2: 3. Return of Exiles and Rise of Sectarian War American blunders included disbanding the army and Ba'ath party while returning exiles "frozen in time" whom Iraqis distrusted but Americans relied upon. Resistance began with nationalists like Hamid fighting

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

3. Return of Exiles and Rise of Sectarian War American blunders included disbanding the army and Ba'ath party while returning exiles "frozen in time" whom Iraqis distrusted but Americans relied upon. Resistance began with nationalists like Hamid fighting to restore honor, recognizing danger from foreign jihadis flooding borders seeking Islamic state rather than preserving Iraq. Zarqawi facilitated sectarian quagmire but conditions were created by Americans, exiles, and jihadis, with Mahdi Army becoming death squads dumping hundreds of Sunni bodies at Sada dam.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Building a coffee business?
0:02.0	Serving the best Americano in town is up to you.
0:04.0	But winning back time and growing your business, leave that to sum up.
0:07.0	Take orders and payments anywhere with the new SumUp terminal.
0:10.0	Turn occasional customers into regulars with a free loyalty program.
0:13.0	And with the SumUp point of sale system, you'll always know when you're running low on your best-selling blends.
0:18.0	Visit sumup.co.uk to learn more.
0:29.4	This is CBS. I and the world. I'm John Batchel. A stranger in your own city.
0:34.7	Haith Abdullah Haid's new book travels in the Middle East long war. This is the Iraq war before and after the American presence.
0:40.1	It is now 2003, 2004.
0:46.0	Our protagonist, Hraith, is a journalist, a photojournalist.
0:46.8	He has a camera.
0:50.9	He's attached to journalism, English language journalism coming out of Iraq.
0:52.2	He's acted as a translator.
0:56.9	But it is now very much a war as observed by a keen member of the Baghdad city. In other words, this is a Baghdad resident who sees his own city
1:05.1	transforming itself with American presence after the war, the looting after the war, the great relief people concerned
1:13.6	about the future, the lack of American preparation, the blunder of dismissing the army, the blunder
1:21.8	of driving out the bath party, so there was no structure whatsoever, and the re-entry of exiles.
1:29.5	And I'm keen on this, right, because it's a story that we see repeated again and again through history.
1:35.3	When the exiles come back, it's as if they're frozen in time.
1:39.2	They remember a city they left.
1:41.5	What did it mean for Iraq that the exiles rushed back in? Many of them would
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.