Wow. I can't even begin to imagine the terror - and don't want to. But Iraq is not falling into civil war and all of the U.S. troops that have been killed have done so because we are fighting for a noble and just cause - not cause our leader lied to us to get us there in the first place. I hope to God that someday our troops get closure on their reason for being there - not like my Dad in Viet Nam. I hope my son in law and nephew can look back and say that they know why they were there and the goal was (eventually) achieved. Our military men and women deserve our support - don't let happen to them what happened to those who served in Nam.

that short story spoke volumes about how out of our control iraq is. iraq is the most foolish blunder this nation has seen. republicians would rather send money to iraq than to it's own people in the south devasted by katrina. only a fool could go along with that.

Looks like a bunch of morons riding around in cars.

The video was interesting, but far from worth the risk the cameraman put himself and his family under. There is a fine line between the courage to get the news the world needs to know and disrespect for life to show how many risks for nothing you can take.

we don't belong there. you don't belong there. it is not our country. it does not belong to nbc.

it belongs to the people of iraq.

every minute you and your crew are there, you are responsible for the senseless killing of innocent iraqi children.

how do you live with yourself.

jack jett

I just wanted to know how the Iraqui people feel about Sadam's verdict. Do you think this will cause grave security concerns once the execution is under way? I am worried that Iran will try something of a violent nature. Will this be the "Real Beginning" of the bloodiest Civil War in world history?!?

I often wondered how we could watch the insurgents parade across our TV screens while our troops are not able to find them. Now I understand the freelance process better, Thank you.

What a coward, you won't even risk your life for a story. I can't believe a word you write or any story you publish. Why haven't you gone out there and expose the enemy? Frightened? Scared? you can be that walking the streets of Washington DC, one of the top tem murder cities of America. Show some backbone and go out there and get a real story, like exposing the enemy and filming them and then interviewing them.

Richard
What are the men saying?What was this town and the people who live there like before the the Americans came?Were they divided by Sunni and Shiite muslims and if not why are they divided now?

An amazing story. Even more amazing that any reporting at all takes place outside the Green Zone, considering the risks. It also implies that a troop surge in Baghdad will change little in Iraq. Richard Engel's blog is much more telling than any reporting out of the White House, State Department, or Pentagon. Cheers to the brave men and women who bring us this essential reporting.

And how much does NBC News pay these freelance cameramen for risking their lives?

Please foward to Fox News, as Sean Hannity is living on "PLANET INSEANNITY/FOXNEWS" as usual!!

Great article and you are very brave to take the risks to tell Americans and the world what is REALLY going on in Iraq and not PLANET FOXNEWS!!

My sincerest gratitude,

Pam Bignardi, San Pedro, California

I'm wondering how much this is influencing coverage of the Iraq war.

I am absolutely amazed that we can be in Iraq in a military capacity and these militants can be that open and not be dead. It is clear that we do not have the tolerance for the brutality necessary to win, and without it, we should not be there at all, we are just letting them kill our soldiers for nothing

If they can have parades now in Iraq I wonder what 30,000 more troops will do? obviously nothing but postpone Bush from facing reality and meeting his fate in history.

I remember during the 2000 campaign when Bush said he didn't believe in nation-building. Looks like he sure believes in nation-destroying.

The more the U.S. tinkers with the situaution in Iraq the worse it'll get. We have no right to sideline Sadr OR destroy Fallouja, all in the name of so-called 'democracy'. All we can do, like we did in Vietnam, is pack up and leave, with our tails between our legs (and provide sanctuary for those who need it), and leave Iraq to the Iraquis - after apologizing for all our crimes.

It's just too bad the international community can't exact a penaly fot all this carnage!

Not having been following the news very diligently, wrapped up in the surreal if not euphoric world that is the magic of Christmas, Rankin/Bass Animagic, shiny gifts tied with bows and ethereal religious music, on my birthday I checked in to see how the rest of the world was doing (after taking advantage of 50% gift baskets at Walmart -toiletries for at least 6 months in my land of relative comfort) and found this video. I read the blog and thought of Hmm, I wonder ... good questions.

I put on my Stanislavski Method thinking cap for that one. What does happen? Here is this video - how on earth did it end up here? What happened?!

You're doing your thing and the tables get turned against you in really frightening way. The expression immediately that came to my mind now and in my "method acting mode" is : deer in the headlights (remember - the deer is not the only one who is surprised). You have no choice. If you're lucky, the numbness wears off a little and you find your voice or regain your hooves. Then, you play it as it goes and the moment is all there is.

I was glad to see that the cameraman survived and I totally understand why he started shooting the video - I would have probably done the same thing.

Notable to me (non-Stanislavski) was seeing what look like, in the States, automobiles we would call beaters driving on cruddy old roads ... yet there is a cacophony of electronic device beeps going on in the background. I don't personally find this strange, but it would weird out a lot of people in my world - never-mind that some of them have gadgets in their pockets that are worth more than their autos.

Well, this is just another point of view we have here in the south of the continent maybe you find it interesting:
I believe the first thing Americans should do is not invading another nation. Not even to protect Americans, because other countries are not under their ownings. You can build as many walls on your frontiers as you want, but in your country.
I believe the questions the U.S. citizens can ask for themselves is why do terrorist attack U.S. and maybe not another country, and why is your country so rich. If you see that whole continents are dying of hunger or working as slaves(I work in my country for an American company and i'm paid 2 dollars the hour), what is the solution for this! not a war of course!. I beleive that the way to get rid off terrorism is by building a world which is more fair, by watching examples of other parts in the world and analizing the global situation. I hope in the future no terrorist appear in my country, which by the time has the largest amount of water reserves together with Paraguay and Brazil. After the oil is over, the water is next??
I hope the next election Americans can give a leason to the world changing the captain of the ship, as the Spanish did when voting Zapatero. God Bless humanity, no more humans dying because of wars or death sentences!

Very Sad video indeed.

Perhaps it was what it would have looked like to Nat Turner, or John Brown, or to Sitting Bull, or to the Vietcong. We've done it again haven't we: our fearless President, his Party - of the people of the heartland and the southland, for the people of heartland and the southland, by the people heartland and the southland - must feel a bit conflicted to be "angry and white" when they see the damage done to this country to make them feel superior - in the name of killing brown people for the fun if it (U.S. Marine's new motto: "it's fun to shoot people"), for Oil, and for Israel.

This "Mad Max" video proves we lost - thank God! If we would have won this - our tough muscular GI's with their cool red colored goggles, all that cool stuff hanging off their uniforms, and all those super high tech weapons that make them feel superior - would have gone on to kill thousands of brown people all of the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

Sometimes justice is ugly - praise be to Nat Turner, John Brown, Sitting Bull, et.al....

Julian what is unfair is that people like you are willing to be payed 2 dollars an hour instead of standing up for your own rights starting with your government. Why should Americans be responsible for helping other countries with their poor when we have that of our own that deserve the help just as much or more because they are in our country.

After watching this I thought to myself wow what a bunch of fools all the military has to do is fly over look for the vehicles they were driving and destroy them and all the occupants. They may claim they were innocent after they are destroyed however the video tells a different story.

This video is a perfect example of what happens when we show WAY too much restraint in Iraq. I'll bet a "parade" of this nature never happened in any of the Axis countries following WWII. The reason is - the Allies would liquidate the ring leaders immediately....as an example. In our "kinder, gentler" attitude of the 21st century we are on the verge of losing this war. These paraders are monsters that need similar liquidation. I'm sure they would love to kill Americans on both sides of this debate.

OUR MISTAKE IN IRAQIS THAT WE SHOUD HAVE OBLITERATED
THE COUNTRY AS WE DID TO JAPAN. AN IRON FIST AND A
BIG STICK IS WHAT THESE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND.WE WENT
THERE TO KICK ASS WHY DIDN'T WE DO IT? I FEEL SORRY
FOR THE TROOPS THERE WHO WALK AROUND AS TARGETS.
GET TOUGH OR GET OUT.

Some people don't appreciate life anymore. Innocent lives are at risk and more people are begin send their to fight a war that can't be won by either side. Innocent children,woman,man are dying before their time. I'm tired of looking at the news on tv and on the newspaper. Whatever happened on living in peace and humanity. That why many things are happening in today's world that many people don't realized that the world is coming to an end. God is trying to make us change before it to late. Mankind is a beautiful thing but many people do not appreciated what they have until it to late. No more killings is what I want to see in the 2007 year.

Very interesting. Just a very small part of a very large problem. It's easy to show a peice of something and get people all worked up isn't it, but then again, that's your job, isn't it. I've read every comment that was made, and to my amazement, not one person even mentioned any of the good that has happened. Sure, there are some terrible things happening in Iraq right now, but guess what, they were already happening before we got there. The only differance was that they were happening out of hate and racism at the hands of a man that could care less for any one or anything. Now, in most of the country, (and you wouldn't know it from the general media because they only report the negative), the economy is booming, people aren't going hungry any more, women are free to walk in the streets without the fear of rape, kids are allowd to go to school and learn to read and write, people who have never had it before now have running water and electricity. Like I said, there are still lots of bad things happening in Iraq, just like there are all over the world, but we have to be honest, no matter what your religion, race, or political preferance, if you will did just a little deeper than the headlines you will find that hundreds of thousands of people are better off now than they were just a few short months ago. Not my opinion, it's theirs.