Friday, April 11, 2008
John Burns and Dexter Filkins on Rose
This discussion with John F Burns and Dexter Filkins is filled with insight and valuable on the scene observation about the confusing landscape of Iraq. Their general understanding is that we have a brief window in which things might turn for the good; very conditional, without tendentious assertion, these are reporters who have hard won credibility.
Filkins' observation that the “wind went out of the sails” when the looting began underlines the failure of Bush's leadership and oversight. But the larger discussion underlines the fact that the Iraqis are human beings who want freedom and risked their lives many times to prove just that. The hope and desire implicit in the allies attempt to improve a uniquely important junction in mid-east history affirms the removal of Hussein. Filkins' account of visiting a “caucus” he was sure would never happen, in the most chaotic part of Iraq at the time, was a touching tale well-told.