BioPepe Escobar, born in Brazil is the roving correspondent for Asia Times and an analyst for The Real News Network. He's been a foreign correspondent since 1985, based in London, Milan, Los Angeles, Paris, Singapore, and Bangkok. Since the late 1990s, he has specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central Asia, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has made frequent visits to Iran and is the author of Globalistan and also Red Zone Blues: A Snapshot of Baghdad During the Surge both published by Nimble Books in 2007.
Comments from Registered Members | (Register or log in to make your comment.) | Andrew 2008-04-02
Hmm. Careful guys, I think this video should be labelled as comment; Pepe is coming across with rather too much attitude in this video for it to be basically factual. Great stuff, though! | Kurt 2008-04-02
Let's bring our troops home and worry about the USA.
Let's put a stop to being the world police and spilling America's blood for Oil corporations. | Saeid 2008-04-02
Beautiful! You don't see these detailed analysis in major media. Keep it up realnews | Anita 2008-04-02
Thank you. Great analysis. How refreshing to hear truthful, real news Pepe Escobar. So different than the corporate news. | Mehrdad 2008-04-02
IT is not called republican guards, it is called Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. | Michel 2008-04-02
I love your way you express facts Mr Pépé :).
I agree that the real terrorists live in Washington and Tel Aviv :) |
TranscriptVOICE OF ZAA NKWETA, PRESENTER: After a week of heavy clashes, fighting in Basra has calmed down, Muqtada al-Sadr has pulled his Mahdi Army fighters off the streets, and Nouri al-Maliki declared the military operation to clear Basra of Shiite militia violence a success. But who won the battle of Basra? To answer this question, we go to Real News analyst Pepe Escobar. PEPE ESCOBAR, THE REAL NEWS ANALYST: George W. Bush said that the battle of Basra was a defining moment in Iraq. Well, defining it was, but maybe not the way he intended. There was a ceasefire. Do you know the man who brokered a ceasefire? His name is Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani. He is the head of the Quds Force of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps. As everybody knows, the Iranian Government Guard Corps was declared as a terrorist organization by the US last year. So this man in Qom, religious capital of Iran, brokered a ceasefire between Muqtada al-Sadr's envoys who came from Iraq and Hadi al-Amri, which is the number two of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq. He is the head of the Badr Organization. He's part of the Baghdad government. So Muqtada's people come from Baghdad. Al-Hakim's people, Badr Organization, Supreme Islamic Council come from Baghdad. They go to Iran, in Qom. And the head of the Quds Force brokers a ceasefire, and the battle of Basra ends. So who are the winners and who are the losers? Okay. The winners are Iran and Muqtada al-Sadr; the losers are al-Maliki government in Baghdad and George W. "defining moment" Bush. This doesn't mean that Muqtada al-Sadr is in the pockets of Iran. What it means is Iran is sufficiently powerful to get the two most important religious parties in Iraq, the Sadrists and al-Hakim's Supreme Islamic Council, to Iran to broker a ceasefire organized by Iran. This means that the terrorists aren't exactly terrorists—the terrorists are in fact peacemakers.DISCLAIMER:Please note that TRNN transcripts are typed from a recording of the program; The Real News Network cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | |
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