Answering Questions About Iraq
Nov. 12, 2004 — -- ABC News Correspondent Jim Sciutto in Iraq answers your questions regarding the U.S. military efforts in the region.
Mick writes: The timing of the Fallujah effort makes me think our military was holding back during our elections to avoid having to admit how far out of control things are in Iraq. What is the perspective from over there?
Sciutto: Iraqis agree with you 100 percent. They say the timing of the U.S. election and the start of the Fallujah assault were far too close to be coincidental. Iraqis, however, tell us this is the least of their worries. The violence has become so widespread -- even more so since the assault -- that average Iraqis are very much focused on surviving -- on their way to work, if they have a job, to the market when they feel safe enough, and, for their children, on the way to school. Lots of families have organized car pools to get their kids to school relatively more safely.
Jean in Georgetown, Ind., writes: I'd like to know who the insurgents are -- are they Iraqis or from another country? And what are they fighting about? Do they want America to get out or do they want another government in power or what?
Sciutto: The insurgents are a mix. Foreigners are a minority. These tend to be young men from neighboring Arab countries who view fighting the U.S. occupation as their religious duty. There are also some Iraqis who feel the same. The larger elements, though, are former elements of the old regime, including former members of the old Iraqi army, and average Iraqis who may have opposed Saddam Hussein, but see the U.S. military as an occupying army. Many of the insurgents in Fallujah even are not hard-core terrorists, but people who've joined the cause after losing relatives to U.S. attacks -- or who simply want to defend their homes.
Their motives are different. The Islamists want a pan-Arab Islamic state, similar to what al Qaeda says it's fighting for. The old Saddam supporters are fighting for their own power and for a U.S. exit. Many Iraqis simply want the U.S. to leave.
Michael in Georgia writes: Thanks for your work over in Iraq. Should we entertain the notion that Iraq (borders drawn arbitrarily by the British) can split into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish sectors? It seems that they can never live together; long-term... isn't "Iraq" just another "Yugoslavia" that really is better off separated?
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