Holidays in the Axis of Evil (Short Version) ? Iraq Tx Date: This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 00.00.00 George W Bush Axis of Evil! Axis of Evil! Axis of Evil! 00.00.04 Ben Anderson A year ago George W Bush branded six countries as the world’s most evil. 00.00.09 Music 00.00.11 Ben Anderson I wanted to explore the enemy territory. 00.00.14 Music 00.00.19 Ben Anderson So I took a holiday through the Axis of Evil. 00.00.23 Music 00.00.27 Title Page holidays in the AXIS OF EVIL 00.00.31 IRAQ 00.00.35 Music 00.00.47 Ben Anderson With war looming, it’s impossible to travel around Iraq freely as journalists. So we’ve come to Syria to join an archaeological tour that covers most of the country. For the time being it’s the last tour of its kind into Iraq. 00.01.03 Aston BEN ANDERSON We’re in Kalmira, which is our last stop before we go into Iraq. We’ve just been grilled again by our guide who’s told us, has double-checked that we can’t take in mobile phones or laptops. He asked us if we had any guns as well and said that we cannot mention Saddam in any way at all, even amongst ourselves because the coach and the hotel rooms are all gonna be bugged. If we do need to mention his name in any way, we’re gonna call him Ted. 00.01.28 Music 00.01.32 Ben Anderson Iraq has some of the most ancient and holy sites in the world for Christian, Jews and Muslims. 00.01.38 Music 00.01.42 Ben Anderson One group toasted their expedition but recent history means that few people know about Iraq’s glorious past. Even fewer want to come and see it. 00.01.52 Music 00.01.54 Ben Anderson It’s a three hour journey to the Iraqi border. 00.01.57 Music 00.02.01 Ben Anderson On the way we pass scores of lorries ferrying goods to Iraq. There may be sanctions but Iraq has a black market worth tens of billions of dollars a year, all of which goes straight to Saddam. 00.02.11 Music 00.02.13 Ben Anderson And with my producer Elizabeth we have one small camcorder and we haven’t told anyone who we are or what we’re really doing. 00.02.19 Music 00.02.22 Ben Anderson We’re at the Iraqi border waiting to go through and all men under sixty and all women under fifty have to have an AIDS test, which we’ve just had. But we all got tested and they didn’t take our names. So they’ve got no idea whose sample belongs to who. I made sure they just took stuff out and didn’t put anything in. 00.02.46 Ben Anderson And the doctor leant over to me and he whispered in my ear, he said, I can help you with your blood for five dollars. And I said I’m ok, my blood is fine, so I don’t know if he’s trying to get me in trouble for offering bribes or if he thinks I’m HIV positive and he can bail me out. 00.03.04 Ben Anderson The perfectly paved road to Baghdad is Iraq’s main supply route. So it’s a prime target for any military campaign. 00.03.10 Music 00.03.18 Ben Anderson A bear entices us into a restaurant. Saddam is running for re-election and everyone is certain that war is inevitable. Life is as normal as ever in Iraq. 00.03.27 Music 00.03.31 Ben Anderson From the moment of our arrival, Ted’s image is everywhere, accompanied now by his election slogan. 00.03.36 Notice above door YES YES TO OUR BELOVED LEADER SADDAM HUSSAIN 00.03.37 Music 00.03.40 Ben Anderson And just as it’s clear who you’re supposed to love and vote for in Iraq, it’s also clear who you’re supposed to hate. 00.03.52 Ben Anderson And who you’re supposed to blame for Iraq’s suffering. 00.03.57 Ben Anderson This is also where the weapon’s inspectors stayed when they were here and maybe where they’ll stay again if you know how doesn’t stop them coming. 00.04.05 Music 00.04.09 Ben Anderson As in North Korea Iraq’s leader is not only everywhere, he is everything. 00.04.13 Music 00.04.28 Ben Anderson Television in Iraq is the Saddam Show. Every night there’s a different music video and everyone is a love song. 00.04.34 Music 00.04.36 Singer Subtitles Oh love, we love the leader Saddam the President and father Oh love, we love the leader Saddam the President and father If he says ‘build’ – Then get ready He orders and we oblige Oh love Oh love and we love the leader 00.05.13 Singer Subtitles Oh what constructions Everyone is amazed Everyone impressed 00.05.21 Ben Anderson The black market billions are being well spent in Baghdad. Saddam is building two of the world’s largest mosques and he’s already built a palatial new Ba’ath Party headquarters. 00.05.29 Music 00.05.46 Ben Anderson We’ve got a birthday on the bus. It’s an American, the only American on the tour so they’ve baked him a chocolate birthday cake, which is a good time. 00.05.58 Music 00.06.00 Ben Anderson The tour is tightly controlled. Mohammed is our minder from the Ministry of Information. His job is to make sure it’s only archaeology that we’re filming. 00.06.09 Music 00.06.12 Ben Anderson In the way Saddam builds monuments to himself, the ancient Mesopotamians built Ziggurats. 00.06.18 Ben Anderson Ziggurats are temple mounds; the meeting place between heaven and earth. This one dates back to the Fifteenth Century BC. 00.06.25 Music 00.06.26 Ben Anderson Many of these sites are unprotected but Saddam isn’t above using archaeology, like people, as a shield. 00.06.33 Ben Anderson These sites offer protection for his weapons. He knows the West will be reluctant to bomb this crumbling world heritage. 00.06.43 Ben Anderson These are the Ziggurat steps, Alexander the Great walked up and down. We were only allowed to film at the last minute because there used to be a huge missile just on the other side. 00.06.55 Music 00.06.58 Ben Anderson Opportunities to speak to Iraqis are almost non- existent. We have a rare chance when we visit a souk. 00.07.04 Music 00.07.14 Ben Anderson Considering our government is and has always been America’s keenest ally in its campaigns against Iraq, they make us feel unbelievably welcome. 00.07.24 Ben Anderson He knows David Beckham. 00.07.34 Ben Anderson It’s election week in Iraq, but with our minders nearby we can’t talk about politics or war. 00.07.43 Ben Anderson We’re trying to talk about, we can’t talk about anything apart from David Beckham and that we’re very welcome, that’s all we can say. 00.07.50 Chat in the souk 00.08.06 Ben Anderson We’ve had, we’ve been to two sites today and two restaurants and we can’t talk to anyone, even the guides just, can only say yes and no. We’ve got twenty-five people on our group who are just around all the time so we can’t, I can’t meet ordinary Iraqis, we can’t have any serious in-depth discussion. One coming now. 00.08.32 Ben Anderson Got the complete works of Saddam. Revolution of the Young, Current Affairs in Iraq, One Trench or Two. 00.08.39 Elizabeth Do you have a lot of business? 00.08.41 Shopkeeper No. His family. This his wife, his daughter. 00.08.55 Ben Anderson In the end we just buy a postcard. 00.08.58 Ben Anderson ‘Greetings from Iraq’; we’ll get this one. 00.09.01 Ben Anderson And try on some familiar Arab headwear. 00.09.05 How does it feel so far? 00.09.07 Ben Anderson It feels good… 00.09.10 Shopkeeper This one, Yasser Arafat. 00.09.18 Music 00.09.29 Singer Subtitles Oh Saddam you are victorious Oh Saddam Oh Saddam you are victorious Your people are the support and fortress Oh Saddam Oh Saddam you are victorious You are a fire on your enemies. Fire! A fire on your enemies you become And your face is a light for those who love you Light for those who love you Oh Saddam you are victorious 00.10.01 Ben Anderson With television in Iraq singing what is essentially the same song every night, people have to make their own entertainment. 00.10.07 Music 00.10.13 Ben Anderson Football is played everywhere. Even on the most sacred archaeological sites. 00.10.18 Ben Anderson This desert castle, recently renovated for use in a B movie, has more footballers than tourists. It could just be me but I felt sure that when they spoke about Man U, Iraqi’s faces lit up in a way they didn’t when they spoke about their love for Saddam. 00.10.39 Man 1 I like football and the Iraqi people very, they like football. 00.10.44 Elizabeth So which is the best team in the world? 00.10.46 Man 1 In the, I like Manchester United. 00.10.49 Elizabeth Which one do you like? 00.10.50 Man 2 Manchester also. 00.10.52 Man 1 Many Iraqi people like Manchester United. 00.10.54 Elizabeth Why? 00.10.55 Man 1 I don’t know. 00.10.57 Music 00.11.05 Elizabeth That’s cheating! 00.11.11 Ben Anderson This is the Iraq Daily News printed in English that we’ve managed to get for the first time in a week. This is two days before the election and the leader column says; ‘Iraqi’s dedication and love to the notable leader, President Saddam Hussein is of a special kind. It is that kind of love which the history of humanity will embroider in the memory of the coming generations. 00.11.36 Ben Anderson This is asking Iraqis to observe a minute’s silence for the victims of September the eleventh and then says; ‘after paying your respects to the victims of nine eleven by offering one minute of silence you may also consider paying your respects to the civilian victims of US government before and after nine eleven. Over five hundred thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed during and after the Gulf War to a large extent due to the inhumane sanctions that the US government has insisted on. The loss of life is one hundred times that of nine eleven so please stand up for one hundred minutes of silence. 00.12.09 Ben Anderson This is funny. The science page says; ‘yes, yes, yes’. The home news page says; ‘he’s a historic leader and the children say yes, yes, yes’. And then the technology page also says; ‘yes, yes, yes to the president and death to America and Zionism’. 00.12.28 Ben Anderson In the last referendum, seven years ago, ninety-nine point nine six percent of voters said yes, yes, yes to President Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi media are boldly predicting that this time the results will go the same way. 00.12.42 Iraqi broadcast Subtitles On the great referendum day all the Iraqis will set off to the polling stations in their great march to say “Yes” to the leader Saddam Hussein and a thousand “No’s” to his miserable enemies Saddam is nothing but a conscience and a dream which became a full-sized planet which rose like the Sun in greatness and fullness and we are proud of his greatness 00.13.19 Music 00.13.23 Ben Anderson This is Babylon, home of King Nebuchadnezzar, recently rebuilt to something like its former glory by Saddam, who clearly wants to identify himself with Iraq’s great civilisations. 00.13.35 Mona My name Mona. So I shall accompany you to see Babylon. You are welcome here in Babylon. 00.13.41 Group Thank you. 00.13.42 Music 00.13.44 Ben Anderson Nebuchadnezzar was a conqueror and a builder. Under his rule in six hundred BC, Babylon flourished as the epicentre of an empire and spawned a magnificent era of science, art and decadence. 00.13.55 Music 00.13.59 Mona So now we are in centre of Babylon. 00.14.03 Man Yeah, what does that say? 00.14.05 Mona It says; ‘I am Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon’. 00.14.07 Man Oh does it? 00.14.08 Mona ‘I built this gate for my goddess Ishtad’. Ishtad, the goddess of beauty and love. 00.14.14 Ben Anderson Little remains of the original Babylon. Saddam has rebuilt it, printing his name on every one hundredth brick. 00.14.21 Mona This is a stamp in Arabic; ‘President Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq, rebuilt this place which belonged to Nebuchadnezzar’. Here Alexander the Great died also, discovered by German in 1902. In one corner the German found a structure they believe that this is the foundation of the Hanging Gardens. All these things happened in this place. 00.14.44 Ben Anderson Not mentioning Saddam is difficult in Babylon. As well as the bricks he’s built a huge palace right next to the site. 00.14.51 Elizabeth What are they building here? 00.14.53 Mona No, they excavate. 00.14.56 Elizabeth They’re excavating here. 00.14.57 Mona Yes. 00.15.00 Ben Anderson So we can’t go over there because of the excavation site. It’s not, it’s not because of the palace it’s because of the excavation site. 00.15.09 Ben Anderson We’re told not to film the big white building. We’re supposed to be ignoring recent history on this archaeological tour but Saddam’s flamboyance makes this impossible. 00.15.20 Mona The lion symbol of Babylonian power and the person under the lion the enemy. Anyone want to conquer Babylon, break into Babylon by force, killed by lion. 00.15.36 Elizabeth Ok, say cheese. 00.15.44 Guide This is the plan of this palace, very huge palace. Fifty two thousand square metres. 00.15.53 Ben Anderson With fifty-two thousand square metres we’d thought we’d find enough empty space to do one video diary about Saddam’s desire to go down in history alongside Nebuchadnezzar. 00.16.06 Ben Anderson So the whole place has been rebuilt under Saddam, he’s put new bricks everywhere. Is he thinking that he’s going to be… 00.16.19 Ben Anderson But we were always watched. 00.16.22 Ben Anderson Are you worried these, some of these sites could be damaged? 00.16.25 Mona This one? No. No, no, this place, no. During, during the war? 00.16.29 Ben Anderson Yeah. 00.16.30 Mona No. But my city, my city, Hellah, many place damaged. 00.16.38 Ben Anderson Are people very worried here, are they very nervous? 00.16.40 Mona Yes. Yes. 00.16.43 Elizabeth So what do you think of the British people you meet? 00.16.49 Mona Nice. Not like their government. 00.16.53 Ben Anderson We asked Mona what she thinks of American accusations against Iraq. 00.16.57 Mona This is, this huge propaganda because though oil, petrol. Simple people, they, they, they learn this. 00.17.08 Ben Anderson When the conversation becomes too political we return to the one safe subject. 00.17.13 Ben Anderson The best player in the world is Arab. 00.17.16 Mona Zidane. Zidane. 00.17.17 Ben Anderson Zidane, yeah. 00.17.18 Mona But during this World Cup, they prefer Beckham. 00.17.23 Woman Well, he’s charismatic, isn’t he? He’s interesting and good looking. 00.17.26 Mona Yes. Yes. 00.17.30 Music 00.17.33 Ben Anderson Nor far away, we visit the site of what was once thought to be the Tower of Babel. 00.17.38 Music 00.17.40 Ben Anderson In fact, an inscription found at this tower reveals that Nebuchadnezzar built it as a replica of the tower he’d already built in Babylon. 00.17.48 Music 00.17.55 Ben Anderson In the Old Testament the Tower of Babel was destroyed as a punishment for man’s arrogance in thinking himself divine. 00.18.02 Music 00.18.14 Ben Anderson The south is hostile territory for Saddam. Iraqis here are Shia Muslims and Saddam is a Suni. The two strains of Islam have been in conflict since the year six eighty when there was a dispute about who was the prophet Mohammed’s rightful heir. 00.18.29 Ben Anderson This is Kabala where during the uprising in 1991, the Shia rebels completely took over the town and… 00.18.47 Ben Anderson Two soldiers looking at us as we speak. 00.18.50 Ben Anderson Shias form the sixty-three percent majority in Iraq. Only fifteen percent of the population is Suni. 00.19.00 Ben Anderson I’ll ask Mohammed what the signs say? 00.19.08 Ben Anderson What do the signs say? For the election? 00.19.13 Mohammed …election of Saddam Hussein. Yes, yes, yes. 00.19.16 Ben Anderson Yes, yes, yes to our president. 00.19.17 Mohammed Yes. 00.19.18 Ben Anderson Is that one the same? They all say the same. 00.19.26 Mohammed It’s just saying this is, the, the people of Iraq love Saddam Hussein because Saddam Hussein first man in Iraq, the choice of Iraq, the President of Iraq. This is all… 00.19.37 Ben Anderson And what will the results be? 00.19.39 Mohammed Yes. 00.19.40 Ben Anderson What will the result of the election be? 00.19.41 Mohammed. All, all Iraq. 00.19.42 Ben Anderson Everyone will vote? 00.19.43 Mohammed Yes, all Iraqi people… 00.19.50 Ben Anderson After decades of brutality I found it impossible to believe Saddam had a single supporter here. 00.19.55 Ben Anderson I think we stand out just a bit here? 00.19.59 Singing 00.20.04 Ben Anderson This is one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims – the Shrine of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Every year thousands of Shia Muslims make the pilgrimage here to mourn the Imam’s death. 00.20.17 Ben Anderson This year Saddam’s soldiers and Ba’ath Party members, who are all Suni Muslims, were waiting for them. 00.20.25 Ben Anderson Just, just six months ago, forty Shia Muslims were killed right here. Just six months later there are Saddam election posters everywhere, everywhere, there’s not a single opposition candidate. 00.20.46 Ben Anderson Every major Shia site is now also famous for a string of massacres and assassinations. But just to show who’s boss, Saddam’s image is everywhere, around and even inside the mosques. 00.20.59 Elizabeth Can you tell us what this, what this says? 00.21.04 Mohammed Saddam Hussein pictures…Saddam Hussein. 00.21.14 Ben Anderson This is the quietest part of the whole area I think. 00.21.19 Music 00.21.21 Ben Anderson Saddam’s billions aren’t being spent in the south. Apart from Saddam’s murals everything here is on the point of collapse. 00.21.28 Music 00.21.30 Singer Subtitles Oh if only you loved the rest of the world as you love us there would be no tears but they don’t have our sweetness they don’t have Saddam Hussein When you sit next to us we feel that we love you We are happy when we see you laughing 00.21.56 Elizabeth Ok, where are the lights? 00.22.00 Music 00.22.04 Ben Anderson But Iraqis have become great at somehow keeping things working. 00.22.07 Music 00.22.16 Ben Anderson The day the Gulf War ended, Shia Muslims, encouraged by George Bush Senior, rose up against Saddam. In just five days they took seven towns in the south. But the Americans had a change of heart and didn’t intervene when Saddam launched his counter- attack. 00.22.33 Ben Anderson Still loads of pictures of our man everywhere which is surprising. 00.22.39 Ben Anderson Saddam has always believed that Shia dissent is Iranian inspired. 00.22.43 Bells/music 00.22.48 Ben Anderson Loads of Iranians here, loads of Iranian mullahs, I think I’ve seen Iranian football shirts. This is where the Ayatollah Khomeni planned the Iranian revolution. 00.22.58 Music 00.23.01 Ben Anderson The shrine of Imam Ali was the scene of the final battle between the Shia rebels and Saddam’s soldiers. When the battle was over fourteen hundred civilians lay dead here. The uprising was crushed and the final death toll was estimated at thirty thousand. 00.23.18 Ben Anderson This is as close as we’re allowed to get. 00.23.21 Music 00.23.23 Ben Anderson It’s a great honour for the dead to be blessed here. But that’s perhaps too intimate a moment for Western tourists to see. 00.23.29 Music 00.23.34 Ben Anderson There’s been some hostility with the group. Some people are really unhappy about us being here. 00.23.38 Music 00.23.49 Ben Anderson This is, this is also the site where the Grand Ayatollah was murdered on his way home with his two sons and four Ayatollah’s have died in very suspicious circumstances over the last three or four years. 00.24.02 Ben Anderson Away from the shrine and the people are as friendly as ever. 00.24.09 Man Speak English? 00.24.10 Ben Anderson English. 00.24.11 Man English, yes, yes. 00.24.17 Music 00.24.19 Ben Anderson The south is also home to what remains of the Marsh Arabs whose five thousand year old culture has just about been destroyed. During the Iran Iraq war the Iranians had some of their greatest successes here. In retaliation for this and the ’91 uprising, Saddam sprayed the area with mustard gas and napalm. 00.24.38 Music 00.24.42 Ben Anderson There’s a telling mixture of faith and fear in the South. The people display pictures of the founders of the Shia faith but they must also display portraits of their great enemy. 00.24.55 Ben Anderson They’ve got pictures of Imam Hussein and Imam Ali and a picture of Ted. 00.25.02 Music 00.25.06 Ben Anderson Although we were in the cradle of civilisation, surrounded by the cities of the Old Testament, we were almost completely alone. 00.25.13 Ben Anderson This is the site of Uruk, which was continuously inhabited from four thousand BC right up to the Fifth Century AD. It should be one of the most popular ancient sites on earth. 00.25.24 Music 00.25.33 Ben Anderson We’re in the city of Uruk, which is the, most archaeologists believe is the first ever city. It’s also where writing began. But there’s no fences, no museum, no shop, no toilets, no nothing, there’s not a soul for miles around, miles as far as you can see, all around. 00.25.55 Ben Anderson The writing on this tablet could be six thousand years old. And yet in the very place writing was born, children beg for pens. 00.26.16 Elizabeth Oh, very nice! 00.26.19 Ben Anderson We turn our flip out screen around so they can see themselves. 00.26.23 Old lady Hello! 00.26.50 Ben Anderson There were once approximately five hundred thousand Marsh Arabs here. With most of their land either poisoned or bone dry only fifty thousand now remain. 00.27.19 Ben Anderson Before the Gulf War that two hundred and fifty Iraqi dinar note was worth just over eight hundred dollars. A senior civil servant got three hundred dinars a month. We’ve been given this wad just for tipping and Pepsi and that’s worth twenty-five dollars. That would have been worth, at pre-Gulf War rates, about a hundred and seventy thousand dollars. 00.27.57 Broadcaster Subtitles The American Administration of Evil and its subservient British Puppet committed a new crime to be added to their record against the steadfast Iraq when their ‘Evil Crows’ bombed the housing areas of Kut The total number of sorties which these Crows have carried out from military bases in Turkey, Saudi and Kuwait territories now becomes 43,669 enemy sorties 00.28.32 Ben Anderson The great Ziggurat at Ur. This is where, for us, recent history could not be ignored. 00.28.39 Ben Anderson We almost got bombed today. I would have expected to see some planes because we were in the southern no-fly zone. 00.28.51 Ben Anderson And then I heard two sort of faint half-thud, half explosions not very far away. 00.29.02 Ben Anderson And then the guides waved us over and pointed and we could see a big puff of smoke rising. 00.29.09 Mohammed That was American bomb. 00.29.12 Elizabeth Every day? 00.29.13 Mohammed Yes, every day. 00.29.16 Ben Anderson After the bombing we couldn’t, or after the missile strike, we, we couldn’t go to the next site because there were two huge ground to air missiles right next to the site. We drove past and kept on driving. 00.29.29 Music 00.29.37 Ben Anderson We’re driving to the southern city of Basra; one of the many that Saddam has never allowed to recover from over two decades of conflict. 00.29.43 Music 00.29.52 Ben Anderson This area is visibly militarised and we were warned repeatedly not to film. Some of the other tourists are becoming anxious about our camera. 00.30.00 Music 00.30.09 Ben Anderson So we’re in Basra, in the far south of Iraq now. We’ve come up onto the hotel roof because we think it’s the only place we can talk freely. You don’t see as many pictures of Saddam down here. When you do see pictures they’re on government buildings, which are everywhere. And if you need proof that they’re not a spontaneous expression of love then there’s normally machine guns all around them and huge anti-aircraft guns as well. I think the anti- aircraft guns are here for the American and British planes but the machine guns are here because this whole area is, has been the scene of lots of uprising and there are lots of rebels and army deserters here. There have been numerous Shia Muslim uprisings over the last twenty, thirty years, all of which were crushed. 00.31.01 Elizabeth How do you feel being here? How is it different from Baghdad? 00.31.05 Ben Anderson Well I don’t know if it’s just me but it just feels a lot more hostile down here, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as friendly and actually if you think about it, if you’re anti- Saddam living in the south of Iraq you’ve got to be one of the unluckiest people on earth. 00.31.21 Ben Anderson Eight years of the Iran Iraq war with this whole area was decimated and hundreds of thousand of lives were lost. Then the Gulf War where the whole country was decimated, then sanctions for eleven years and you rise up to try and oust the President and you get crushed with the acquiescence of the West and then you get bombed regularly for eleven years by the West because of the bad leader you’ve got who you didn’t want anyway. 00.31.52 Music 00.32.11 Ben Anderson Basra was once known as the Venice of the east. It sits on the Shat-Al-Arab, the river into which both the Tigris and Euphrates flow. 00.32.28 Music 00.32.31 Ben Anderson This is Iraq’s only major port strategically located close to both Iran and Kuwait. Our scenic boat trip turns out to be a depressing tour of what Iraqi, Iranian, British and American bombs can do. 00.32.46 Music 00.33.10 Ben Anderson For a few brief hours we break free from the official tour and follow Mohammed to the Museum of Hostile Persian Shelling and then ignores the fact that Saddam started the Iran Iraq war. 00.33.25 Ben Anderson Mohammed was a law student in the early eighties but was conscripted to fight in what turned out to be a pointless eight year conflict. 00.33.33 Mohammed It’s a part of a bomb. 00.33.39 Elizabeth So these were all found around the City? 00.33.41 Mohammed Yes. This is bomb. 00.33.49 Elizabeth Various splinters. 00.34.00 Mohammed This is the smallest. 00.34.01 Elizabeth Oh, the smallest one. 00.34.02 Mohammed Yes smaller. 00.34.07 Elizabeth It’s just a baby. 00.34.07 Mohammed Born, born 1980. 00.34.11 Elizabeth 1980. 00.34.12 Mohammed And dead 1981. 00.34.20 Ben Anderson This is the ’91 war. 00.34.34 Ben Anderson This is a mosque? 00.34.37 Mohammed Yes, a mosque. 00.34.44 Mohammed No difference, no different from, bombs in mosque, church, citizens, soldier, officer, no difference. All, all children, you see. I am very sad; this is my country. 00.35.14 Ben Anderson You think this could happen again? 00.35.16 Mohammed I think. 00.35.17 Ben Anderson You think it will? 00.35.18 Mohammed I don’t know. 00.35.24 Ben Anderson Well it’s been an eventful day. One of the people on the tour had a machine gun pulled on them and cocked because he was taking a picture of a statue. Our filming has made a few people uncomfortable and one of them even thinks I’m an ex-SAS member. And we think the result has been announced and he’s won. 00.35.53 Music 00.35.57 Ben Anderson Eleven million people voted yes, yes, yes, to Saddam Hussein. Not one person voted no. 00.36.03 Music 00.36.06 Singer Subtitles More than an election it’s a passion between us and you More than an election it’s a passion between us and you My Sir, it’s the ballot papers that will show the love of Iraq My Sir, it’s the ballot papers that will show the love of Iraq 00.36.37 Ben Anderson I don’t know if you can hear the music outside but there’s music blaring and there’s trumpets being played, drums being beaten and there are women screaming in celebration and it sounds like there is a massive celebration going on out there. But when you go out to the balcony… 00.36.53 Music 00.37.11 Ben Anderson …it’s just a loudspeaker on a boat out in the river and nobody, nobody around. 00.37.18 Music 00.37.23 Ben Anderson It takes a day to drive back to Baghdad. 00.37.26 Music 00.37.29 Ben Anderson Another day to cross the border back into Syria. 00.37.32 Music 00.37.37 Ben Anderson And we arrive in Damascus just in time to catch Saddam’s acceptance speech. 00.37.46 Voice over You have shown honour and faith before God, history and the rest of the world. 00.37.55 Ben Anderson Well he’s saying the, the Iraqi people have demonstrated to the world that they’re committed to him and to defeating the evil aggression of America but we just saw soldiers celebrating and lots of other people just looked tired and fed up. They didn’t look resolved to back Saddam in, in another war at all. 00.38.15 Voice over May God reward you in this world and in the next world. The history of Iraq goes back seven thousand years ago. This land has been blessed by God Almighty. 00.38.30 End music 00.38.34 www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent 00.38.34 Credits Presenter BEN ANDERSON Dubbing Mixers LANCE ENGLAND PHITZ HEARNE Titles WHY NOT ASSOCIATES Production Team SARAH EVA MARTHA O’SULLIVAN Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager SUSAN CRIGHTON Film Research NICK DODD Web Producer ANDREW JEFFREY Research BARBARA ARVANITIDIS Picture Editor RYSHARD OPYRCHAL Director ELIZABETH C. JONES Director - Iraq ELIZABETH C. JONES Executive Producers LUCY HETHERINGTON KAREN O’CONNOR 00.38.58 Series Producer WILL DAWS © BBC MMIII 00.39.02 End BBC Holidays in the Axis of Evil 1