9 minutes -
17/11/2003
10.00.00
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Bombing,
bloodied bodies |
Peace
continues to avoid Baghdad like the plague.
Violence and chaos are still hallmarks of
everyday life here. And while the
bloodied victims of the anarchy are still being stretchered into the city’s
overcrowded hospitals, Iraqi patience is wearing thin. |
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00’25
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Abdul Jabbar Al Kubaisy,Leader of the Iraqi Patriotic Coalition (also translated as Iraqi National Alliance, Iraqi National coalition etc.) |
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‘The Occupation of our country:
They are controlling everything, they are stealing everything, they are
destroying our history our museums, they are killing our children”
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00.29
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US troops in humvee pan |
Americans came
to Iraq expecting to make friends, but appear only
to be making enemies. |
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Natsot
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00.35
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Burning humvee |
And with the
attacks on US convoys increasing daily, more and more innocent Iraqis are
getting caught in the crossfire. |
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00.45
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Angry room of
women and injured children |
And each new
child killed breeds more resentment against the occupation. |
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00’53
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Baghdad GV
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As night
falls, Baghdad readies for the next attack. |
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00’
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Night drive to
resistance |
We were driven
to a secret location 40 minutes East of Baghdad to meet one of the resistance
cells behind such attacks. |
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fighter room |
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Natsot
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01’01
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fighter room |
The Whitehouse
has always insisted the resistance is foreign mujahideen and Saddam
loyalists, but in this room we found ordinary young Iraqis insistent the
majority of the population support their actions.. |
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01’29
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Fighter
interview |
IV VO: Only a few in this nation do not
support us. Most people are with us. Most people in Iraq are with the freedom
fighters. |
Direct Iraqi translation: “I will
not exclude from the nation but a few that would not support us. Most people
are with us. Most people in Iraq are with the freedom fighters. Most of the
people are with the resistance. Most of the people.”
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Sync fighter
talking about weaponry. |
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UPSOT: This rocket can hit a tank
or armoured vehicle from over 300m away.
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01’43
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Fighters with
guns |
It’s cells
like these, armed with home-made powder tubes, Kalashnikovs and rockets who
are mounting up to 35 attacks a day against US targets. |
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Fighter
interview |
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Just over one month ago. We blew up seven tanks, seven tanks and the
occupants. The number of dead is not clear. But
No-one came out alive.
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Katyusha
brought out |
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UPSOT:
Saruuk
Katyoshka
|
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A guerrilla
shows us a Katyusha rocket. This is
the same type of rocket that was used so devastatingly in attacks against
otherwise impregnable US compounds. |
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UPSOT.
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al Kubaisy |
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Who is the terrorist? Mr Bush and his
army are the terrorists. We are
fighting for freedom, we want our country to be
free.
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Alongside the military campaign, political
resistance is also blossoming. Abdul Jabbar Al Kubaisy was a leading opponent
of Saddam. Now he has returned from 23 years exile to lead the fight against
the Occupation. |
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al Kubaisy |
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We
are Iraqi politicians, opposition to the past regime, but we are also joining
all the movements in the world against the American and British war in Iraq.
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Shiekhs; |
And as well as
uniting opposition groups around the world, Al Kubaisy has also found
plentiful support in Iraq [itself]. |
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Sheikhs greeting |
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Natsot
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sheikhs Sweep,
Al Kubaisy with sheiks. |
This group of
35 sheikhs and tribal elders claims to hold sway over more than 3 million
Iraqis, both Sunni and Shia. Al Kubaisy has called them together to ask help
in uniting Iraq against the occupation. |
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Al Kubaisy
(speaking to room of Sheiks) |
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The fighters against occupation
are the ones who keep Iraq united. And God willing, you are the fighters, you
are the people who will keep Iraq united. With the strength of your sons that
are in arms against the occupiers, Iraq will be liberated, united and
victorious.
|
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Sheiks
nodding, murmuring assent, |
There is
little doubt these influential sheikhs are right behind al Kubaisy |
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sheik turky talal (head of the tribe al gurtan) |
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We
will drive the Americans out if it takes 100 years.
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(Al Kubaisy listening) |
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:
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sheik turky talal (tribe is in yousufyia 20 km
south of bagdad it is a big tribe) |
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First,
we will fight them with our religion.. Mohammad and
Islam. Second we have weapons that will last us 100
years. Third, all the sheikhs and their tribes have agreed not to leave even
one American in Iraq
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5’11
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Prayers |
The fiercely proud Sheikhs have a
long tradition of resistance. In the
1920s they united to oppose the British rule, just as they are again. And although many tribal leaders
undoubtedly profited from Saddam’s patronage, it is difficult to think of
them as die hard Ba’ath loyalists. |
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Kubaisy |
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you can’t say these people are
pro Sadaam.
But they are against the Occupation!
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Iraqi officer
with gun searching cars |
Finding the
resistance is like searching for a needle in a haystack. The Coalition are
faced with a nearly impossible task.
And as the number of resistance attacks grow, more and more poorly
trained and inexperienced Iraqis have been recruited into the security
services. |
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Police
protests |
But the huge
costs of paying them have meant a radical slashing of their salaries. Outside
the Coalition Headquarters in Baghdad, these Iraqi security guards are
protesting the cuts. Their supervisor worries the lower pay could lead to
guards themselves joining the resistance. |
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Police
interview |
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I was to get 120. The next month I should get 75. It’s bullshit. That make big problem. I mean the security. All them have the job,
to search the car, to search the human. If someone breaks up the, if someone,
maybe he join the security fighters, the terrorist
party. That make big problem.
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Baghdad g/v’s
rubble |
The problem
for the Americans is that they’re stuck between prioritising
civilian reconstruction and dealing with the resistance. As the civilian
problems get worse, more Iraqis join the freedom fighters. It’s a catch 22. |
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Al Kubaisy
with map, phone and plotters |
The emergence
of al Kubaisy from the shadows must be a huge worry for the Americans. As he
plots his next steps, the apparently cohesive support base he has cultivated
seems to represent the first popular entity, backed by an army of footsoldiers, to emerge in the new Iraq. |
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Al Kubaisy |
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How long he can stand this, Mr Bush, that is a question for Mr
Bush. For us, we will continue for
ever. Til, Bush decide when he will leave. So he will
understand. We don’t know. We have to fight, fight we will fight ‘til Mr Bush, he say we want to
leave. We say OK, Thank you. At that time we will say bye bye!
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Fighters in
room |
On their own
these fighters are easily dismissed as adhoc
extremists. But as distinct political movements grow in parallel to the
grass-roots fighters, in a classical formula seen around the world, it now seems
they should not be taken lightly. |
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Fighter bite |
IV VO: If we have light weapons then we
will fight with those, if we need to use rockets, we will do so. If
however, we need to sacrifice our own bodies then we are all for it. |
Direct Iraqi translation: “If we have light
weapons then we might fight with it, if we need to use martyr we rest with
it, if we need to use rockets we fight with it, if however, we need to use
our own body to sacrifice then we are all for it.” |
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Burned Humvee |
The occupation
is seen by so many Iraqis as a humiliation. As the US now desperately
searches for an exit strategy there’s a growing sense that those against them
in Iraq not only want them gone, but driven out
bloodied and demoralized. |
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High shot
Baghdad |
It is unlikely
any withdrawal Washington can muster will be taken lying down by the
resistance. |
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9:00
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END |
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CREDITS - Inside
the Iraqi Resistance
Production
Assistant – Kathryn Bonnici
Translators
– Sammy Bashlawi,
Omar Al-Mufti 07785 548849
Reporter /
Journalist - Gerhard Tuschla
Cameraman -
Philip Birkenstock
Editor /
Script – Sam Bailey
Executive
Producer – Mark Stucke
Distributor
- Journeyman Pictures