Killed in Iraq for telling the truth.
He was one of us -- a writer. And he was one of us -- the people who watched the towers burn on Sept. 11 and decided to change a world where that could happen into a world were it couldn't.
His Reuters obituary describes him as "an art critic inspired to write about war after watching from the roof of his New York apartment as the World Trade Center towers fell."
He did it his way. He took his skills to Iraq, and he set up base in Basra. He wrote online, at his excellent blog, In the Red Zone, he wrote a much-praised book by that name, and he freelanced his prose for big media.
It was the latter that got him killed.
His death came four days after publication in the New York Times of an opinion piece he wrote critical of the rise of Shi'ite Islamist fundamentalism in the southern city of Basra, Iraq's second city and the subject of his next book.Those closer to the story than Reuters make the connection more explicit. The Times of London tells it like this:
There is speculation that Mr Vincent, who received death threats, was murdered in an attempt to silence him. Four days before his death he had written an opinion piece in The New York Times in which he said that the police force in the British-controlled city had been infiltrated by Shia Muslim extremist militias, who were responsible for carrying out hundreds of murders of prominent Sunni Muslims.How cruel, then, that, as the Times reports, Vincent "and his female translator were kidnapped as they left a currency exchange shop, within sight of a British military checkpoint." The translator, Nouriya Itais, was Vincent's fiancee. She was shot four times but survived. It also is possible that Vincent's killing was motivated in part by his romantic involvement with a local woman. [UPDATE: Please see comments thread for clarification on this detail.] Reuters again:He criticised the British, whose 8,000 troops in the area are responsible for security in Basra, for turning a blind eye to abuses of power by Shia extremists. The whole city was "increasingly coming under the control of Shia religious groups, from the relatively mainstream ... to the bellicose followers of the rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr".
In his final blog, he wrote: "The British stand above the growing turmoil, refusing to challenge the Islamists’ claim on the hearts and minds of police officers."
This is a serious problem, seriously under-reported by our media. Those of us who read Iraqi bloggers got clued into it a while back. But this is the British zone, outside the reach of American policies. And it seems the British have made a potentially disastrous wrong turn in dealing with Basra.
New York Times reporter Edward Wong, who described Vincent as "a short, wiry man with a penchant for cigars," said Vincent had told him in mid-June that he was prompted to go to Iraq by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Iraq war."He said he fully supported the Iraq war, believing it was part of a much larger campaign being waged by the United States against 'Islamo-fascism,' " Wong wrote in a Times report about his death.
"But Mr. Vincent said he was also disappointed by the failure of the United States and Great Britain to enforce their visions of democracy here in Iraq, instead allowing religious politicians to seize power across the south," Wong added.
Be sure to read Vincent's last full post, dated July 26, on his blog. Let his legacy be, in part, your awareness of what's happening in Basra.
My blog-friend Tigerhawk has a good wrap of links on Vincent's killing. The National Review has a moving tribute. According to Smash, Vincent's family would like donations in lieu of flowers to go to Spirit of America, a first-rate organization doing good work in our names in Iraq and Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Among the many tributes turning up on the Web, many of them quite moving, is this one, from one of Vincent's editors. And here's a link-fest to media coverage of the murder and speculations about the killers, courtesy of the indispensible Greyhawk.
UPDATE UPDATE: Solomonia's got it right:He didn't have to be there. He didn't have to take the risks he took. He didn't have to go back, and no, I don't believe he went there just for his next book and a few extra bucks in his pocket. He was there for a purpose, a good purpose that he was honest and up front about. He cared about what he was writing about. He cared about Iraq, and America and all the things we hold valuable.If he had just been on a job and gotten killed, that would have been a tragedy. The fact that he went, and the way he went when he didn't have to makes him a hero.
If there's anything to be salvaged here, it may be that his death not only brings to a larger audience the things he was writing about -- a melancholy salvage at best -- but brings before the klieg lights what people trying to make a difference in unfree, dangerous societies risk every day. From Iraq, to Egypt, to Palestine and beyond -- in five continents there are people putting their lives at risk trying to expose corruption, change old societal ways and fight the good fight with a thumb poised over their heads.
How fortunate we in America are, and how truly rare and miraculous our freedom and safety is in the world. How difficult it was to get here.
I think Steven Vincent would have wanted us to remember that.
Thank you, Callimachus, for the link and the friendship tag. Back atcha. And may I also congratulate you on promotion to the Winds Crew.
Now that you're on the inside, can you explains the WoC time stamp thing?
Thanks for writing the piece I had wanted to write. And for honouring a good and brave man.
As for al-Sadr. This has his fingerprints all over it. It is what he has always been - and what he will always be. Murderer. Thug. Fascist. I have written before that Muqtada al-Sadr needed to die for Iraq to have a real future. Today, that is more true than ever.
Kindness to the wolf is cruelty to the sheep.
I added a post about this on my blog, but I don't understand blogspot/blogger trackbacks. Can I get a clue from someone? Like a poiner to a tutorial? Thanks.
Never mind. The short answer is: it doesn't. Someone please just delete this post and my prior. Thank you.
The Brits are very proud of their white gloved approach to Basra and have often criticized American action in the Sunni triangle for being too heavy handed. I guess the jury is still out, but honestly its a pretty bad argument. First of all doing things 'the British way' in Fallujah just led to a bigger conflict down the road that wrecked the city, predictably. Secondly Mosul was the one city were the 101st Airborn immediately after the war adopted that mode of operation. Looking at Mosul today its hard to judge it a sucess. Fear of insurgents cutting off your head is always going to motivate more than aloof kindness by soldiers.
But Basra is a problem for Iraqis to solve. Once the IA is intact it should have little trouble keeping the inexperienced thugs of Sadr down. They are out fighting ex-Hussein thugs, and foriegn Jihadis including Chechnyans and other 'top flight' terrorists. Sadrs cowardly goons will be no match for them once the government is whole and the army at its peak.
I thought Mr. Vincent had already been married to someone else?
What's all this about "girlfriend" and "fiance"? I've seen this in the Financial Times only and I figure it's just nasty rumors from Basran stringers who hated Noura associating with Steven at all. Only the Brits are picking up this stuff, for which there is no evidence as far as I can see. Why are we recycling it? Imagine the pain you are adding for his family.
The Times article alludes to rumors that Vincent was romantically involved with Nour, his translator. In his book ItRZ, Vincent was very honest and open about his struggle to contain the attraction he had for Nour. She and Vincent were seen walking together around Basra regularly, and in a society that has restrictive ideals about the role of women, it's not surprising rumors would start up about them. Doesn't mean it's true, though; I doubt Vincent would be addressing all of his blog posts to his wife Lisa if he was having an affair.
The inexperienced thugs of Sadr are the ones the people of Basra (and the rest of Southern Iraq) elected in power. That is the F***ing problem. Atleast if you believe the American claims that they want a democratic Iraq which is in itself doubtfull. Britain on the otherhand really has to act like they really want a democratic Iraq and as such they have to be nice to Sadr's crew. Atleast they are not Iran's best friends in the world.
This is even outside of the fact that the IA is in the hands of the Iran based fundamentelist Shiite and as such wouldn't make a difference
(the Kurds control the other part of the Iraqi army but they are not idiots enough to fight in Basra).
Actually, Sadr's Islamic Virtue party didn't do all that well in the national elections. Patrick Ruffini has the electoral map. The F***ing problem is that Sadr is uninterested in anything except rule by the gun.
The concessions that have let Sadr live despite his roles in previous political murders have only given him the freedom to continue that path. It has also given him the time and space to rebuild (almost certainly with Iranian backing) the thugocratic infrastructure decimated by the U.S. military et. al. and start the whole process again.
Vincent exposed the fact that Sadr was never interested in becoming a normal political party - and his murder confirms it, clearly.
The standard pattern of this war for the USA has been "act, then flinch." It has generated nothing but bad outcomes every time, and has done a great deal to create the problems the USA currently faces.
Like Microsoft, the USA can afford to make a lot of mistakes. That capacity is not infinite, however. This pattern needs to end if the USA truly wishes to win the Global War on Terror - and deal successfully over the long term with the new threat environment illustrated by 9/11.
Leaving Iraq would end a lot of terror.
ps. Sadr or dawa any of the other fundamentelist Iraqi parties are in my eyes all the same. All worse than Saddam for the Iraqi´s.
And with a possible exception of Sadr also all worse for us.
Once again, "a", you are playing your invent-facts-and-retreat game. The idea that our leaving Iraq would end a lot of terror is frankly completely laughable. And in fact, contradicts many of your other bizarre claims in the past.
As a good friend of both Steven Vincent and his wife, I can assure you that Noor was NOT a fiance! He had infinite respect for her and the difficulties her life had entailed. Knowing as he did what the consequences for a woman would be to have a relationship that was not approved by her family and her culture, he would not have placed her in such a position. He cared for yes, loved her as a close associate, and I am sure would be relieved to know that not only did she survive the ordeal that befell them, and proud (but not surprised) that in her pain she still showed her courage and anger when she yelled at the police when they finally showed up. I am personally confident that any gossip about them is due to the fact that Noor bucked the "tribal" norm and was a thorn under the saddle of many. To speculate about their relationship at this time is damaging not only to Steven's deep sense of honor, his love for his wife and his respect for Noor, but to the fact that these were two brave souls who banded together in search of truth. Please, let's have no more of this tabloid-sounding stuff !
I'm going to take the plunge and mention my post here. It's not a eulogy but I think it might be food for thought:
http://gumptionology.blogspot.com/2005/08/art-critics-remember-vincent.html
I produce a radio show called Open Source and we're interested in pursuing a show about Steven Vincent and the story he was following. Can you suggest people and bloggers we might talk with?
To Mary McGrath -- I saw your note about a radio show on Steven Vincent and spoke with his wife about it. She would be interested in knowing more about the program and what you would like to cover--she probably knows more about the full story than anyone at this point. She will give you the names of people to whom you should speak about Steven. Please send this information to my e-mail balebos@gmail.com (please, no one else contact me there; thanks) along with your phone number. I will pass it along to Lisa and one of us will get back to you either via e-mail or phone. Steven was unique in many ways: he had a wicked sense of humor, wide-ranging interests and a sartorial wardrobe--it would be great for people to know the whole man, not just the political one. Thanks!