American Gossip King

Chapter 273 Bilateral Brutality

The shooting by Uday forced Saddam to leave the village again and travel to other areas.

The convoy set off again, continuing its journey forward.

They hadn't gone far when suddenly a sound like popping beans came from behind.

Clark, Ian, and the others looked back and heard the gunshots coming from inside the village.

Soon, several soldiers from the Republican Guard emerged from the village, got into a car, and drove away.

Clark was taken aback: "What happened?"

Ian's face was ashen: "They killed everyone in the village."

What?

Everyone was horrified.

These are Iraqis! Saddam Hussein actually came down to massacre a village?

Bledson was also taken aback: "Why would he do that?"

Ian, on the other hand, has already figured it out.

He shook his head slightly: "Saddam's son killed villagers, so the villagers must hate them. They might leak their whereabouts to the US military, so the best way is to kill them all, or even frame the US military."

"My God!" Clark exclaimed.

Van Nistel faithfully filmed all of this.

Several Iraqi girls traveling with them were also in the car, and they had tears in their eyes as they watched this scene.

Ian shook his head slightly.

None of them are good!

Ian considered himself a bastard and a villain, but he still had a bottom line.

Faced with these guys—Saddam, Uday, and those American soldiers who were also killing innocent people—Ian felt like an innocent lamb!

………………

Iraq's terrain is mostly flat, with desolate deserts and impoverished villages.

As they traveled, Ian followed the team to one place after another, witnessing Saddam's brutality, arrogance, cowardice, and other contradictory aspects.

He can bribe villagers with money; he can kill innocent people to avoid revealing his whereabouts; he doesn't trust anyone, yet he needs those people to work for him; he is arrogant and believes he will definitely win; he is cowardly and has no courage to confront them head-on.

He was so conflicted that he could only vent his inner rage through his brutality on his fellow travelers.

As his companions dwindled, his qualifications for cruelty diminished.

This made him exceptionally sensitive.

Today, another incident occurred with the escaped convoy.

Saddam Hussein personally killed one of his officers because he suspected the officer of plotting a rebellion.

This made Ian feel sorry for him.

He had a good relationship with that officer.

During their two-week escape, they moved from place to place, and the number of people accompanying them dwindled rapidly.

From an initial force of over a thousand men, Saddam now has only a little over three hundred men left.

What Ian could do was repeatedly use hypnosis to brainwash Saddam and make him believe in him... He gradually realized that hypnosis was not just a temporary solution.

A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth; similarly, hypnosis, by repeatedly using the same lie, can prolong its effects.

In a sense, hypnosis can achieve long-term brainwashing of an individual, but at a much higher cost.

Saddam summoned Ian again today.

Under Ian's repeated brainwashing and hypnosis, he finally made a decision: "You go to Baghdad now to talk to the American army, but your men must stay here."

Ian wasn't surprised. He nodded. "Sure. Just give me a way to contact you."

………………

4 month 29 day.

Ian drove a jeep away from the convoy and headed towards Baghdad.

He was alone on this trip, with only a hard drive in his bag containing all the filming footage from this period.

Iraq during the war was desolate and impoverished, and along the way, Iraqi refugees could be seen everywhere.

For safety's sake, Ian wrapped a cloth around his head, but unfortunately, that couldn't hide the allure of the Jeep.

Along the way, he was frequently targeted with sniper shots.

Fortunately, the invisible giants played a crucial role, and Ian was mostly unharmed, only speeding away.

The Invisible Giant: So it's not that I'm useless, it's that you don't know how to use me!

After a day's drive, Ian arrived at a checkpoint.

The outpost was guarded by several American soldiers, and not far away were some heavy machine guns and a tank.

Several American soldiers blocked his way.

Before the other person could speak, Ian pulled down his turban: "I'm Ian Karl. Do you need to see my passport?"

The American soldier was clearly bewildered.

He looked at Ian in astonishment: "Ian Carl?"

Ian smiled: "Looks like you've seen my news."

The soldier, his face filled with horror, asked, "How did you get here?"

Ian shrugged: "I'm a reporter, what else could it be?"

All the American soldiers were completely dumbfounded and gathered around, their expressions as if they were looking at a giant panda.

Ian Karl!

The big boss of the Karl Group, a billionaire with a net worth of billions, actually came to Iraq to make the news?

Ian casually took a few US dollars from the bag next to him and handed it over: "Can I pass now?"

The soldier glanced greedily at the bag beside him.

Logically, he should have taken all the money from the other party.

But this is Ian Carl!

A super-rich American boss, an American hero!

He accepted the money and nodded: "Of course, sir!"

Ian smiled slightly, drove off, and left.

Two days later, Ian arrived in Baghdad.

The latest novel is first published here!

The city here did not suffer much damage, and people can still go out on the streets, and life goes on.

The streets were now filled with a large number of American soldiers, patrolling in armored vehicles and tanks, with helicopters flying overhead.

After seeing that the driver was American, those people didn't pay much attention to him. Occasionally, someone would recognize Ian Carl and exclaim, "Fuck, why does that guy look a lot like Ian Carl?"

Then he was met with a chorus of laughter: "What are you thinking? Why would Ian Karl come to Baghdad?"

Ian’s trip to Iraq was kept secret; even his close friends only knew that Ian was making headlines.

Murdoch knew that Ian intended to come to Baghdad, but he didn't know the specific time or his specific goals.

For this reason, Ian Carl essentially disappeared in the United States during this period, but because it was short, no one paid much attention.

Communications in Baghdad have been restored, and Ian immediately contacted the reporter from Karl Media there.

Half an hour later, he arrived at a dilapidated hotel.

Several young people hurried over and saw Ian. The one in the lead was his secretary, Ida, and another was surprisingly Dear Chandler.

Their eyes lit up with surprise: "Boss!"

Ian got out of the car and walked over, saying, "Dill, what brings you here?"

Deir Chandler looked at him speechlessly: "I only found out you went to Baghdad three days ago! This is insane! How could you do this? You actually came to Baghdad before the war started?"

In fact, due to the communication blackout during this period, even those in the know, such as Ida, were very anxious. Unfortunately, Ian insisted that his whereabouts could only be revealed to a few senior executives five days after the fall of Baghdad.

Upon receiving the news, Deir Chandler was stunned and immediately decided to come to Baghdad.

Surrounded by the crowd, Ian walked into the hotel, laughing as he went, "I'm fine, don't worry. Well done, Deer, you actually had the guts to come here."

Dear Chandler sighed, "Baghdad is already under American control. My coming here now doesn't take courage. You're the one with real courage. How's the situation on your end?"

Ian casually handed the plate to Deer Chandler: "Take a look yourself. Oh, and Deer, contact Jay Garner and Paul Bremer, tell them I need to see them..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a deafening roar suddenly came from outside.

Ian turned around abruptly and saw a helicopter in the distance strafing the street below.

"What happened?" Ian asked.

Secretary Ida said, "It happens all the time. The military says there are still insurgents left in Baghdad, and they fire on whoever looks like one."

Ian's face showed anger: "I'm not asking what happened, but how come you didn't film it in time?"

Ida shut up.

Deer Chandler quickly replied, "We have reporters outside; they're probably filming all of this!"

Ian let out a long sigh.

Saddam Hussein was indiscriminately killing innocent people, but so was the US military.

WikiLeaks once released a clip like this.

American armed helicopters fired on pedestrians in the streets from the air simply because they were suspected of being insurgents.

Just after the firing ended, a car happened to pass by.

They were an Iraqi uncle and nephew who were passing by. After seeing that someone had been shot, they tried to get them into their car and take them to the hospital.

Then, the helicopter continued to fire at the two brave rescuers on the ground, killing them in pools of blood.

They saw everything, they knew the two men were innocent, and then they joked around and pulled the trigger.

Killing can trigger a stress response, but it can also be addictive!

The helicopter in the sky stopped spraying ammunition, and with the help of X-ray vision, Ian could see seven or eight people lying on the other side of the street.

Are they rebels?

Ian didn't know, but he knew that what he needed to do was never just give Saddam an exclusive interview.

He took a deep breath and said, "Don't contact Jay Garner and the others for now."

(End of this chapter)