ABC Four Corners - Iraq Insurgency (2010) - MVGROUP

Information
Secret Iraq - Insurgency

Reporter: Quicksilver Productions

Broadcast: 11/10/2010

The invasion of Iraq began in March 2003. The President of the United States, George W. Bush, claimed he wanted to remove a dictator who is armed with weapons of mass destruction, and liberate a people. Instead the invasion provoked a bloody insurgency resulting in the death of thousands of civilians, massive troop casualties, and at the same time laying the ground-work for the arrival of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Made for Quicksilver productions by producer Sam Collyns, the series tells the story of Iraq not simply from the point of view of the invaders but from the insurgents who fought them. It tells how fundamental strategic mistakes made by the Americans pushed formerly peaceful Iraqis into the arms of the fanatical Al Qaeda.

"Time in Abu Ghraib (prison) helped recruit the insurgency ... even people who had not fought the Americans before their arrest vowed to die fighting them after their time in prison."

In the opening episode of "Secret Iraq", the insurgents reveal how their treatment at the hands of the allied troops instilled a hatred of Westerners and in turn sparked their rebellion. Many have never spoken before.

"I'm like any Iraqi who wanted to defend his honour, his family and his home."

A key C.I.A. operative explains how the decision to use private security contractors, instead of soldiers or police, also created massive problems for the Coalition:

"Their goal was to protect some guy in an armoured car. And they made a lot of bad enemies because of the way they behaved."

Other Iraqis explain how the decision to purge the military and police forces of anyone seen to be connected with Saddam and his Ba'athist Party allowed those same institutions to be taken over by murderous Shia militia, who set up death-squads prepared to kill anyone they did not accept.

"If you like they were police officers by day and terrorists or insurgents by night."

But the Americans were not the only commanders making major policy errors. The program also reveals the failure of the British to gain control of Basra.

What did the allies do wrong? What provoked the insurgency? Who was behind the death squads killing hundreds of people? And what will the invasion ultimately mean for Iraq? Those are just some of the questions this series tries to answer.