Trail of Death

"It was three hours of organized chaos"

Lt. Col. Eric C. Schwartz, 3rd Infrantry Division, US Army

This is not Apocalypse Now. This ain't Hollywood. This is George Bush's War on Iraq brought to you live by CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

Saturday the troops stormed Baghdad. The headlines in the Sunday New York Times, read, "Barrage of Fire, Trail of Death in the Capital." Colonel David Perkins of the Second Brigade estimated that more than 1,000 Iraqi fighters died. Countless civilians were caught in the crossfire.

The Army had no intention of occupying Baghdad. Not just yet. No, this is what the military called an "I.O. campaign," or information operation. More shock and awe, you could say.

Forty tanks rolled into the city from the Southwest on Highway 8, took a left turn in the central area, and then headed for Saddam International Airport, or rather, what has now been tagged Baghdad International Airport. Oh, how easy it is to rename an airport in time of war.

Four of those tanks bear the name of the four airliners that were hijacked on Sept. 11. Apparently the names were placed on the cannons for motivational reasons, even though the men who stenciled them were not quite sure there was a direct connection between the attack on the World Trade Center and the one grinding its way through Baghdad. Oh well.

Later that day, a captured Republican Guard colonel, who spoke a little English, was asked if he thought it was the right thing to take out Saddam. The Iraqi replied that it was. Whew.

Eventually, the first battalion of tanks made its way to the newly occupied airport, leaving in its wake an endless of trail of burning military vehicles, charred soldiers, families and children dead, lying in the streets. A Sergeant Casady, who manned a .50-caliber machine gun on the roof of an armored command vehicle, waxed, "Being a dad myself, that's the hardest part. I've got six kids at home, and I can't imagine it. I'd just as soon die than see that happen to my kids. Just to drive by and be helpless, man. It makes you feel selfish."

This is one selfish war. The horror.

Randall M. Packer
Secretary, US Department of Art & Technology