Paul Jay, of the Real News Network, speaks to Leila Fadel, Baghdad bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers in a series of interviews covering a number of topics pertaining to Iraq. The interview, and her points, are very insightful, showing her understanding of the country and it’s people.
This interview, and a few others, are what the American people should be seeing. Not reporting? being done by so called News Anchors and expert? analyst, most having never been In-Country, or only quick visits to, and having few reports directly out of the Country and even fewer about and with the people of, same for the other Theater of Occupation Afghanistan.
Iraqis suspicious of pullout deal
Leila Fadel says while new agreement seems a win for Iraq many doubt it will be implemented as written
They speak on Iraqi perception of the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The Arabic-version of the agreement is firm on the United States completely withdrawing all aspects of its occupation of Iraq by December 31, 2011. Fadel says that most Iraqis are suspicious of the Agreement and of their government’s dedication to ending the US-led occupation firmly. Fadel also talks about Muqtada al- Sadr and his supporters’ reaction to the Agreement as well as the fall in violence in Iraq in the past year.
The Iraqi view of the surge
Leila Fadel: The surge is not well understood in the US Pt.2
As surge nears its final years, many are struggling to understand what exactly it has achieved. According to exiting President George W. Bush and his successor the surge was a success. To better understand the situation on the ground, Paul Jay spoke to Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers’ bureau chief in Baghdad. Fadel speaks on the history of violence in the region, from the Anbar province to Baghdad. She also speaks on the rising leaders and the Sons of Iraq program, the exiled former fighter Abu Abed, and the network known in the West as al- Qaeda. The drop in sectarian violence, according to Fadel, is the result of the ethnic cleansing of Sunni Muslims and the creation of segregation by US-built walls between Shia and Sunni neighborhoods, and the nature of the resistance to the forces.
Iraqi elites fight for position
Leila Fadel: The fight for Iraqi wealth and power will intensify Pt.3
They continue after that last one, Pt. 3, but haven’t posted it up yet.
Bio
Leila Fadel is the chief of the Baghdad bureau of McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered the war in Iraq for Knight Ridder and now McClatchy on and off since June 2005, as well as the 34-day war in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006. Prior to joining the McClatchy team she worked at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as a crime and higher education reporter.
Fadel graduated from Northeastern University in Boston in 2004 and has lived in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. She speaks conversational Arabic. She was named print journalist of the year by the Houston Press Club for her work in 2005 and won a Katie Award from the Dallas Press Club in 2006 for her portfolio of work.
Her Iraq reporting won her Print Journalist of the Year honors from the Houston Press Club citing her work from “Bedford (Texas) to Baghdad,” and add her McClatchy Blog