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 Talking with an unembedded reporter
Dahr Jamil. Has spent many months in Iraq as one of the only independent, unembedded journalists there. We had a chance briefly to talk with him about Iraq and also about World Tribunal on Iraq, in which he participated as a witness and testified in front of jury of conscience.
Sharhram Vahdany- When was the last time you were in Iraq?
Dahr Jamail- February 7th 2005 Sharhram Vahdany- Do you still have any sources there?
Dahr Jamail -Yeah, I call usually every two or three days and I get email from people almost daily. Sharhram Vahdany- Could you explain, what's happening with the constitution draft in Iraq?¨
Dahr Jamail- When we talk about the constitution in Iraq I have to be very clear that they are not actually writing their own constitution, the constitution is essentially been provided to them by the Americans. They're trying to agree on it and negotiate certain points but they're only adding in a little bit of their extra thing to it so they're really not actually authoring their own constitution. They're basically trying to agree and negotiating on the points laid out in a prearranged constitution written essentially by Iraqis appointed by the Americans. Where they're at with this is they're probably going to end up delaying it because they've basically shelved all the really hot topics like secularism and Islamic law and what's going to happen with the Kurdish in Kurdistan. They've pushed all those off until right now and the due date is August 15th so now they're going to have to delay it for two or three months. Sharhram Vahdany- What you are saying is they are modifying or editing the draft, which was handed to them by Americans?
Dahr Jamail- Well, not directly from the American administration. But it is essentially a pre-written constitution by those appointed by the US. Sharhram Vahdany- We just published the "Declaration of jury of conscience" that came out. And you were a witness there?
Dahr Jamail-Yes, I testified there. Sharhram Vahdany- How long did you testify
Dahr Jamail- We each had only twenty minutes because they had tons of people testifying. Sharhram Vahdany-How many reporters from the states were there?
Dahr Jamail- Covering the events or testifying?
Sharhram Vahdany- Testifying.
Dahr Jamail- I was the only one. Sharhram Vahdany- Were you the only one?
Dahr Jamail- Yes. There were expert witnesses like Von Sponeck former UN, Thomas Fasy on DU. on uranium emissions, people like anthropology experts testifying about the cultural disjunction, so, I was really the only reporter, then there were a bunch of Iraqis there as eye witnesses. Just to give you an idea, all aspects of the invasion and occupation were covered, for violations of international law. Sharhram Vahdany- What were media reactions to this event?
Dahr Jamail- In the western media, in the corporate media, they have ignored it. It's gotten huge media attention in the alternative media and in other foreign media, like in turkey all of their mainstream sources covered it and in other countries like Greece it got quite good coverage but in western media particularly in Great Britain and the USA it was ignored Sharhram Vahdany- What was this tribunal hoping to achieve and did they?
Dahr Jamail- To bring more attention to illegalities, to war crimes, that Bush and Blair are war criminals as are other governments that are members of the coalition. All of this information now is open and available to the public. So hopefully many indictments will come out from this and lawsuits will be filed on an individual basis. Sharhram Vahdany- Is there any plan to go to the human rights commission in the UN with verdict?
Dahr Jamail- Well, again really a lot of the aim, for example Dennis Holiday and Von Sponeck testified that the UN is implicated because they have not done their job so trying to get them involved now to actually do it. Is really little hope of that because they're actually carrying some of the brunt of that accusation so no, not on that front, really, Sharhram Vahdany- Are you planning to go back to Iraq?
Dahr Jamail-Yes, but I don't know when yet, I have a lot of work I can do stateside for now, I kind of don't have a plan for near future. Sharhram Vahdany- Do you have any problem entering Iraq?
Dahr Jamail- Ah, not yet, I haven't had a problem although now they do require a visa and they're making it more and more difficult to obtain one. They're making it harder for independent reporters to get in there. But so far, I haven't had any problem. Sharhram Vahdany- What is the situation for independent reporters in Iraq?
Dahr Jamail- Independent reporters; it's the worst place in the world to work as a reporter right now. We have access, we can go into the Green Zone we can go to press conferences you can embed if you're not black listed. I personally am black listed. Which, I'm kind of pleased about because it shows I'm doing my job, but it's very difficult to work in that independent journalists it can easily be argued now that there is a procedure now of targeting independent journalists by the US military. That's what happened with Giuliana Sgrena, the assassination attempt on her when she was trying to leave the country relatively recently. With the Al Jazeera office being bombed during the initial invasion., Abu Dhabi TV office being attacked, so there's been at least 15 independent journalists have been killed now, by the US military the majority of them Arabs. Sharhram Vahdany- May I ask why are you black listed?
Dahr Jamail- Because I report on the war crimes being carried out by the us military and once they are made aware of reporters who report on this aspect of what they do then they try to ban you from any information. They don't like people reporting on the illegal weapons they are using, they don't like people who report on civilian casualties, that they've been generating, inflicting punishment on the people. Sharhram Vahdany- But you have no official proof that you've been black listed.
Dahr Jamail- Other than, like if I want to embed they wont allow me to embed. And when I call Iraqi corporations to get information from them they know exactly who I am and they are reluctant to give me information. Sharhram Vahdany- What is your plan for the future in the state. Other then running a website "Dispatch from Iraq" and reporting Iraq events regularly? Dahr Jamail- Right now I'm doing a lot of presentations. I go around talking to people and showing them photos and show them what's going on in Iraq and what is not reported by mainstream media. A lot more presentations. I'm hoping to write a book soon. And then of course I do still want to go back to Iraq sooner rather than later. Sharhram Vahdany- Have you ever been to Canada?
Dahr Jamail- Yes I have been, not too much. I went to Vancouver on the two-year anniversary of the invasion, made a presentation and then took part in a rally there against occupation. I walked in the march there. Sharhram Vahdany- What is your view of US "deserters" who come to Canada?
Dahr Jamail- I think they're a moral example of what every soldier in the military that has been sent to Iraq should do because its an immoral situation and a violation of international law and these people are very brave and should be supported in any way possible. Sharhram Vahdany- What is your message for Canadian anti-war movement?
Dahr Jamail- Just, that it's important to keep up the work and pressure the Canadian government. For example I know Canada has troops in Afghanistan and this is really enabling the US occupation of Iraq because it frees up troops to go to Iraq, it's important that Canadians continue to make these information available to as many people as possible to pressure the government to not support the US military in any way or to take part in any of the contracts within Iraq. I think Afghanistan is essentially a smaller version of Iraq where the Americans are not there to help Afghan people they're there to guard a pipeline. They're there to have military bases in the country and to allow their western contractors to come in and be paid money for work they are simple not doing. There's no oversight because Afghanistan doesn't get media coverage at all. It is far worse than Iraq, the country is completely destroyed, and again at the end of the day the people paying the highest prices for this are the Afghan people and now they're not happy with the situation we see now demonstrations at US bases and upheaval and that situation is starting to get out of US control just like Iraq.
Sharhram Vahdany- We are thankful that you took the time, respond to our questions, and wish you success.
Dahr Jamail- I thank you.
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