Nir Rosen discuss his article “The Flight from Iraq,” about how that country doesn’t really exist anymore, Iraq’s refugee crisis, how many million they are, Riverbend’s exile, the complete destruction of Iraq’s middle and professional classes, the sad state of the refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and beyond, how the U.S. invasion and collaboration with the Iran parties is responsible for the new sectarian hatred between Sunnis and Shia Arabs in Iraq, the ethnic cleansing among those who remain, the growth of sectarianism and the civil war, John Bolton’s crass dismissal of his own responsibility, the massive new American “Embassy” in the green zone.
MP3 here. (18:02)
Nir Rosen is a journalist who has written extensively on American policy toward Afghanistan and Iraq. He spent more than two years in Iraq reporting on the American occupation, the relationship between Americans and Iraqis, the development of postwar Iraqi religious and political movements, interethnic and sectarian relations, and the Iraqi civil war. His reporting and research also focused on the origins and development of Islamist resistance, insurgency, and terrorist organizations. Mr. Rosen covered the elections in Afghanistan and the differences between the American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has also reported from Somalia, where he investigated Islamist movements; Jordan, where he investigated the origins and future of the Zarqawi movement; and Pakistan, where he investigated the madrassas and pro-Taliban movements. Mr. Rosen’s book on postwar Iraq, In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq, was published by Free Press in 2006. He has written for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The New Republic, Boston Review, Time, Mother Jones, and World Policy Journal.
As a Fellow at the New America Foundation, Mr. Rosen is working on a book about his travels in the post-9/11 Muslim world during the global war on terror. Mr. Rosen’s personal Website can be accessed at: NirRosen.com.
We should keep a careful eye on this man.