Baghdad.

It wasn't part of the regular briefing.

I can't give you any better answer than that.

I'm pretty comfortable
I know where those guys were.

Beyond that, I'm gonna leave
it there. Good try, though.

It seems like there's
an effort to manage the news

in an unmanageable situation.

They tried it in the first Gulf w*r.

This time it was supposed to be different.

Thank you for giving us
that level of detail about Jessica Lynch.

I have a couple of
follow-up questions about her.

They buried the lead,
and they're pretty good at it.

- Hi. How are you?
- Fine.

Do you have five minutes for French newspaper?

Sure.

- I'm from Liberacion.
- You're from what?

Liberacion.

- You felt like it lacked context?
- Yes.

There were no context at all.

I gotta tell ya, this was a struggle for us,

because the last thing you want
to do is broadcast to the world,

which includes your enemy,

exactly where your troops are,
exactly what they're doing,

or exactly when they'll be there
and what they plan on doing.

So it was a real challenge
for us at this level.

We wanted to give a strategic
overview, a mosaic,

of what was going on out there.

But we found if we did it too well...

There was so much information
coming from the b*ttlefield,

if we tied it all together too well,
it was a perfect intelligence report

for anybody watching on the other side.

So we wanted to put out as much
information as we could here

without putting our troops at risk.

# Yankee Doodle went to town #

# Riding there on Sunday #

# Found some people living there #

# k*lled them all by Monday #

Ah, let's see this...

liberating...

nice guys.

That's how Mr. Bush

was preaching his democratic w*r.

Is this Bush's idea of freedom?

Is this Bush's democratic solution

for the Arab and lslamic people?

Do I have to pay for
his democracy with six lives?

I don't want his freedom.
I don't want his democracy.

My brother and his children are dead.

Here I am,

drenched in blood to prove it.

That expl*si*n is exactly what
the Iraki regime wants to see.

They're trying to create division

between the American liberators
and the Iraki people.

From Syria, Lieutenant Rushing.

Thank you very much.

Lieutenant Rushing.

I was very happy because we kept
him like this for minutes.

It's our way to t*rture people.

We say it all the time on the other side
of the wall-- 'No spin. Don 't spin it.'

And we catch ourselves doing it.
I catch myself doing it,

taking an event and spinning it
so strongly in one light,

that I have to pull back and say,

'Well, wait a second.'

That's not what I'm here to do.

But when you feel
that a reporter is trying to present it

in a very certain light,

then you end up having to defend it

in a polarizing effect,
like I was talking about,

over on this side of middle so that
the story will end up back in the middle.

This morning it was the funniest report ever.

BBC.

He was surrounded by a bunch of Iraki kids,
and they were saying...

chanting against Bush,

but he didn't know Arabic.

So he hears the name, Bush.

'And I'm surrounded by a bunch of children
cheering President Bush.'

They were a bunch of kids cursing Bush.

And he thought they were cheering Bush.

'g*dd*mn Bush.
g*dd*mn Bush.'

If you've got Al Jazeera
day after day after day

pounding the people in the region

with things that are not true,
which is what they do,

it isn't easy.

The media means nowadays

for people like Rumsfeld,
Bush and Cheney

is the media that is there

to defend the values of these people.

They believe in these values.

So, for them,
defending these values

is right.

Obstructing the progress of their own agenda

is misinformation.

Down!

Down! Get down!

All these images...
Who is going to miss all of this?

I mean, everybody has a satellite dish.

Even a simple Bedouin can run it on a generator

in the middle of the desert.

They can see it for themselves.

The Americans,

they'll just radicalize people more and more.

There'll be no more room for people like me

who speak softly and rationally.

People will push the likes of us aside,

and... they take things into their own hands.

How can we let them
burn our land? We are Irakis!

How can S*ddam and his men let this happen?

How can he let children starve
while their mothers cry for them?

The Americans are animals.
They are scum.

This one is a Ba'athist too.
Get him out of here!

He is a Ba'athist!

Believe me, nobody is crying
over S*ddam Hussein.

Nobody's going to cry over any Arab leader.

But the problem is

it's really degrading to an Arab

to watch another Arab capitol ransacked.

Did we ransack the capitol?

You bombed the hell out of Baghdad.

We bombed the hell out of Baghdad

with the most precision munitions in the world.

We could save a lot of money. We could've
bought, what, a hundred normal bombs

what we pay for one of the precision bombs.

They were incredibly accurate.

Those precision bombs k*lled
so many civilians, my friend.

Compared to the carpet bombing of Germany?

The carpet bombing of Tokyo?

The number of civilians k*lled,
I mean, it is no justification.

When a viewer sees that...

See, the bombing of Dresden was
before the days of television.

Since Vietnam,
the picture has changed.

And now in the Arab world,
of course,

we've come to discover
the wonders of television

much...

much later than the rest of the world.

And when you see the massacres in Palestine

and how people are butchered,

the idea, another Arab capitol occupied,

is... is really fueling anger.

Truth ultimately...

finds its way into people's
ears and eyes and hearts.

And I don 't worry about
that over the long term.

Does it make me sad to see

television saying things that are flat not true

and people printing things
in that part of the world

that's flat not true?

Children being taught things
that are flat not true?

Yes, it bothers me.

Rumsfeld called this incitement.

I call it true journalism,

the only true journalism in the world,

nothing else.

At : I received a phone call

from our correspondent in Baghdad,

saying that there's

a big fight around our office in Baghdad.

So I put them on the air live.

And we heard everything,
all the fighting going on,

but none of our correspondents was able
to go on top of the roof.

So... Oh, that's life.

They said it was too dangerous.

But they said if we can sneak out,

we can try to manage it.

At : the camera that was filming

got stuck with a picture
of Tarek Ayyoub on the roof.

Move the camera.

Move it from Tarek.

Put it on the scene.

I shouted at them,

telling them to move their camera

out of the face of this guy

because it has nothing to do
with the event-- the fighting.

And they moved the camera.

Come on, Come on.

Ten minutes later, I was on the phone
with the other correspondent,

and he said, 'There's a plane turning over us,

'and now it's coming towards us.

And it's, ' he said,
'peaking down, nose down,'

which means formation of att*ck.

And the American plane came

and launched the missiles against our office.

And the expl*si*n k*lled Tarek Ayyoub.

When you announce that
one of your staff was hurt,

you expect phone calls from the families

of all these reporters and cameramen.

We received only one phone call,

from the wife of Tarek Ayyoub,

saying, 'What happened to Tarek?'

We told her,
'We didn't say it's Tarek.'

She said, 'l know.

'My heart tells me it's Tarek,

and something happened to him.'

'What can you say?' I tell her.

So,

it was a hell of morning.

Everybody was crying

in the newsroom.

You can see their tears coming down, except me.

I managed to...

to stay firm and not to cry

because it's too easy.

For me, that was a crime
that should be avenged,

or at least investigated.

Jim, as you can well imagine,
with journalists inside this room

and the m*llitary standing at the podium,

the question of the day
was about three incidents--

the strike against Al Jazeera
in the very early hours of the morning,

followed by a strike against
Abu Dhabi Television,

followed by the sh*t that was
fired at the Palestine Hotel.

These were questions that were
repeated several times, different variations,

but basically the same answer
from the m*llitary--

that the b*ttlefield is a dangerous place.

The only nearly safe position is of the
embedded reporters with coalition troops.

Asked about what could
journalists do to surrender,

whether they should put white sheets
out of the rooms or whatever,

they said basically that you
shouldn't be in this location.

In the run-up to this w*r,
the pentagon repeatedly warned journalists

that they should not be in Baghdad

because precisely this kind
of thing would arise.

Now, some cynics might argue

that they simply didn't want us there watching

while a particularly bloody episode
at the end of this w*r unfolded.

What's a journalist's take on
what happened in Baghdad today?

When you talk about k*lling three journalists
with three separate strikes,

journalists tend to stick together,

just like soldiers stick together.

I wonder how those two houses
and why they were targeted--

the Abu Dhabi and Al Jazeera...

Were they taking fire?
I didn't get my question answered.

The Americans are releasing
a statement that says,

'According to commanders on the ground,

'coalition forces came
under significant enemy fire

'from the building where
Al Jazeera journalists were working.

'And, consistent with the
inherent right of self-defense,

'coalition forces returned fire.

Sadly, an Al Jazeera correspondent
was k*lled in the exchange.'

I have just faxed it to you,
so it should be there.

I'll give it to the producers. Okay?

All right. Good-bye.

The first objective of sending these missiles

on the offices of Al Jazeera
is to tell Al Jazeera,

'You're not siding % with us
against S*ddam Hussein,

'so we are going to punish you.

'We are sending these missiles on you

'to k*ll...

to k*ll people.'

Okay? We have received the message.

We acknowledge the receipt of this message.

If we really wanted
to shut down media coverage,

our army of tens of thousands could do it.

We electronically jam
or do whatever we want to do.

But if the end is what
they want, is to shut down...

They want to turn the media off...

By f*ring into a group of journalists,
you turn the media up.

So I don't think so.

We cannot compete with
the United States of America.

We are a tiny channel in a tiny country.

What can we do?

We just shut up...

and try to go on,
uh, do our job.

That's it.

Welcome, colleagues,
and thank you for attending

what is a grave period for us all, I believe.

Tarek

lived and d*ed for his
and our professional integrity.

Let's hope it wasn't all in vain.

I think we're open for questions now.

The lady over there.

Thank you. I'm Anne Barnard
from the Boston Globe newspaper in the U.S.

And as a journalist
I'm sorry for what's happened.

What I wanted to know is
what is the latest communication you had

with representatives of the U.S.?

Are you satisfied with their apology?
Was there an apology?

We have been expecting for a while
for the results of an investigation

which unfortunately came, and--

judging by the reports of eyewitnesses,

it doesn't really fly.

And we are hoping that perhaps more light
will be shed in the future on the issue.

Now I think we managed to contact
the wife of our late colleague, Tarek.

She will deliver a message through telephone
from Amman in English for you.

Please, my husband d*ed trying
to reveal the truth to the world.

Please do not conceal it for any conditions

not for the public opinion,

not for the American policy,
not for the British policy.

Please be honest only for this time.

For the sake of all those people who d*ed,

innocent people, not m*llitary,

not militia,
not people in the army,

please tell the truth,

only this once.

Thank you very much.

You all could be Tarek.

Let's not let that happen.
Let's do something about it.

Our T arek! Our martyr!

We shall follow your lead!

Welcome back.

Welcome home.
Welcome home.

We miss you guys.

You are most welcome.
You are home.

Coffee? Tea?

A malt. Coffee?

I was in Baghdad first.
Then I went to Mosul city.

And people are very nice.
People are very nice.

But after hitting our office in Baghdad,

everybody was scared.

They didn't want to receive us

because they said,
'You are targeted.

'So if you start your machines here,

the American airplanes will target you.'

This is shame.
This is shame. We are media.

We are not supposed to be targeted.

No, no, we are not ready.
Hold on.

Can we get a sh*t of Baghdad?

There are explosions in Baghdad

but we can't see them on our screen.

Okay. You can go to the next item.

I don't have any correspondents
in Baghdad right now.

Let me just bring you up to date.

The Americans are deploying all around me.

We just heard a large t*nk round go up.

Let's go over here and talk to the guy
who's unfolding the stars and stripes.

What's your name, mate?

What's your name?

Miguel Jimenez.

Good to see you.

Get that flag going.

I ncredible.

Geographically,
what are we looking at?

Whereabouts is this?

What does it actually mean,
this point where the coalition troops are?

This is one of the main squares in Baghdad.

It's a kind of focal point. For the British
viewers, it's kind of like Trafalgar Square.

Is that a statue of S*ddam?

I can see the...
Okay, right.

There are no police,
no Republican Guard.

Where is everyone?

What an embarrassment.

Where is the army?

Look at them destroying everything.

Why are we doing this to ourselves?

Regardless of our hate for S*ddam,

it's not right for us Arabs

to behave that way in front of the whole world.

I still can't believe it. It's--

I don't know what to say, really.

It's... I can't...

It's... For us it's really shocking,

how quickly the regime fell.

Where is the Republican Guard?

Where is the Iraki army?

They must be somewhere.

They couldn't have just vanished.

A lot of young men and women
who d*ed to make this moment happen, guys.

- Yes.
- A lot of reporters, too.

Good morning, Katie.

I am here with the director
of strategic communications

for United States Central Command.

What are the most striking
images that you've seen so far?

I think the most striking
images are any time you see

women, children and men in Irak celebrate.

These are good images.

Uh, it's important images,

and clearly they're happy.

They're almost liberated,
if not fully liberated.

You look at these pictures,
and you have to stop

and remember those Americans
and U. K. soldiers and others

who have d*ed to make these moments happen.

Thank you very much for your insights
this morning. Katie, back to you.

- Thanks a lot.
- Wasn't that powerful?

You just think of all the folks that d*ed
to make those moments happen.

It's amazing.

- Was I okay?
- Yes. Come back to us, though.

Thank you. You did great.

The Americans played the media element

intelligently.

On the th of April,

the American troops

went down to Firdos Square.

It was a show.
It was a media show.

After having bombed Al Jazeera

and some part of Abu Dhabi T elevision,

they did this show.

They brought with them some people,

supposedly Iraqis,
cheering up.

These people are not Iraqis.

I lived in I raq.
I was born there.

I was raised there.

Okay? I can recognize an I raqi accent.

For me the most telling part

was when the American soldier
hanged the American flag

over S*ddam's head.

I think somebody must have told him,
'Don 't be that obvious.

We didn 't tell you to do this.
Put it down.'

It's not a sense of celebration.

It's a sense of relief,

their seeing S*ddam Hussein...
disappearing.

That makes them feel like a big burden

is taken off their shoulders,

but they are not welcoming
the Americans as true liberators.

It was a very clever idea,
what they did. Of course.

They did it on purpose.
They knew they were coming to the square

where all the journalists were,

where everybody was going to be live

and was going to forget
everything else they had done.

They were going to forget
hours, what had happened.

They were going to forget
all the civilian casualties.

They were going to forget everything.

All that was going to be
remembered was this statue.

And I bet they brought in these teenage guys

who, like, broke the statue,
put it down.

They brought them in with them,

because, if you notice, they're
all sort of the same age.

No women.

And they all went in,
and it was the same people on the square.

You couldn 't see more people
gathering from the houses around.

No one came down to the street to see what
was happening 'cause people are scared.

And these people who came in,
how Come one of them had

the flag of Iraq before in his pocket?

Has he just been waiting there
for ten years with the flag

on that square?

I don't think so.

But this is not something that
the U.S. media would talk about.

The show was meant for the international media.

Here we are in Baghdad.

The w*r...

is finished.

Yeah!

Thank you.

Major combat operations in Irak have ended.

In the battle of Irak,

the United States and
our allies have prevailed.

The regime of S*ddam Hussein
has passed into history.

Thanks to the courage
and might of our m*llitary,

the American people are more secure.

Thanks to the courage
and might of our m*llitary,

the Iraqi people are now free.

Now that Iraq is liberated,
the United Nations should lift

economic sanctions on that country.

The whole w*r actually
is like an American movie.

You know the end.
You know who's the hero.

You know the bad guys.
They're going to die.

And... But you still watch because
you want to know how it's going to happen

and what weapons they're going
to use to, like, do it.

I mean, we lost Tarek.
I still can't believe that, you know.

I still... I still cannot,
like, sort of get it through...

And then we lost Baghdad.

And then what are we going to lose next?

Do you know where the Baghdadis
and the people of Mosul

and how they're organizing their lives

as from maybe this morning or this afternoon?

From mosques now.

They're using the loudspeakers.

There is no other way of communication.

There is no government,
no authority, no civil order.

They're carrying sticks
and things to defend their property.

I mean, these people...

I see this...
Look at them.

They are the Kurds.

They are the ones who helped
the Americans throughout this campaign.

They're walking out with sackfuls of money.

And you know why they
are ripping them to pieces?

Because in the Kurdish areas

they use a different, old
version of the Iraki dinar.

This is meaningless.
That's why they...

We're in the middle of anarchy.

I want you to find out what it was,
that stuff they were throwing in the air,

whether that was their old currency.

Hilarious.

It's almost like The Price Is Right. Whoo!

The looting was done by Irakis.
That's the bottom line.

And so it was done under the
noses of the Iraki population.

The question is, who did the looting?
I think that's another issue.

According to Brooks, that answer
today was just ridiculous.

He suggested that Irakis
were somehow supposed to be responsible

for preventing the looting at that time,

which you say is still during
intense combat operations.

How some person with a conscience

was supposed to stop
a bunch of riled-up looters

from going into the museum,
I don't know.

I mean, you needed a t*nk there
and guys with g*ns to stop it.

- The nation deserves some responsibility.
- How? How?

You guys took over this city.

How can you expect people
to stand up and try...

You don't think the looters
are responsible for what happened?

The looters are, but the people
who didn't want it to be looted

shouldn't be held responsible

for preventing the chaos
that erupted because you guys went in.

There is a responsibility there--

the Iraki people to create their own situations

where they protect their cultural sites.

- We don't want to occupy Baghdad.
- But you are.

- We don't want to keep troops here.
- You are occupying it right now.

As we speak,
you occupy Baghdad.

Which is something you want us to do
because you want us to stop the looting.

No. Regardless...
I mean, you do...

If we pulled out, the looting
and the reparations at this point...

You do or you don't.

I'm not wrong in saying
you occupy Baghdad right now.

Okay.

You do occupy Baghdad?

When you do report that,
you say right now,

- and then it's temporary, right?
- Regardless.

Maybe you can justify that to me.

I understand you.
I understand where you're coming from.

I understand the West. I understand
the mentality. I understand the American Army.

I understand what's going on.
I understand Irak.

But to an average viewer,
what do they see on television?

American tanks in the center
of Baghdad. That's what they see.

That's what I'm trying to convey to you.

Occupation will be us rolling into the center
of town and raising the American flag.

Try to put yourself in the place
of an average Arab viewer.

The Arab viewer sitting in a coffee shop
in Cairo, Damascus,

Amman, Khartoum, Morocco.

Just that simple viewer,
the simple person.

You're not talking facts.
You're talking their perception.

I see how it could be perceived as that. I do.

But there's a feeling in America
that there's an instability in this region.

Do you hear what I'm saying,
that there's this instability?

Yeah, I do.

But they're going to the wrong place.

How about the Arab-lsraeli conflict?

I absolutely agree with you.

Why don't they want to do anything about it?

They're doing nothing about it,

and it's increasing the anger.

If I get out of the Marine
Corps and do anything,

I want to do something
with the Palestinian issue.

I don't think Americans are getting
good information about it. I really don't.

But no American connects
the Palestinian issue and this issue.

They're completely different.

They might as well be on different sides
of the world as far as they're concerned.

I have yet to meet anyone
in this part of the world

that sees them as not the same issue.

Everyone here sees 'em as the exact same thing.

Misunderstanding is running across the board.

And it's so complex.
That's why l...

I'd like to talk about it more.
Will you be around in one hour?

How long do you all have?

What time is it?
Oh, my goodness, : .

- You're welcome to have dinner or whatever.
- I would love to.

- I don't think we can leave base, though.
- Really can't?

My wife Cathy lived in Jerusalem,
speaks perfect Hebrew.

You'd really love talking to her. Really.

I'll ask, see if I can get permission.

If you get permission, you are
more than welcome. Thank you very much.

And I'll be back in an hour.

History tells us that...

human beings have short memories.

Who thinks now in the United States

about what happened in Somalia in ?

Nobody.

Who thinks about what happened
in Bosnia-Herzegovina?

Nobody thinks about that.

History is written by the victors.

All what will be left from this w*r

are just scripts

and some history books,

and that's it.

Anyway, good seeing you.
I hope we meet again.

- Massalam.
- Aleichem salam.

Life will continue, will go on.

There will be other problems.
There will be other things to think about.

Is that rain?

- Is that rain?
- No way.

No, no, no.

This is very, very strange.

Oh, rain.

There is one single thing that will be left.

Victory, and that's it.

People like-- victory.

They don't like justifications.

You don't have to justify.

Once you are victorious,
that's it.