Alright, thought Id answer a few FAQs about the Sinjar crisis since there has been so much interest in it and Ive had very little time to respond to questions about the situation and my reporting. Here it goes: 1) Do you see dead people? Not on top of Mount Sinjar. Nor did I claim to. As I reported, this is an area that is relatively sustainable, albeit on unclean water and raw meat. (This was confirmed by the recent US report.) The Death Valley mentioned in my article for Mondays paper came from a quote from Gen. Ahmed Ithwany, one of the three main generals immediately in charge of the airlift (the other two being Sheikh Ahmed Mayi and the late Gen. Majid Ashour) and accounts from refugees from less sustainable areas who told me about the smell of death and dogs eating bodies. I did see two parents carrying their dead children across the Iraq-Syrian border, but they wouldnt talk to me or let me take pictures (a fellow refugee had to tell me their children were dead.) I did also see a plethora of sickly and near-death people. 2) Did you also write a Daily Mail article? Nope. I apparently was sent several emails and FB messages from the Daily Mail which I never replied to because I was on top of a mountain and couldnt receive them. They plagiarized large portions from the article I cobylined with Richard Spencer, Ive been informed by my editors (I dont read them.) 3) If the US only says there are 5000 people there now, this means there werent many to begin with, right? No. Tens of thousands have left through the North Road controlled by the YPG. These are largely those who cant reach that road or are too infirm to make the journey. Id like to note that 5,000 is still a lot of stranded people. 4) The Pentagon says there were lots of peshmerga involved in the operation to evacuate people, is that true? Not really. The Iraqi Army Aviation force, based in Baghdad, flew the helicopters and the YPG controls the North Road. The peshmerga has a very, very small presence (one of the pilots who dropped peshmerga off said there was a total of 50, and Id say there are 100 all over the mountain at the most.) 5) This is one mountain, right? No. As Ive noted several times, this is a MOUNTAIN RANGE. Thus why its hard to know anything for certain until this is 100% over and a team of observers can go through the areas where refugees were with local guides. There are people in several other areas and on other mountains/hills. I was only at the top of Mount Sinjar. 6) How did you report from a mountain with minimal cell service? Since I was working on a daily timeline I had to have my work largely reported through colleagues, reading them quotes and raw copy when I had service, credits, and power. I hope this makes things slightly clearer. Ill be doing a wrap-up feature on the whole Yezedi situation in this Sundays Telegraph as well, but if you have any more questions Ill be happy to answer them here.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 08:31:35 +0000
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