Regime Changing

This all-American kid from Monterey is now one of the foremost experts on Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Where does he go from here?

Comments (0) By Bernice Yeung Wednesday, May 7 2003

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"The way this war was conducted, what happened, I do regret it. I think there were other avenues. It made me realize that getting rid of Saddam could have happened without this kind of war, without these kinds of casualties. They just went in and destroyed the country. What I said in September 2002, I really did change my opinion. There's nothing wrong with saying that."

Later, in the quiet of his office, he tells me that his regret began to mount as Operation Iraqi Freedom drew to a close.

Paolo Vescia

Now an expert on Arab politics, al-Marashi didn't focus on the subject until 1991.

Paolo Vescia

After an article he wrote was plagiarized by the British government, graduate student Ibrahim al-Marashi became a favored media pundit on the war with Iraq.

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I ask him why.

He's rarely caught without a ready answer, and there's a moment in which he stumbles for words as he tries to explain his sudden change of heart.

"Things were churning a lot faster than a lot of us could handle," he says finally. "I had a chance to inform the public more than I could have -- that's my biggest regret.

"And I was a lot more optimistic about how the war would turn out. I didn't expect so much devastation and carnage. But you don't realize [the devastation] until it has started."