In Saddam's Shadow with Suroosh Alvi: Baghdad 10 Years After the Invasion (Part 4/4)

[@stylz1]

Good series. This is the Vice I subscribed to.

[@ZainAli-wy8cq]

i thoroughly enjoyed this, and it was very informative and non bias. though it did not cover all the topics and the topics it did discuss where short i got to understand more about what it was like for Iraqi's post war and after war

[@niggazinblood]

thanks for doing this video !

[@DrewsAnimation]

Nice Doc. I prefer these over the food and skating docs from vice.

[@agregorish]

That guy walking with a 60000$ piece of plastic with business cards detecting bombs xD how can you be so naive ...

[@Adam-Woods]

That isn't a Vice documentary, they were just giving it promo. It should be on Vimeo, that's where I watched it.

[@Cheloluis2003]

yep, the final monologue is great

[@ChrisDanceMusic]

Another great doc by vice

[@BazzBrother]

uh, i imagine you commented before they got to explaining this lol. The guards say "we need dogs", the general says "they slow traffic too much"

[@kidmecha]

Thank you Vice, for actually giving us real news.

[@headbanger1220]

Those ade651 wands remind me alot of those magical sticks that find water

[@Tuberuser187]

For $85m USD they could have bought the real static particle detectors to place at checkpoints.

[@buttonsjr]

Iraq Is a nice place full of nice smart people. My Dad is a Civil Engineer trying to help rebuild Iraq. Lots of smart engineers help him. You heard the guy in this documentary. The educated non-religious people are grateful, but this guys parents (who are not educated) think being under a dictator was better because he lied about everything being perfect. My dad, an American, is treated like a father figure and role model by many many Iraqi's from ages 18-30. Iraqi engineers love America.

[@kardiaskepsi3425]

The truth is not easy to find, and even when you have it, you can't be be sure... I hope your people find happiness as soon as they can.

[@ravi930]

anyone know where can i watch the documentary where suroosh went to baghdad in 2006

[@gla300]

BOYAH ! I watched this video 10 seconds after uploading it !

[@koberpat]

Good Documentry Good Old Vice!

[@itsampofcourse]

anyone know where i can find the vice documentary on somalia? its called "fishing without nets"

[@KushPlusOrangeJuice]

You didnt listen did you. It would slow the traffic up too much its already very difficult to commute.

[@mrghantauke]

Didn't you read the police chief say "police dogs delay movement to a great extent". Imagine having like 10 dogs in every checkpoint. Not feasible.

[@DocSicnarf]

Life doesn't get much better than that.

[@Asif7422]

"The worst thing America has done to Iraq and Iraqis is that they made a Dictator look like an Angel in comparison to what we have right now." WOW that said it all there there.

[@MarcLloydZ]

do you only have 33 videos?

[@micheltariq]

just because they treat your dad like a father figure and like him doesn't mean they like the us government,,,and respecting the elder is a big part in Iraqi -all Arabs- culture

[@anjonesuk]

Only explanation that makes sense is that, the guy who controlled the contract process got a massive kickback off it. Iraqis aren't stupid and corruption around government procurement isn't exactly unknown.

[@jamalmanzoor4697]

Dogs take a lot longer to search a car so it would significantly hold up the traffic.

[@godsapdude]

remeber i using dogs is a time consuming effort cause productivity goes down and but safety goes up so ...what do you perffer

[@dkennell998]

Because actually having to stop and search each car WELL with a dog is time-consuming. Even though everyone knows that the stupid plastic thing doesn't work, it's inconvenient to admit it. So they stick with this thing that has a "30% effectiveness rate," AKA the same as random chance.

[@plaukaspyragely]

Are you kidding? $2 is way too much. Garbage disposal costs money.

[@15MrBoO88]

In February 2011, General Jihad al-Jabiri was arrested on corruption charges, centering on the ADE 651 device purchase (wikipedia)

[@jeantv1996]

He said they were too slow, hard to handle.

[@Outlawzand1]

I think your light bulbs need changing.

[@isokessu]

Nice document but for the man who said "people look past instead of the future" I say, you can not have any idea what might happen in the future after minute, hour, day or a year if you don't know the past.

[@memzironic]

I'm iraqi and look at iraq in 2020 it's sad

[@dsmluck]

Don't know how much worse it could get honestly.

[@AFGalwayz]

3. the US invaded iraq over a lie of WMDs. and then they contradicted themselves by acting as iraq's savior from saddam when they were the ones who helped saddam maintain power. they thought themselves that they would be seen as liberators but did not see blowback of growing iranian influence or a large scale insurgency. 4. when 1,2 and 3 are taken into account, the US has no legitimacy and their stated reasons are lies. this only highlights other geopolitical uses for the war such as oil.

[@dsmluck]

We hurt as much as we tried to help. There was a level incompetence in the military's higher chain of command that made poor decisions that allowed the nation to fall into chaos and violence.

[@Illumirage]

Yes, being ruled with an iron fist always struck me as being 'in a MUCH better state'. There's no denying some regrettable actions have taken place in Iraq and Afghanistan. That happens in every war. They're by no means encouraged. I do find it curious how there seems to be no outrage from you toward the insurgents themselves that wear no uniform and purposely plant themselves in the midst of civilians so as to encourage collateral damage.

[@mljacobson]

It's so frustrating to hear that guy at the end say "Sadam rebuilt everything on six months. Why can't the Americans do that"? Well why can't the Iraqis do it themselves!? It sad to think that the whole country is full of people who can only prosper while being ruled over by a murderous dictator. It speaks volumes about the Iraqi people...

[@P4INKiller]

How so?

[@buttonsjr]

They are coming to the United States. They have engineering degrees, they pretty much get automatic citizenship.

[@Outlawzand1]

Good spotting. Have cookie.

[@helenkhoiova]

First I thought: OMG! What an impossible news about that 'device'. And then I searched and it turn up: its true! It was all about money even thou all parties knew what a useless thing that is. Non of them think about the shame it could bring to all parties. Professor Hood wrote:'It turns out that between 2001-2004, the UK Department for Trade and Industry not only knew all about ATSC Ltd and the ADE651, but had also assisted in the sale of these bogus devices to the Mexican Government.'

[@helenkhoiova]

And I continue of professor Hood block: ' The British Government’s attitude is that other countries are producing similar devices so it is not in their interest to prevent the sale to markets just so long as British civilians are not at risk. How cynical can you get? It’s a bloody disgrace in more ways than one.' No words..

[@Illumirage]

Are you familiar with a 'hypothetical situation'? Because that's what I was proposing. So which faction is sinking billions, upon billions, upon billions of dollars of resources toward stability, security and infrastructure in Iraq? How can you overlook this brutal fact?

[@carpetfarmer]

Though I may not agree w/ the amount of the blame he places on America at the end, I am happy that he (and other Iraqis) feel free to speak their minds & openly criticize the govt on camera, this was definitely not the case from 79' - 03'. I hope the years ahead bring peace and prosperity to the people of Iraq and that the thousands of young lives given up, both US & Iraqi, were not in vain.

[@haneenk4395]

ISIS is not Muslim.

[@dsmluck]

I didn't think it would be right for me to sit at home while other Americans were dying in foreign countries. The fact that I never agreed with the war in Iraq never really mattered. Why should I live my life as if nothing is going on when soo many young Americans were dying? The fact that Iraq is now a mess is not the fault of the soliders on the ground. It was due to incompentency in the leadership of both nations. Negligence and profiteering.

[@willbur97]

01:28 that's the sene from XXX: state o the union

[@dsmluck]

Money and power. Most wars are fought over of those. Even religious wars are fought over power. To those in control the lives of those below them are an expendable currency. A number on a paper to add or subtract. It is just the way things are. No chance to change it so its best to just enjoy your life the best you can.

[@HorseKingUnited]

*effective

[@JBazzleRedux]

How about you watch the video

[@Illumirage]

Really? Did the U.S. or did the insurgency? Last time I checked I don't see Americans setting roadside bombs on the side of Iraq's roads. And I also don't see Al Queada sinking billions of dollars into the Iraqi infrastructure. You're incredibly misguided.

[@AFGalwayz]

LOLOL "Of course it's about oil; we can't really deny that," said Gen. John Abizaid, former head of U.S. Central Command and Military Operations in Iraq, in 2007. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan agreed, writing in his memoir, "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Then-Sen. and now Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the same in 2007: "People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are."

[@plaukaspyragely]

"Mission accomplished"

[@AFGalwayz]

furthermore, like i said, the US did not envision current iraq and afg. this is why they are letting the afghan government negotiate with the taliban and dont have afghan taliban on their list of terrorists (US state departments). just because these governments are not working as intended does not mean that they are not/meant not to be US puppets. you have a very simple idea of geopolitics. the US is a 21st century leading world power. they use a lot of ugly tactics to maintain that power

[@MadMaxNow]

We are all asleep and having the same dream. I wander what it will be like when we all wake up.If that is possible that is.

[@dsmluck]

People don't apologize for making blood money.They go into it knowing that corpses are less important than stacks of cash. That said I would have done it all over again just to be with my friends. Would have gone to hell with those guys.

[@Sayfullah570]

US army invastion of iraq cost over a million lives. aside from the mass killing and torture the war did not bring much benefit to the iraqi people. "Once we built schools suicide bombers blew them up, killing hundreds of innocent iraqi school children." source?

[@ibrahimayobi7527]

i like the end of this video . that is what most of the iraqi people s saing always . america made saddam looks like an angel for them comparing to the us occupation

[@AFGalwayz]

resource denial is a big part of geopolitics. if you don't understand this or acknowledge that it exists, then there isn't much more that I can say. yes america has large oil reserves that it keeps to itself. there is a huge demand for oil in china, india and russia. these countries have to look to the middle east and south east asia for their oil. the united states already has huge infuence on those countries like saudi arabia, kuwait and iraq.

[@TonyArrison]

Thats not the conclusion - there isn't really an argument to the doc. All that was said is that many people in Iraq are thinking simplistically that Saddams ability to rebuild an economy shows that the US occupation was in some way worse. This is understandable given the vast lack of resources in terms of education that Iraqi people must have - they won't know highly educated Western sayings like 'Mussolini made the trains run on time'.

[@CorneliusEdwardoWinstonThe2nd]

11 years ago GOD Hope people of iraq doing good

[@Illumirage]

I can't point them out? I most definitely can, but then you have to post 3-5 500 character comments explaining yourself and to be frank, you're not worth that much of my time. And you only see the last one because youtube's comment system is flawed, etc. etc. Well lets see here. If the entire population of Iraq swore 100% allegiance to Al Queada in Iraq tomorrow, would there be stability? [No] If they were in 100% cooperation with the U.S., would there be stability? [Yes] Out of characters...

[@Illumirage]

Saddam's actions and more recently the insurgency have destabilized it. Would we have attacked Iraq the first time if Saddam had not first invaded Kuwait? No. Insurgents are currently keeping Iraq unstable, not America. You just are placing the blame on the wrong parties. Well your stance is purely based on a hunch. And secondly the fact that America itself has vast oil reserves also kind of defeats your argument. I've heard certain people submit North America has more oil than the Middle East.

[@LeriObba]

Why didn't they test the fucking device before they bought it?

[@AFGalwayz]

who was responsible for saddam maintaining power? the US was helping the iraqi army for 8 years providing iraq with intelligence/arms on iran. this is while saddam was also murdering his own people while being a US strong man. its only when he invaded oil rich kuwait did the US make him a bogey-man. The insurgency began because of incompetent US leaders leaving the former iraqi army without jobs and alienated in a shia dominated government. your arguments fall flat in the face of basic research

[@kardiaskepsi3425]

Iraqis partially gained the public freedom to show their beliefs/emotions/sexual-preferences. The old tyrannical regime used to suppress such freedoms through brute lethal force and control, but now that it's unsuppressed, it has become chaotic. Some civilians are now attacking other civilians for expressing their freedoms. Do we blame the people expressing their new freedoms or the people attacking the former? Is it moral to wish these people were controlled by a tyrant dictator again?

[@BenBenBen08]

haha those detectors are a fucking joke. They are worth 2 dollars each

[@AFGalwayz]

thats fucked man, im sorry for what you went through. War is never fought for the benefit of people, its fought so a small group of people can hold on to power or get more power. always. 100% of the time. unfortunately its the regular joes that get fucked and a small group of people manage to get more money that they didn't need.

[@ImmortalAnvil]

America: rock n' roll and motorcycles

[@kenc12]

Our country had no business sending troops there but so many lies where spend congress gave the go ahead then felt betrayed after, our country hasn't even apologized to anyone iraqis or american troops for that war. And if Dick Cheney woulda had his way america would be in syria right now doing the exact same thing. What did america even achieve in Iraq especially after the reason for being there originally was found to be false

[@mcspikesky]

computers good for the economy and big business

[@Jasshands1]

it was probaly those stupid info mericals, get a slap chop, that doesnt work, cost 3x and requires more effort then a normal knife to cut tomatoes.

[@dsmluck]

I don't disagree.

[@Midawook1]

This is so true, back then when sadam was leader everything was great execpt the killing he did and wars he joined..

[@AFGalwayz]

you also go on about how there are falsities in my comments and then suppose we are all just suppose to take your word for it when you cant point them out. and then post about how the US is a stabilizing force in iraq when it has destabilized it for the better part of the 80s and 90s. what you continously seem to ignore is that the United States was responsible for Saddam Hussein coming to power and also the militarization of iraq in the 80s. including chemical weapons.

[@SuzkoSuge]

Pure & worldwide fucking schyzophrenia

[@Illumirage]

Sounds more to me like Iraq is better/worse depending on whom you ask. Religious nuts are going to say it's worse now because of Western influence and people who are less religious would say otherwise.

[@DJJaybob]

Because they don't know what they are doing yet

[@MsPlayMyPokerFace]

oh.. well thats why I could not find it ;) lucky me

[@ParklaneKarma]

Its all very complex. I read that the christian iraqis were much more happy during the Saddam rule, because he somwhat protected the minorities from religious exstremist. So from their point of view, now that their churches are being burned and killed, it was better back then.

[@jbradley4907]

yea bro

[@shaygahweh]

A real tragedy.

[@Outlawzand1]

The American Dream. You have to be asleep to believe it.

[@wutangmitch]

I appreciate your clarity of thought, Kardia. The blatant stupidity and the unchecked anti-Americanism in the comments I am seeing here are very disappointing. Apparently Saddam was good, America is terrible, and the Iraqis are subservient. Were any of these people paying attention? This wasn't Fahrenheit 9/11 but the response to it seems to echo the same asinine conclusions. I guess people would rather be self-righteously enraged than do the actual work of thinking for themselves. Shame.

[@garywsylvester]

'I don't think there were any big achievements for american troops in Iraq' (other than) 'It's true they liberated Iraq from Saddam, the tyrannizer'. You don't need to be pro america/ right wing to question the lucidity of this video. Thanks vice.

[@bobf3598]

The guy who invented these needs to be President. Just goes to show how easy it is to dupe people and reap the rewards.

[@NomKarver]

yes

[@NomKarver]

I got 2 Tikets 2 paradise!!!

[@StrangerThenRedz]

if this is sensationalism then i love to see what you consider to be news something even beyond fox news probably

[@dayglowjoe]

then maybe we shouldn't have overthrown him and destroyed everything he had rebuilt.

[@saeediraqi2816]

why? its our home

[@CorneliusEdwardoWinstonThe2nd]

Bro that British guy should be in jail wtf hasn’t Iraq suffered enough

[@23kennyboy23]

Great documentary but not keen on the conclusion. It may be the case that saddam helped rebuild iraq quickly, but then hitler made the trains run on time. Doesn't detract from what they do.

[@sbak030]

one word: Corruption.

[@Illumirage]

Well Iraq is more arguable but Afghanistan? Other than say Abu Graihb, and a couple other minor examples what has been so 'abominable' about Afghanistan? We weren't supposed to go after Al Queada after 9/11 happened? I'm starting to have my doubts about you.

[@HajtomY]

thing is that whatever these dictators are doing they are also doing something right than just bad. Saddam was the embodiment of national policies, whatever Saddam thought harmony was then that was it. Saddam was pro secularism one of his few good approaches. Now thats gone something must replace it. Awareness I guess is important.

[@mmahde1985]

NO NO NO NO never look back to the past, I do not like the situation in Iraq now but I will never live under Saddam rule, because it was an organized terror. The situation in Iraq is extremely bad but not like Saddam era. Iraq still have bigger chance to live better life if the Iraqi people decide to live together. The Iraqi people are divided. USA destroyed Iraq with all means possible.

[@BigManPigMan628]

US soldiers aren't what they used to be. Back in the good old days this country minded its own beeswax and only got involved in foreign conflicts for self defense (WWII). Although Korea and the Gulf War may have been arguably legitimate, most other largely unilateral foreign conflicts the US has been involved in were not. Afghanistan and Iraq are abominations of foreign policy. I do not respect the soldiers who have participated in embarrassing this country.

[@dmaster225]

Dam that sucks. America is fucked up.

[@linkonsat]

We did more damage than helping