The situation in Iraq remains in danger of deteriorating into anarchy or civil war, New York Times correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman said in a speech in the ICC Executive Conference Room last night.

“Iraq is close to a state of anarchy,” Gettleman said. “It could fragment at any moment.”

Gettleman also discussed prospects for the future of Iraq. If Iraqi anger were to change direction from hatred of the United States towards civil infighting, a civil war could break out.

Conversely, opposing groups could join to “form a Vietcong-like group” to fight against the United States, he said.

Gettleman, who was originally embedded with the Fourth Infantry Division when fighting was at a lull, described daily life in Iraq and the situations he witnessed there, saying that he felt the war in Iraq is not a war on terrorism.

He spent time learning what men and women of the United States Army are really like. He was later embedded with a group of Marines at a time when fighting was much fiercer and he was exposed to the military perspective in Iraq.

“I had the misinterpretation that people in the army are fired up, love their country and know what they want, but that is not the case,” Gettleman said. “Some of these guys are 18 years old, just out of high school and looking for direction.” But with the insurgency growing, Gettleman said he saw a change in military action.

“Troops would go into villages and arrest all the men ages 15 to 50. They had a zero probable cause policy,” he said.

According to Gettleman, almost 90 percent of the men detained would later be released.

Life also became more dangerous for foreigners once the insurgency started.

“The mentality became, `We hate the Americans. Stand up, fight back, take back our country.’ You also do not know where the front lines are in Iraq. There was no clarity as to where the occupation began,” Gettleman said.

Yet the insurgency did not stop everyday life from continuing in Iraq, he said.

“It was quite livable. You could go out to dinner, you could go shopping. I did a story on an Iraqi wedding and it was interesting to see how a romance formed in Iraq,” he said.

Gettleman pointed to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as the factor which connected terrorism and Iraq in the minds of American soldiers.

“A lot of [U.S.] soldiers tie 9/11 and terrorism to Iraq, but that is not the case. A lot of these guys feel like they are fighting a war on terror in Iraq but it is not like that,” Gettleman said.

He said that sometimes Iraqis fought from their homes and in the streets.

“There is a difference between the insurgency and terrorists, and some people do not get that. The Iraqis are doing what they feel is right. The Iraqis see this as defending their country, their women, their homes,” he added.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Gettleman was sent to Yemen where he said that government minders often hindered him from reporting the news.

“It was one of the hardest places I have ever worked,” he said.

He also spent time in northern Afghanistan in early 2002, and described the people as “hospitable.”

Gettleman, who worked for the Los Angeles Times before joining the New York Times, described journalism as a “hierarchal field.” Becoming a journalist for a major paper takes time, he said, but the job was well worth the effort.

“Journalism is a front seat to interesting events around the world,” he said.

He also warned of the moral difficulties of being a journalist.

“Journalism is definitely morally complicated. You can hang someone with his own rope,” he said.

The Georgetown Journal of International Affairs sponsored the lecture.