Once Upon a Time in Iraq S01E01 War (1280x720p HD, 50fps, soft Eng subs)

Waleed Nesyif was 18 when George Bush gave Saddam Hussein just 48 hours to leave Iraq. He was, like many Iraqi teenagers at that time, infatuated by the West. But while many of his generation grew up enjoying songs by the Backstreet Boys, Waleed formed Iraq's first heavy metal band. By comparison to the American movies Waleed and his friends enjoyed, life under Saddam was oppressive, fuelled by fear and paranoia. If war meant life would eventually be more like the way it was in the movies, then in Waleed's words, 'let's get this s**t done'.  /  / For others, it was more complicated. Um Qusay, a farmer's wife from a small village near Tikrit, was under no illusions about the cruelty of Saddam's regime. That did not mean however that she wanted a foreign army to invade her country to dispose of him. There were benefits to living in a police state. The streets were very safe, and if you did not oppose the government directly, you were free to live how you wished. Life might not have been perfect, but many felt that a war with America would be something that Iraq would not survive. Sally was just eight years old when American troops entered Baghdad. She had been told to be fearful of them, but when a soldier offered her a sweet, she decided that the stories she had been taught at school about the foreign imperialist devils were wrong, as only good people could be this kind. /  / As the statue to their former dictator falls in Firdos Square, there is a real sense of hope felt by many Iraqis. Maybe, just maybe, Iraq would emerge a better country - perhaps even as one of the best countries in the world. That was the very real hope of Ahmed Al Bashir. Now Iraq's most famous comedian, as a teenager in 2003, Ahmed was excited by the opportunity to speak English with real Americans, waving at the invading troops and inviting them into his house. From his hotel room in northern Iraq, photographer Ashley Gilbertson watched, along with the rest of the world, as Saddam's statue was torn down. 'I've missed the war' were his initial thoughts. What he and many others did not realise at the time was that this was not the war. The war was still to come. The initial hope, felt by many Iraqis, would be tragically short lived once the realities of occupation with no postwar plan hit the streets of Baghdad.

First broadcast:  13 July 2020
Duration:  1 hour

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Media info:-
General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 2.11 GiB
Duration : 59mn 30s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 5 067 Kbps

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.2
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 59mn 30s
Bit rate : 4 931 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 50.000 fps
Color space : YUV
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Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.107
Stream size : 2.05 GiB (97%)
Encoded date : UTC 1904-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date : UTC 1904-01-01 00:00:00
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
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Audio
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Duration : 59mn 30s
Bit rate mode : Variable
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Maximum bit rate : 130 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 46.875 fps (1024 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 54.5 MiB (3%)
Language : English