Factions within Iraq led by the Shiite Muslims in the south and Kurds in the north seized this opportunity to rise up and rid themselves of the brutal dictatorship which had suppressed them for over a decade. Secrets of War s1e65: The Gulf War: Iraq’s Secrets
The coalition launched a ground campaign that liberated Kuwait within three days … The Allies did not penetrate deeply into Iraq. ibid.
Let’s kill ’em all. Courage Under Fire 1996 starring Denzel Washington & Matt Damon & Meg Ryan & Lou Diamond Phillips & Michael Moriarty & Bronson Pinchot & Seth Gilliam & Regina Taylor & Zeljko Ivanek & Scott Glenn & Tim Guinee & Tim Ranson & Sean Astin & Ned Vaughn et al, director Edward Zwick, Washington opening scene
I told them what they wanted to hear. They all did. That’s the truth. ibid. soldier
‘You are now green. You are light green or dark green. Do you understand?’ Jarhead 2005 starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Peter Sarsgaard & Jamie Foxx & Chris Cooper & Brian Geraghty & Lucas Black & Evan Jones & Laz Alonso & Jacob Vargas & John Krasinski & Dennis Haysbert et al, director Sam Mendes, opening scene
‘Sir, I got lost on the way to college, sir.’ ibid. hero to supervisor
Will you shut the fuck up! There is no bugle programme, you simple dick motherfucker. Who do you think you are – some kind of Kenny G shit or something? ibid. trainer
Snipers do not work alone. You work as a team. ibid.
Our current mission is to protect the oil fields of our good friends in the Kingdom of Saud until further notice. And, gentlemen, I’m talking a lot o’ oil. A lot o’ oil. So you will hydrate, you will train, you will adjust to this desert, then you will hydrate some more ... ibid. commander
As the war went on, it slipped out that only 70 per cent of these weapons hit their target. This figure was reduced to 60 per cent, and some years later they admitted it was 25 per cent. Mark Steel, Reasons to be Cheerful
The seven weeks of the Gulf War was possibly the most political time I have ever known … The one-third of society who opposed it were doing so despite round-the-clock propaganda, which forced them to question every aspect of the way the world was presented. ibid.
In the north of Iraq thousands of Kurds were driven into the mountains by Saddam’s army as he reasserted his control in that area. But whereas the bombing raids had taken place at the rate of one a minute, the fight to help the Kurds came at ten a week. ibid.
The final verdict on the Iraq War which cost countless lives and left a country in chaos: Chilcot Report. Iraq: The Final Judgment, BBC 2016
‘We were inadequately prepared both physically and mentally for the aftermath of the war fighting.’ ibid. Mark Etherington
Did the prime minister put a gloss on flimsy evidence to make a false case for war? ibid.
‘I have a permanent sense of hatred for what Secretary Rumsfeld in particular – these people had got in there and convinced themselves that could do this with a minimalist approach and ... what next?’ 9/11: The Longest War, Barry McCaffrey, ‘National Geographic 2016’
Despite protests, president Bush decides a new surge of troops into Iraq. In the face of massive opposition, the commander-in-chief makes the call. ibid.
This is the Iraqi debt: $380 billion … Iraq is bankrupt. Mark Thomas, Debt Collector, Channel 4 2003
Foreign loans, war reparations, and broken business contracts. Saddam Hussein’s team borrowed money to build palaces and monuments but it also got debts of $76 billion buying weapons and defence equipment. ibid.
There’s profit in debt. This time last year debt traded at eight cents, now it’s up to twenty-eight cents. ibid.
On May 1st 2003 President George W Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. Charles Ferguson, No End in Sight, 2007
Millions of Iraqis have lost access to drinking water, sewage treatment and electricity since the invasion. ibid.
Over 3,000,000 Iraqis have fled to neighbouring countries. Estimates of the civilian death toll range as high as 600,000. ibid.
But even before the Afghanistan war several senior administration officials were looking at another target – one that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. ibid.
The first President Bush urges Iraqis to stage a coup against Saddam. ibid.
The State Department’s Future of Iraq Project, a thirteen volume study on post-war Iraq, was ignored by the Pentagon. ibid.
A month before the invasion the fight over troop levels became public. ibid.
Like most officials sent to Iraq, Bremer did not speak Arabic, had no previous experience with the mid-East or post-war reconstruction and had never served in the military. ibid.
Bremer: he made three fateful policy decisions: stopping the formation of an interim Iraqi government; De-Ba’athification; Disbanding the Iraqi military. ibid.
Iraq contained 70 large weapons storage depots and many more unguarded ammunition dumps. There were not enough American troops to secure them. ibid.
‘They now have no money coming to them [Iraqi soldiers]; what are they meant to do?’ ibid.
There are more than 45,000 private military contractors in Iraq. ibid.
‘We were also told they are nothing but dogs. Then all of a sudden you start looking at these people as less than human, and you start doing things to them you would never dreamt of, and that’s when it got scary.’ Taxi to the Dark Side, Sgt Ken Davis, Abu Ghraib, BBC 2007
Wood maintained that the Bagram model had tacit approval from superiors. ibid.
A week after September 11th vice-president Dick Cheney appeared on Meet the Press to describe how interrogation policies were about to change. ibid.
This man is a stone cold killer … He assassinated all kinds of people. Facing Saddam s1e2, Dan Rather, National Geographic 2017
In 2003 he decided to fight the whole world. ibid. Iraqi
Donald Rumsfeld was their [Reagan’s] private secret emissary to make a deal with Saddam Hussein. ibid. Dan Rather
You Americans can’t take the blood. ibid. Saddam to Dan Rather
It’s not who has more weaponry … it’s who has God on their side. ibid. Saddam
July 1979: Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq. Five days later he calls for a meeting of the Ba’ath party with direct orders for it to be video taped. He intends to send a message to the people of Iraq. The Real Saddam Hussein, National Geographic 2017
Behind all the political pageantry lay a monster. But his misplaced confidence is his ultimate downfall. ibid.
Saddam’s early years are shrouded in mystery … He spent most of his childhood with his uncle. ibid.
Every branch of the security apparatus reports directly to vice-president Saddam Hussein. ibid.
With Kuwait liberated and the Kurds in full rebellion Saddam aims to assert his dominance once more. ibid.
This grave alone contained 3,000 bodies … More than 180 graves containing an estimated 300,000 bodies. ibid.
Saddam was scared of Iran and its forces. ibid.