Back from Baghdad (Part 1 of 2)

The American Legion Magazine | 11/01/2004 | Alan W. Dowd/Karl Zinsmeister

[writer33]

Karl Zinsmeister is more than editor-in-chief of The American Enterprise, a national magazine of politics, business and culture that gets its name from it’s parent think tank, the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute. He is a throw back to the early days of journalism, when news was the focus—rather than the newsman—when reporters worried more about the story than their image, when war correspondents understood that telling the whole story meant reporting good news as well as bad.

The Syracuse, N.Y., native has reported plenty of both in a pair of pivotal books on the Iraq war and postwar Iraq: “Boots on the Ground: and “Dawn over Baghdad.” Together, the books chronicle the rapid overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime and arduous reconstruction effort now under way. They have earned acclaim from such diverse sources as the Military Book Club, The Financial Times and National Review. PBS has invited Zinsmeister to translate the books into a documentary film.

The books serve as something of a bridge between Iraq and the American people—and a stiff dose of fact for Zinsmeister’s cynical Beltway peers. That’s because these initial drafts of history are first hand accounts. As an embedded reporter with the 82nd Airborne in 2003, Zinsmeister lived the lightning invasion that swept aside Saddam’s murder machine in three weeks. He then did what few reporters had the stomach or integrity to do: re-embedded during America’s simultaneous counterinsurgency and nation-building operations in 2004. When The American Legion Magazine interviewed Zinsmeister, he was preparing for yet another tour inside Iraq.

The American Legion Magazine: How has the embedding experiment changed the U.S. military and the press?

Karl Zinsmeister: I really don’t think it changed the military much. The military was already way ahead of the rest of the country in terms of its willingness to let us stare over its collective shoulder. I observe and report on all kinds of people and organizations—cities, government agencies, corporations—and none of the places I’ve studied has been as open as the military. The military has nothing to hide. They are confident about themselves, and it shows. I saw few adjustments made by the military to accommodate this invasion of reporters. They allowed us to see them as they were.

As to the press, I saw a lot of people who wasted their entire embedding experience. I moved from unit to unit and got in with the infantry. I didn’t expect to be babysat; I wasn’t looking for an escort. Others were. Some say the media was hypnotized by the access and led around by the nose. Nonsense. The military didn’t even know where I was and didn’t have any control over what I was seeing or doing—or what I was going to write. And those ground rules applied to every embed.

Q: You write about the hardships caused by the WMD threat. In light of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on shoddy prewar WMD intelligence, what are your thoughts on Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons programs?

A: In my view, it really isn’t that relevant whether or not Saddam had active WMD programs immediately before the invasion took place. We had to assume he had them or could quickly reconstitute them. This is a man who used WMDs on 42 different occasions, and he had the motivation and personality to use them again. As long as he was in power, WMDs could pop up again on very short notice in his inventory or in the hands of someone he might choose to give them to. The scientists were still there, the labs were still there, the knowledge was still there, the factories that made the WMD shells were still there, and the markets were still there. In the post-9/11 environment, it no longer makes sense to risk that. It only makes sense to err on the side of safety. Saddam Hussein was a human WMD, and removing him was the only prudent course of action.

Q: In “Boots on the Ground,” you detail, the connection U.S. Troops make between Sept. 11, Iraq and the wider war on terror. How did Baathist Iraq fit into the web of terror? And why was it important to face this threat?

A: Most of the soldiers I was with would say that the real monster behind 9/11 was actually not Osama bin Laden. The deeper problem, the real root of the problem, is the incredibly incompetent and cruel governments that prevail throughout the Middle East and produce only one thing in bumper-crop quantities: homicidally frustrated young men. There are 22 Arab nations and zero democracies. Iraq will be the first. Until we fix this democracy deficit, we’re not going to be able to win the war on terror. We can’t do it with police on our border or metal detectors at airports. To choke off that supply of angry young men, we have to overturn these dreadful governments in the Middle East.

Iraq was the right place to start because A. There was no tyrant crueler in that region than Saddam Hussein. B. Iraq had a greater ability to hurt its neighbors and American than others in the region. C. It had a history of attacking its neighbors and U.S. interests. And, D. Iraq has a better upside.

Iraq is not like Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. Those places are medieval, pre-modern cultures. Iraq has a history, pre-Saddam, of learning and an openness to modernity. I have met Iraqi engineers and physicians and literature to professors who are anxious to grab the reigns of a different society and make it a pioneering country for the region.

[writer33]

If there are any errors, it is my fault in the typos, because even I, no matter how I strive for perfection, will make mistakes. :)

I will post part 2 later this evening.

[JesseJane]

*

[writer33]

Sorry for the ping, but this is a good read. Something that needs to be read before Election Day.

[writer33]

Sorry for the ping, but this is a good read. Something that needs to be read before Election Day.

[perfect stranger]

But what if I already voted?

[writer33]

That's good. Then pass it on to some spineless undecided.

[perfect stranger]

That I will.

[writer33]

I'll ping you with Part 2 later.

[Former Military Chick]

bump

[Former Military Chick]

It really is an excellent read, look forward to part 2.

[hershey]

Great post. Absolutely on the money. The real enemy is the govts who suppress their own people and produce bumper crops of homicidal young men...then blame poverty, disease and ignorance on the US.

[writer33]

Thank you both. I'll be pinging you later for the rest.

[bitt]

send me more.

[writer33]

You bet. You'll get it later this evening.

[bvw]

Basic facts 101. Great work by Reporter! A genuine member of that historic ad grand profession (despite that it is nowdays overrun by the ersatz-azoids). May he see a long lifetime of fine paydays!

Thanks to you writer33!

[writer33]

You're welcome, bvw.

[blackie]

Roger that ~ Bump!

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks!

To ALL Freepers and Lurker voters:

GO to the polls and vote for Bush. Take your friends with you to do the same. If you know any Zell Miller type Democrats that support Bush and they are voting for him, take them as well.

Vote EARLY to avoid the rush, and remember:

IGNORE ANYTHING IN THE MEDIA YOU HEAR (i.e., making a fast, early call in Florida for Kerry, etc.). WE CAN AVOID A REPEAT OF THE FLORIDA ELECTION DEBACLE OF 2000 THIS YEAR IF GOP TURNOUT IS STRONG, imho.

[Expletive deleted] !!!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!