Bridges to Baghdad

[oldman420]

A revealing look at the impact of the war in Iraq on the lives of six young New Yorkers and seven Iraqi teens. They were linked by videophone two weeks before the war and shortly after.


http://www.worldlinktv.org/streams/bridgesBaghdad.php3

 

[magomago]

I watched it yesterday, both of them. Very good, I had trouble containing myself at the mother whose son died due to cluster bombing.

I think it brings up a good point ignored by many extremists on both sides:

Most people are happy Saddam is gone, but they do not see themselves under the thumb of American occupation, or bases. Even the "Rocker" was very adamant in the second video about having US troops get out of Iraq. Also, the "trust" that is given for the Bush administration was double edged. On one hand, the Mr. Rocker said something like "I want Bush as my President" because he was happy he could say Saddam sucks . Even the girl who thought Saddam was a great guy was joking and laughing with American troops and talking about "such an interesting experience in a jail for an Iraqi girl". But on the other hand all of the Iraqis (regardless of their view on Saddam) banded together claiming that the war occured for the wrong reasons and did not occur properly as seen by their strong opinions when it came to preserving the ministry of oil while destroying every single other institution. The Iraqi girl who lived in Britian was also quick to point out that they were more interested in handing out business contracts and giving away control to resources than they were in helping the Iraqi people. They also severly downplayed (or perhaps we OVERplay it) the whole "Shi'ite" issue

I would LOVE to see a part three to see what these people would say today. Are they as happy for American troops now as they were two or so years ago? Do they feel things have deteriorated? How do they feel politicially? What are their opinions about Kurdish desire to fracture the country? How does the rocker feel right now (I'm also intrested in seeing where his paper went, if it went anywhere )? Are clean water, electricity, medicine provided to medical institutions? How is the girl who supported Saddam feeling right now? She obviously liked Saddam, but didn't seem to have much of a problem with the US troops. Are her opinions the same? What about the educational system over there? How are the people?
And more importantly...what is their opinions on the SECURITY SITUATION.
OBviously before the war it was very safe, or atleast safe enough so when the rocker got into a major argument with his father he spent two days in the streets living without a problem. Obviously this was definitely not the case after the war.

I'd like to point out that also some of these families seemed to be pretty well off. ESPECIALLY if you have a Playstation in the house, then you know that the family has to have some money. While I won't say everyone was rich, I'll say they were doing atleast a step above the average Iraqi.

Sad a thread like this didn't generate any comments

 

[oldman420]

Thanks for the reply magomago.
I think that this in a way exposes some common misconceptions about what is an average Iraqi. Iraq has a VERY educated populace, they were after all a secular state and education was an important social more.
I think we got to see the cream of the crop as undoubtedly the seven Iraqi teens were hand picked by the Saddam government, however in the second episode their true colors came through, the angry girl in back is a true democrat.
I was also very effected by the poor mom who lost her son, it seemed to be almost too tragic.

overall I enjoyed it and have a much better feel for the effects of war on a society

 

[bamacre]

I enjoyed it as well, very interesting stuff. Thanks for posting it.

 

[RichardE]

Havnt had time to watch it, will tonight after work