thank you. they pull twenty twelve and i'm back in iraq in suffolk on the border with turkey. thank you i have an appointment this morning with a lebanese taxi. family the united states said they would make a democracy out of iraq in the heart of the arab world but iraq i see today is a country on the brink of chaos torn between three groups sunni's and shia's. it is

a country divided a stranger to peace the town about to cross a taxi ride to the heart of iraqi history. from the hole in the north travelled down through l.b. little ammonia. tikrit volusia baghdad babylon. and. a road map of the iraqi tragedy. so obviously i'm delighted the americans have finally left iraq as much as we are rockies are very happy not to see that here anymore enough was enough the americans occupied us so we hate them like they lean here in iraq they killed in creating the conditions for chaos they are responsible for the whole tragedy of them and of course we were living in peace and they came to destroy our country and also without all the years of the.

journey begins on the mountains of iraqi kurdistan. an army of two hundred thousand soldiers called peshmerga watch over this rather particular region of the country. was. my first stop is an l.b.o. the capital of iraqi kurdistan is the only region of iraq today that is seeing peace and an economic boom the miracle of being made possible by the discovery of oil on kurdish territory. from. long time dominated by baghdad and saddam hussein kurdistan dreams of achieving autonomy. the first customer the first passenger on our trip is a member of the new kurdish parliament. that's the.

biggest you know with in iraq we can say that oil has always been a curse. but today in kurdistan that's changing the. foreign oil companies are coming here to work with. the revenues that finally being used for reconstruction and what negative it's a huge difference for us as in saddam's times we never benefited from the oil money or new see that he had any of this that. he went to so it's quite simple we could spend for where iraqis where the i think they're very rapidly as soon as we have been able to create a stable basis for building a country ninety nine percent of people will vote for independence with. no one to one or the people who want their own country a country called kurdistan are looking at it as that they want their own passport but there's no kurdish one i suppose you could stand.

a land of shepherd's kurdistan is discovering well through its oil a nightmare for baghdad which had long controlled with the resources and riches. without driver khalid we had east towards the mountains along the border with around. driving through abandoned villages i feel like i'm visiting some a trace. passenger ahmed is a survivor today he's on a pilgrimage paying tribute to the dead. nine hundred eighty eight during the fall a military campaign waged by saddam against the kurds my village was completely

destroyed. and some of the inhabitants would be ported to southern iraq and locked up in the terrible new grice oman prison camp. many women children and men were massacred and thrown into mass graves. the kurds have always dreamed of independence saddam hussein decided to eliminate the problem once and for all. his cousin to go down in history as chemical ali was in charge of the repression. on march sixteenth one thousand nine hundred eight his helicopters dropped bombs loaded with toxic gas over kurdish villages. one hundred thousand civilians were killed and three thousand villages were raised the kurds rebellion was crushed.

here in the villages the peshmerga who didn't built up supply. anyone opposed to saddam could seek refuge here. so the regime began by attacking their villages. burning gassing and destroying the villages meant controlling kurdistan. lunch is like a homage to the victims on the menu adama stuffed vegetables prepared by a mad wife. a sunny like saddam hussein my driver says he didn't know or didn't want to know the terrible truth. look i'll show you the house where i was born here on this hill where we're sitting is like a memorial to the village as it was before the tragedy it was here that the villagers came together every evening to talk to play backgammon and listen to the radio. i leave

a comment to mourn and commemorate his loved ones. we continue towards the east and kirkuk the former capital of kurdistan today on iraqi territory. so what if that god be praised i'm not scared when the region was under american control i was afraid about it but as soon as the iraqi police and army took over things got much better if the americans didn't know the region they were afraid and trigger happy and they didn't hesitate to fire at anyone who approached them passenger foreign or anyone. on this road has seen a lot of drama how many times did the americans shut down iraqis here for no reason gotta go. through the windscreen the first iraqi checkpoint appears it's time to lower the camera and film on discreetly. that.

the soldiers here are regularly targeted by armed groups and are also quick to shoot what to do and about the attacks and kidnappings are frequent in the area. at the moment checking our identity an itinerary takes too long hours. but at last we can hit the road again a road that is more than dangerous. to be honest no one took this road before al qaeda basically all the terrorists control the region and everyone is afraid of venturing out on this road today we feel a bit safer at getting there but it. is the constant road blocks me now two hundred kilometer journey takes eight hours. night has fallen when i reach her coke and the sky is lit up by flast tanks the city floats on a vast sea of oil. for centuries pilgrims came here to gather around the eternal flames.

the kurds would dearly love to reclaim the city the former capital of baghdad. unwilling to lose such a profitable treasure. one term to a majority of kurds today is a mix of turkmen arabs kurds and christians a veritable ethnic powder keg. so i want to grab this morning's clancy's around occurred but they're not workers who can kurdistan's independence he would pay with his own blood. said i what. kind of book. that has to become part of kurdistan again that it's vital i hear bonded by blood to constitute them but that they can kill us and shoot at us

but he won't change anything we are linked to kurdistan lesmond syria we mean we cannot live outside of kurdistan it would be like dying. my brother we invite you to a restaurant. my i cannot let you go without inviting me i am a kurd and hospitality is a custom with us. you can continue your journey after the middle and i swear before god when i come to the restaurant with me you are welcome when your. own way of calling. for khaled it's time to pray. and for us to eat the. as we enter the village a few peace men appear as an escort. i would say to watch as they say to protect us . and so i pay for everyone's meal is a kind of friendly tax and one of the. it served of kirkuk could be one of the world's richest cities it is certainly one of the

most dangerous. but discreet an ordinary heroin saima who is a kurd investor out of has been fortune and the opening of a private school a generous act which has attracted m.p.'s attention don't let. this man i'm terrified of so little if i do the day after a night flight was broadcast to promote the school to physio i got a telephone call i would you. know yes there's a lot of hobby hello about any hello little you know why nothing had happened if it is the. man introduced himself as a member of a terrorist organizations youth league and demanded money. and my colleagues were terrorized through. the night so as a school for a month and then i said we have to open it again we can't just give him.

we have to work still life has to go in. that set neither the terrorists nor anyone else can stop me from working as a pistol only god is the master of my destiny. potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit stunning in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston properly or today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more patrie down it's

a bad line there's still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight. jason it is going to pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout what's been like bilbies like the drug listens to the emergency vehicles are exceptions. i get are sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture. from the for.

me is he it's. easy. to. see. when we reach must to the second biggest city in iraq it has been locked down by the army. the previous night two bombs went off in the suit. i have to negotiate with the military chiefs for three hours before they let me in.

across what appears to be a dead sitting and yet today mosul is in party mode. it is now my name is ahmed on about i'm a law student today is a festival of university day that's why we can see all the troops they have to protect us. the situation is very difficult the country is undergoing a wave of anonymous had to. acts and assassination my dream is quite simple i just want to live in an iraq that's safe and peace it's a magnificent country mustn't forget that it was once respectfully known as mesopotamia the land between two rivers i dream of peace. but peace seems impossible. the americans have gone but now kurds shias and sunnis battle for control of the city even the mosques are under military protection the internetting killing goes on in the name of allah. a leave muscle with no regrets.

this road fraught with danger can also hold certain surprises and. stops to help a friend even in iraq one can run out of petrol. it's hilarious we have the world's second biggest oil reserves and we're short of petrol and gas. were reduced to filling up on the black market at exorbitant prices. common sense would suggest that petrol was available in quantity and free perhaps not free but not too expensive anyway. but john. as soon as we arrived on the outskirts of tikrit saddam hussein's former stronghold were arrested by the police i have the feeling we were expected. after a few hours of questioning were put under house arrest in

a hotel and forbidden from going out. and the situation eases the following afternoon when we were granted two hours of freedom but we're still under close surveillance. the next man who joins us in. taxi is in mourning his name's fire deal he's a journalist and he lost his best friends just two days ago. but god will save iraq a little. sorry. here to draw your they want to make iraq a wretched country a bloke at the knights b. . but that would be assassinate the best among us the terrorist who kills a journalist like my colleague at the news channel who kills a religious man behind an academic or teacher certainly doesn't do it for religious

reasons it's obvious he does it mostly for money because our religion does not tolerate all these crimes the only motive for these crimes is money and they're ordered from outside to kill our best people have any of us. in the city center the mosque still bears the name of the man who built it was saddam hussein an. idealist come to pay a final homage to his murdered friend i am on april second two thousand and twelve . a holiday in a journalist for a local t.v. station was killed instantly when his car exploded i and my. i am a relaxing evening along the banks of the tigris overseen by the palace of the local hero sadam. saddam was always surrounded by members of his own tribe and many here miss the man who built a sunni state much to their advantage. they can injure or kill the

americans didn't come here to look for weapons of mass destruction nor to hunt down certain are saying they came to rob us and to kill us asian iraq it was a unified country but at the moment when they arrive as the americans are triggered divisions by creating ethnic conflicts just you know this very well. they destroyed everything and then they left i don't know but in reality they're still here they make people think they've gone but they're still present their aim is to create discord in iraq with all my life and that is all but. as we leave tikrit we come to a village the heart of saddam hussein's kingdom where he was finally caught. on december fourteenth two thousand and three saddam was captured at dawn in his

hideout in a farmyard a miserable rattle two meters underground. disheveled and distraught he surrendered to the american forces. in his possession were two kalashnikovs and seven hundred fifty thousand dollars. ponzi. colorado's taxis a gas guzzler and we need more petrol. but it was here. we seek out the black market a parallel business which fills the coffers of a few politicians civil servants and terrorist groups to. the oil money benefits everyone apart from the iraqi people. from all parts.

of. the temperature hits more than forty degrees and the machines are cool down with a hose. for the men it's time to wash and pray before sitting down for a meal. that surprise. my presence but soon open up. for the sony customers the whole affair was an american manipulation. mover the greek word kuwait plays a key role in the arab world and. the americans used the country to trap saddam of like them fearing i mean. how did the horde they set the bait up and he took it up it was a prearranged ambush. it's time to leave and head for lucia khaled

doesn't like stopping for too long. kidnappings are frequent here and for the criminal gangs everyone has a price probably including me. the killing in the kidnappings may be motivated by political or religious convictions but increasingly simply for profit. and. i've lost count of the checkpoints along the way but the controls this morning seem interminable. i don't know who this fever victory sign is aimed at once we finally enter the ravaged city of fallujah. and pollute the mojo was the scene of one of the most violent american offensives. from a g.i. summerlee killed youngsters i'm told families here now any time last carrier

kalisch uncover. all of their blew up cars and caused a lot of fatalities. our fallujah is the most ravaged city in iraq of them annoying. oh yes that's the america got it legit ok. the heat is unbearable and motor is overheating the local grocer helps us to cool it. he's a man driven by anger he experienced the battle of fallujah at first hand and how do i watch i don't know how they are not democracy now it's quite simply about killing and stealing our wealth our lands were burnt from the effects of the white phosphorous bombs and now our children are gone disfigured. as they are not what they are so beloved all the god living with us go and see the hospitals and you'll see mothers throwing away their babies deformed by all the chemical weapons that

saddam the only way that i could know if there's justice in the world bush will have to answer for is war crimes and crimes against humanity he claimed iraq had weapons of mass destruction but where were they these weapons. let me although i do know that there was a killer using white phosphorous bomb while the mamma said i'm not even the mosque was saved from his barbarity when i look at the ruined minarik well now that's bush's democracy and the job is only a little more about the other bullshit that i'll be at. on november seventh two thousand for a deluge of fire rains down on the city of two hundred mosques. to die it was a last stronghold for al qaeda he didn't. twelve thousand marines three hundred tanks and a hundred or so helicopters were launched against. the biggest urban battle in iraq was underway.

the american victory was total the casualty figures speak for themselves one hundred american soldiers were killed and on the iraqi side it's estimated there were between four and five thousand victims most of them civilians. the battle left a city in ruins where death continue to take its toll. in their offensive it's thought the u.s. troops used white phosphorus bombs and depleted uranium weapons banned by all international conventions.

so our new passenger is not administrator at the general hospital. since the battle of fallujah ended has kept records of the children born with congenital malformation. for him there's no doubt the americans were responsible for this tragedy. for me the administrator's office becomes an empty chamber of horrors. but i learnt that the war is far from over in fact it's still going on for the stigmata rivera and their evolving in two thousand and five we noted a spectacular increase in genetic malformations a new born babies how large the. voters

only show a tiny part of their reality just for the month of january we recorded forty three cases. technology innovation all the rest of. russia. the emission. free. free. free. free. free. free. tom. cole.

let me let me one wouldn't let me ask you a question. here and this man working his way around in the bank we have our knives

out. behavior to get this right to spank steak never again we're in a situation where being i didn't mean to talk about the mainland. it's. for the. folks.

longtime arbonne in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. two prominent republicans have come out and said that the grand old party needs to seriously rethink its governing approach the other members of the party wake up and realize that their radical policies are isolating them from mainstream america also think tanks in washington are supposed to be independent institutions of policy analysis and scholarship so finally becoming more and more like a street lobbying firms and ask any nutritionist and they'll tell you that spinach granite simply noah are all among the super foods that every american should be eating but why aren't they telling you about the.