Jim Sciutto Answers Your Questions About Iraq

Oct. 27, 2005 — -- How do Iraqis view the U.S. military and the reconstruction effort? ABC News foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto answered some of your questions by telephone from Iraq.

Lizzy in North Carolina asks: Do the citizens of Iraq feel safe in their country? Can they walk down the street feeling secure or are they fearful to do the things that we in this country take for granted?

Jim Sciutto: They are definitely fearful; they are particularly fearful for their children. It doesn't mean that they spend their entire day in their house. They still have to go to the markets, they still have to go to work if they have a job, but they do less of the things that they used to do before -- like go out at night to dinner or go out at night shopping. It changes the way people live here.

Beth in Indiana asks: What news media is available for the U.S. and Coalition troops to view what the world thinks about the war? Do the troops know what's going on with Plamegate?

Sciutto: The soldiers have pretty good Internet access, obviously if they're out in a fire fight they don't have it but when they're back at the base they have access to e-mail, Web sites. And depending on their job they almost certainly have access to television, satellite TV, so they can watch FOX and CNN as well as entertainment programs.

I've spent a lot of time with them, I think they're less aware of what other countries think about them. They know and there's this impression that the Arab satellite networks portray them as demons killing -- but they're not going to watch those channels in large part because they don't understand Arabic. I think they do know what Americans feel about them. If you did a poll I think most of them would pick FOX as their first choice network which is going to be more pro-war but they're definitely aware of things like the Cindy Sheehan phenomenon.

Rodney in Ottawa, Canada asks: How accepting are Iraqis, those who are trying to go about their day-to-day lives, of the American military presence in their country?

Sciutto: They don't like it, they want to be in control of their own destiny. They don't like foreign occupiers -- in particular, they don't like Western occupiers. They are extremely disappointed with the Americans; they had much higher hopes for what we would do in terms of making the place safe and in terms of rebuilding. But when pressed, at the end of the day, they say it's not ideal but their least worst option is to have the Americans stay because they feel if they left immediately the place would be even worse and the Iraqi forces aren't up to the job yet.

Amy in Wisconsin asks: What is the morale of the troops right now? Do they feel supported by the American people?

Sciutto: It's hard to gauge morale scientifically because there's no polling, but my impression is that most soldiers still think that they're doing good work there, that they have a good mission, but many do not.

It's not hard to find soldiers who have lost a sense of the mission, that it's right. And particular things really get on their nerves: multiple deployments -- a lot of them are on their third -- and also the danger. And you see that manifested in psychological problems, the stress of soldiers returning home and a rising divorce rate which is a product of long separation from husbands, wives. …

So it's tough, a lot of real challenges for morale. And remember the other thing that gets them is they serve year-long tours … longer than the other forces. Brits serve six months, so they feel they got a raw deal.

Scot in Denver asks: What is the status of reconstruction in Iraq (schools, utilities, roads/bridges, hospitals, businesses, etc), and how does the situation compare to how it was after the invasion? It seems we get regular updates only when something is blown up, raided, or affected in some other negative way. Give us the news on the progress we are making in helping the everyday Iraqi.

Sciutto: If you ask Iraqis they don't see close to enough progress and whenever I come back here I try to find where all this money is going because you don't see it. Power is no more reliable and water is no more reliable. The military and the Americans will say they're spending it all the time on small projects and we just don't look there. But the big things Iraqis focus on -- electricity has not gotten better in most of the country. The oil facilities keep getting bombed by the insurgents so there are less revenue than everyone expected … imagine the frustration in an oil-rich nation they have to wait in line for three hours for gas, can you imagine waiting four hours to fill up your car on a typical day? So from the average Iraqis' perspective it's been a big disappointment.

Robert in Houston, TX asks: To stop the killings from car bombings, why don't they stop all traffic from entering the city of Baghdad and bus them in from about 50 miles away? At least this would stop the bombings, and give security a checkpoint for bombers all at one or two spots. Thanks, I watch your news every night and appreciate you being there.

Sciutto: Iraqis like their cars as much as Americans, and imagine telling the residents of Houston that they couldn't have their cars. There's no real public transportation system to speak of either so you don't have a good alternative option.

John in Pennsylvania asks: Nothing has been reported recently on the equipment status of U.S. forces in Iraq. Are more armored Humvees still needed or has this problem been solved?

Sciutto: As far as armored vehicles, I can't give exact numbers, but my understanding is they have shipped a lot more in. But still, a lot of them are not armored. They still haven't done it 100 percent, and the problem is the roadside bombs have gotten more sophisticated and bigger so they make the armor almost irrelevant.

The roadside bombs are now the size that kill the Bradley armoured personal carriers and the Abrams tank. That's why the rate of deaths of U.S. soldiers has increased. It took like 16 months to get to a thousand deaths and it's taken like 12 more months to get to 2000, and one reason they're citing is the roadside bombs have gotten bigger.

So armored Humvees by comparison are thin-skinned -- doesn't matter how much armor.

Russ in Kentucky asks: Do the men and women of the Armed Forces really support the war in Iraq? It seems that with all the news coverage pertaining to the amount of deaths of soldiers, and the fact that no weapons of mass destruction were found, that there might be some second thoughts, even though we know they are doing their jobs. Thanks.

Sciutto: I think you find a lot of soldiers, like the Bush administration, switch their focus from WMD to building a stable country and helping to give Iraqis freedom. The ones who support the war will cite that as a reason as justification.

Yvonne in Pennsylvania asks: Are we having any luck finding out who is supplying the insurgents with weapons? They seem to have unlimited supplies of guns, ammo and explosive materials. If we could cut off these supplies we could certainly save lives!

Sciutto: The thing about Iraq is you can get a weapon on your way to the grocery store. It's easy to get weapons, guns … and there were loads of weapons caches around from the start of the war -- so there was already a lot of the stuff in the country and it was easy to find. But financial support is key and it comes from a lot different places; it comes domestically from old Saddam regime members who have a lot of money, and there are strong suspicions that it comes from outside the country -- from Syria and Iran and also from certain Saudis, and U.S. officials will cite that often.

Lorri in Minnesota asks: My niece is getting ready for her second tour, she is disgusted that none of the good news from Iraq is reported, is there some good news?

Sciutto: There is some good political news: the high turnout in the election and this most recent referendum is a good sign. The fact that there are some steps towards bringing Sunnis into the process is a good sign. You just had three Sunni parties announce they're going to take place in the national assembly election in December and some of these guys are really outspoken … so when that happens the hope is it will further sap support for the insurgency … Not a lot of good news on the violent side, not a lot of good signs on reconstruction -- except in the north, they're building a Four Seasons hotel in the Kurdish City Erbil.

Charlotte in New York asks: Would you say a civil war has already broken out?

Sciutto: No, I wouldn't say civil war. I would say it's a very healthy insurgency-- there is definitely sectarian violence and death squads, but not a full scale civil war because, still, most people want the government to work.

A group of 9th grade students in an Arkansas civics class ask the following questions: Can you compare the morale of the U.S. forces and the Iraqi forces?

Sciutto: Tough comparison; I think one good measure of the Iraqi forces is they have become real targets of the insurgents for the last few months. More than 2,000 security forces have died since April 28, just in eight months -- same amount as the entire war for American forces, and yet young people keep volunteering for the military. A good portion of that is because it's a good paying job, $200 a month, which is a lot of money here. But when you talk to these guys they say they want to do their part to make Iraq safe.

Do you think there could be more precautions to protect against car bombings in Baghdad?

Sciutto: They do what they can. They place checkpoints to try to look for the signs of a car bomb. Remember in Mosul they were requiring cars to take the lids of their trunks off so they could see what was in there. In some cities they have tried requiring that more than one person had to be in a car because car bombers drive by themselves. Then you started hearing the insurgents put two drivers in.

They put up concrete barriers around hotels but then the insurgents make bigger bombs like this recent hotel attack … Just as you put up precautions the insurgents find ways to get through it. You can make things safer but you can't make it completely safe.

Are reporters, such as yourself, allowed to carry weapons when embedded with our troops?

Sciutto: No, certainly not when you're embedded. There were a couple of cases of journalists, going back a couple of years, who carried weapons and they stopped doing that, at least publicly … If one journalist carries a weapon then it takes away the sort of neutrality of a journalist so they become a target. Trouble is now journalists are out-and-out targets. Journalists are prized targets of the insurgents for publicity. But we do hire guards who carry weapons.