Yaroslav Trofimov Quotes

• What I found most ironic is that the safest part for us as journalists was during the actual war. Back then, during that stage of fighting, we were not targets. After the war itself, during the first month or two, it was extremely safe. We could go anywhere in Iraq, talk to anyone, and didn't have to worry about anything.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  War, Fighting, Two

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• Because no matter how much money we spend there [in Iraq], as long as the people there see this money as... as assistance that is unwelcome, as long as they continue to be humiliated in their own country by us... I mean, the future looked bleak, and the future after that was in fact very bleak.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Country, Mean, Iraq

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• Las normas para entablar combate son tan laxas que los soldados disparan y matan a iraquíes bajo meras sospechas, y las tragedias son cotidianas. Hay asesinatos en la carretera, asesinatos en la carretera cuando alguien intenta adelantar a un convoy y le disparan. O si estalla una bomba en la carretera, los soldados empiezan a disparar en todas direcciones.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Soldier, Everyday, Tragedy

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• The American official was trying to talk about aid and development projects and finally a local tribal chief got up and said, "Even if you turn our country into heaven, we don't want it from you. Just leave us."

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Country, Heaven, Trying

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• Now as to the behavior of the soldiers: occupations always corrupt the occupiers.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Soldier, Occupation, Behavior

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• Incluso si eres liberal en el mundo musulmán, cuando ves Abu Ghraib y Guantánamo, y ves todos los demás informes de abusos cometidos por las fuerzas estadounidenses, es muy difícil levantarse y decir: "Deberíamos simular las costumbres estadounidenses", porque esta es la cara de Estados Unidos ahora en el mundo musulmán, para muchos musulmanes.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  America, Abuse, World

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• So our own actions sometimes have undermined our safety, in our efforts to fight terrorism. The only way this can work is if we are aligned with liberals, with moderate Muslim forces. But if our war on terrorism is seen - as it is seen by many Muslims - as a war on Islam itself, it's very hard for us to have Muslim alliances, because America and the West have become so toxic.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  War, Fighting, America

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• Even if you look at Iran, those campaigners for human rights there, they don't want to have anything to do with America, because they are afraid that having American support will be the kiss of death for their movement. And that's really tragic.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Kissing, Rights, Iran

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• But in Afghanistan, the general rule was that since you were fighting the Taliban, which was not a lawful government force, the Geneva Conventions did not apply. And that led to a lot of excesses in Afghanistan, excesses like Abu Ghraib that were already well-publicized.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Fighting, Government, Excess

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• Long before 9/11 and the war in Iraq, a lot of people hated the United States and the West. But what the Iraqi war seems to have done, at least in... I mean, I'm just reporting what I see from the people on the ground, is that it has silenced many pro-American forces in the Muslim world.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  War, Mean, Iraq

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• In the occupation in Afghanistan, there are tragedies as well. It's not as bad as in Iraq because there are fewer American troops. But, as I describe in the book, going out on patrol and coming into a village, the soldiers found a stash of documents and decided this was Taliban propaganda.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Book, Iraq, Soldier

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• Well, it's a problem in general with the American military. If you are the biggest and the strongest military power in the world, you have this natural reluctance to learn the quirky ways of the natives in faraway lands.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Military, Land, Quirky

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• I think the behavior of the troops has been a huge factor in the rise of the insurgency and in the rise of the anti-American feelings there[in Iraq].

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Thinking, Iraq, Feelings

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• In a country like Iraq with its culture of blood feuds - is that the more locals are killed, the more motivation there is for the insurgency, for the insurgents the more feelings of revenge there are, and in the end the more the operational security of the soldiers suffers, because any soldier who kills an infant today is grooming the killer of his mate tomorrow.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Country, Motivation, Revenge

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• The other problem is that the priority of many soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan is operational security: not getting killed. Now that is a very valid priority, but it has to be balanced against many other priorities, especially not killing too many locals in the process.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Iraq, Priorities, Soldier

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• I did some embedded stuff. And if you are embedded, the only things you see are what the soldiers see, and if the people talk to you, they talk to you as if you are a soldier, because with your flak jacket and your helmet, they can't tell the difference between you and the soldier next to you, and they obviously won't tell you what they really think because they are afraid of you.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Pensamiento, Diferencias, Personas

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• If you are an eighteen or nineteen-year-old with little education, as is often the case, and you're put in charge of many, many people on the other end of the world, you have absolute power and you're not prepared for it.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Years, People, Nineteen

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• I think in Baghdad, any westerner, journalist or not, has a big dollar sign on his or her forehead. So, first and foremost, you are a ticket to unimaginable wealth. And that makes any trips out of the safe zones very risky.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Thinking, Baghdad, Dollars

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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• And if you look at the experience of Turkey, for example, where the modern Islamists are in power and are doing fine - this is very good. Because democracy is not possible in the Muslim world without bringing in the Islamists or part of the Islamists who hate us now into these governments.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Hate, Government, Turkeys

  Fuente: www.guernicamag.com

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