Reporting from the front line

For three years Isam Rasheed reported for the Voice from Iraq. He reported the stories that the corporate media did not. This is his story

Eddie Truman Posted by on April 4, 2008. Filed under International,Iraq. Posted with the tags:
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Reporting from the front line

One of the first things the occupiers of Iraq did on bringing Western style democracy to the country was to close down any kind of independent media.

Newspapers, television radio; any outlet that reported the truth about what was happening in the country or was beyond the control of the Occupation Authority was forcibly closed.

Iraqis were left with an Orwellian media that reported a country in love with the brutal occupation and in which anything bad happening was the fault of “the terrorists”.

The Western media, the BBC, CNN, Fox news etc, were no better and Iraqis quickly realised that the truth about the brutal occupation was being methodically covered up for domestic and foreign consumption.

An organisation, Occupation Watch, was set up by a group of Iraqis and a number of them started documenting the actions of the US and British.

One of those was Isam Rasheed who was to come to the Scottish Parliament in March 2005 with material that he had brought out of Iraq.

Despite the great risks to journalists in Iraq working outside the officially sanctioned Green Zone, Isam volunteered to keep in regular contact with the Voice.

In his first report he wrote;

“I returned home to Baghdad on March 28. I had been out of Iraq for three months.
“Things have changed, even in this time.
“Since my return, many friends ask me why I came back. Life in Iraq becomes worse.
“The security situation is the same – there is none.
“Criminal gangs stole my nephew’s car, and my uncle’s.
“They both worked as taxi drivers.
“On a good day there is six hours of electricity, but less is normal.
“I work as a journalist to show the reality of life in Iraq.”

Isam documented the huge demonstrations on the 2nd anniversary of the invasion and right from the beginning identified the deliberate creation of sectarian conflict by the Americans.

In May 2005 Isam reported that his friend Junis had been released from Abu Ghraib with the assistance of Islamic and Christian Peacemaker teams, the MPT and CPT. These organisations were also assisting people fleeing Fallujah and Isam travelled there with them to talk to people who were returning following the American military actions.

“In Fallujah, I talked to families who returned. They say the US troops and the ING raid houses every day, and people are killed all the time.
“I talked to a woman whose son had been shot in front of their house eight days before.”

In order to attempt to afford Isam some degree of protection from trigger happy American troops we made him a Voice press card and he joined the National Union Of Journalists.

Isam was well aware of the dangers to reporters, he wrote for the Voice;

“During the build-up to the 2003 invasion, many journalists came to Iraq to cover events.
“Everyone, including the US military, knew they were staying at the Palestine Hotel.
“When hostilities began, US troops bombarded these journalists at their hotel, killing Tariq Aywab, from the Al-jazeera news station, and another journalist from the Ukraine. Others were arrested on the road to Baghdad.
“This continued throughout the war and for some months after, when the Iraqi people began resisting the occupation forces. By then, journalists were being very badly treated, and were often attacked in the street as they tried to cover the activities of the coalition forces.”

Towards the end of 2005 Isam was coming across increasing cases of children born with birth defects and illnesses related to depleted uranium shells used during the first Gulf War. The pictures and stories he sent were harrowing.

As the occupation became under increasing attack from elements of Iraqi resistance the response of the US was to use overwhelming firepower, often massive airstrikes.

As Isam moved around Iraq he brought us eye witness stories of the most appalling random violence perpetrated by the occupation forces on innocent civilians.

In September 2005 Isam got himself a genuine scoop; an interview with Haj Ali, the prisoner of Abu Ghraib made famous around the world after the picture of him hooded and wired up was broadcast around the world, a symbol of the appalling brutality of the occupation.

As Iraq descended into sectarian killing and mayhem Isam’s partner gave birth to a baby girl but tragedy struck on 15th September 2006 when Isam’s close friend Alaa Adel was murdered by US troops.

Alaa had been working as Isam’s assistant and was heavily involved in getting aid to places like Fallujah, ripped apart by the occupation.

Reflecting on the execution of Saddam in December of 2006, Isam wrote; “Personally speaking, I think it is time for Iraq to look to the future, to build it ourselves, without occupation.

“I am sorry, not for Saddam, but for the fact that he was executed under occupation, which means that everything was controlled behind closed doors, rather than by us.
“Meanwhile, on the streets, the militias retain the upper hand. Iraqis are trying desperately to find some kind of normality, to live in peace, but the militias and their supporters continue to hijack life in Baghdad, through kidnapping and killing.”

For Isam life became increasingly dangerous as the sectarian forces unleashed by the occupation set to work;

“Events at Al Hurriya, in north west Baghdad, where Sunni and Shia had previously lived in peace for over a century, have caused great disquiet.
“Ten months ago, the Al Mahdi militia opened offices here, and began forcing Sunnis out of the area to make it Shia only. The Al Madhi army is Shia.
“By December, the only remaining Sunnis were to be found in a tiny area called Jed Hurriya.
“On 10 December, this area was surrounded by militia who then raided the houses, killing many Sunnis and raping three women.
“Every remaining Sunni was forced from the area.”

Isam and his neighbours organised themselves to defend their neighbourhood against the militias, patrolling at night and finding themselves featured in a BBC documentary on life in Baghdad.

By the start of 2007 Baghdad was the most dangerous place on earth and in February Isam’s house was hit by a missile, thankfully no one was injured.

For Isam reporting was now replaced by physically re-building his home, an incredible achievement in a city ravaged by kidnap and murder.

But Isam is an incredible man and if anyone could do it, it was him.