Baghdad Burning: Three Years...

Firas Al-Atraqchi recalls his memories on the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq
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When US tanks first rolled into Baghdad on 9 April, I sighed that it was finally over. Khalas, I said, now maybe the Bush administration can produce something resembling a democratic, pluralistic system, rebuild some of what it destroyed and get out. But almost immediately, the first hope was dashed when looting broke out. It was a destructive, vengeful kind of looting -- hundreds of schools, hospitals, clinics, research labs, government ministries, warehouse and theatres were burned to the ground. It seemed like what US bombing spared was now being systematically destroyed. Why would Iraqis destroy the very schools their children would hope to go to one day? Why loot and burn hospitals which serve the Iraqi populace?

The Iraqi museum was pillaged of its historical wealth, the national archives were destroyed. Destroy a nation's heritage, its cultural history, and you will be able to refashion it to your own whims -- imperialist and otherwise.

Many Iraqis believed the US had come to liberate them, remove a dictatorship, and empower the people and leave. This was my faintest of hopes as well, but history's anecdotes said otherwise. By the first week of May, all my hopes had been burned to a cinder in the vengeance-filled carbine of a US machine-gunner's thirst for action. The first massacre of the post-war occupation would come to light quickly, and profusely, in Falluja and would ignite a resistance movement the US and its allies to this day do not understand and continue to belittle. Yes, all my hopes had been burned to a cinder. There were those in Iraq who dared to imagine the US military occupation as a friendly beast. I cannot really blame them, for they likely had no other choice but to hope.

And now, three years on, what have we learned? As a journalist, I have come to be ashamed of the profession (as practised in the "free" world) which systematically rewrote the rules on objectivity and allowed every official pronouncement to pass to the audience unchecked. I have also learned that democracy cannot be instilled into a system. The system itself must reform, adapt, and evolve. The system itself must understand, embrace, and develop its version of civil liberties and freedoms.

Iraqis have learned that they are not yet free, that they are not yet sovereign and that a dysfunctional government has added to the violence which eats away at their numbers every day. Iraqis are now learning of what a civil war would look like, a civil war which some predicted would unravel itself if the country was invaded and occupied.

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Starting with Samaraa, Tourhan Al-Mufti* reviews the last three years in Iraq and finds a catalogue of foreign failures and an Iraqi people that endures
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On that miserable Wednesday, I was sitting before the television, following events, attempting to put distance between my thoughts and fighting between brothers and the division of Iraq. Thinking and watching, I was stunned by the sobbing of Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour Al-Samaraai, president of the Sunni Waqf (endowment). He was one of the first Iraqi notables to have reached Samaraa. Al-Samaraai was crying loudly and praying for the unity of Iraqis and a halt to civil strife.

Baghdad was boiling with anger and fear. With the frequency of news of civilian victims, it became certain that President George Bush's mission -- fragmenting and destroying Iraq and sowing sectarian and ethnic strife -- had been carried out successfully. Bush granted Iraq, albeit not on a golden platter, to states that attempted, through various means, to penetrate the Iraqi interior -- even if they failed to do so.

The tears of Al-Samaraai brought me back to other miserable days, the day the American invasion began and the day Baghdad's occupation was complete; when the politicians and leaders of the "new" Iraq adopted the slogan "Iraq first". The time had come (we were told) to establish the Iraqi identity that years of suffering from wars and sanctions had attempted to dissolve. Yet Iraqis soon discovered that "Iraq first" was a cover for sectarian allocations and ethnic divisions, seeds planted by Paul Bremer and which remorselessly fractured Iraqi society. Rather than establishing Iraqi identity, groups of shared identity rose in stature, each of which claiming that it was the most worthy of governing Iraq or of bequeathing its characteristics on Iraq.

Since 9 April 2003, Iraq has lost its Arab affiliation. Its new constitution affirms that the Arabs of Iraq are part of the Arab world, failing to take into consideration that Arabs form the majority in Iraq and that therefore they give the country its identity. "National identity" has come to be measured by the degree of cooperation with invading forces and occupation authorities. The two Kurdish leaders Jalal Al-Talabani and Masoud Al-Barzani sent a joint letter to President Bush in 2004 in which they reminded him of the "sacrifices" the Kurds had made in fighting with the Americans to "liberate" Iraq. This is how the Kurds became a cornerstone in Iraqi domestic and foreign politics.

In re-examining the last three years, I find that chaos continues to reign and that Bush remains insistent on continuing his war on terrorism according to his strategic plan for Iraq to make the world a safer place for Americans. Yes, we now have a permanent constitution, but approximately 20 per cent of Iraqis rejected it and the Islamic party stipulated changing some of its paragraphs in order to approve it.

We have entered into elections twice. The first time, interim representatives cast aside promises and created a political vacuum while they divided up the cake of posts between themselves. The second time, politicians and bloc leaders passed back and forth stipulations and demands and held meetings as though they were in a safe, wealthy country for which delaying the formation of government poses no problem. I know that democracy is not easily earned, but in Iraq it has become extremely bloody and produces little fruit if any. A quota of 25 per cent was granted for the representation of women in parliament and the government. In the interim elections, women formed 25 per cent whether parties liked it or not. Yet in the last elections, by way of which the permanent government will be formed, female representation fell back to 18 per cent. And regardless of their share, the treatment of women has overwhelmingly remained top-down; their being brought onto election lists only implementation of a demand made by "big brother".

The fact is that the sector of society most harmed in the "new Iraq" is women. The abduction of women has increased, whether to demand ransom, to take revenge, or for human trafficking, particularly if they are young and beautiful. Rape has also increased, as confirmed by international reports. Due to poverty and the killing and imprisoning of male breadwinners, women as heads of households is common. Due to the security situation, international NGOs have withdrawn from Iraq, Iraqi women finding themselves alone in overwhelming circumstances. They seek work at a time when approximately 60 per cent of the Iraqi workforce is unemployed; when beggary has become a luxury profession and a first step towards other street professions. The number of street children has grown and they have become the best means for the circulation of drugs, which have entered Iraq for the first time in April 2003 and with force.

In the shadow of fear that Iraq will be divided, public services have dwindled to the lowest degree possible. Electricity is cut for six hours and provided for one. The price of a container of gas exceeds 20,000 dinars, or approximately $16. This is very high if we take into consideration that 20 per cent of Iraqis are below the poverty line, meaning that they earn one dollar -- 1,460 dinars -- or less a day. Fuel has become scarce at stations but is plentiful among itinerant traders who sell it at inflated prices. The food subsidy card that interim governments failed to distribute fully, even for one month, has still not stabilised.

Despite civilian victims, Iraqis have been able to subdue civil strife and prevent a civil war. However, fear remains, including fear of Iraq's division. Iraqis, while demanding security and services, are working towards preserving Iraq's unity and searching for its identity. After determining an identity, Iraqis will begin to think about rights, democracy and federalism.

How do we view the future of Iraq? This question is unavoidable and the answer to it is at once simple and painful. Iraq is the only country whose future one cannot predict due to numerous foreign interventions, American floundering, and US inability to move within Iraq amidst Iraqi rejection. The coming days are pregnant with events. We hope that occupation forces will not stay long in Iraq.

* The writer lectures at Kirkuk University.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/787/sc7.htm

Three years on, Iraq, argues Abbas Kadhim*, has become the model of what not to do
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Three years ago, a coalition of mainly American and British forces made its way into Iraq along the same path of previous invasions, the south. Once again, the Shia were subjected to the hard test of a three-fold dilemma. While they did not want to die defending Saddam Hussein's oppressive regime, they were not very excited about the prospects of the imminent Anglo-American invasion of their land. The third dimension of their quandary was inspired by their 1991 experience with broken American promises, for which they paid the heaviest price among other Iraqis. Unlike the Kurds who were given a safe enclave in the north, the Shia were thrown to the wolves with complete indifference. This time around, American affirmations, pronounced by yet another George Bush, were shrugged off. The march through Iraq was not a "cake-walk" as self-appointed Iraqi opposition leaders with nominal affiliation with the country and a cursory knowledge of the real Shia sentiments prophesied.

Shocked and awed by the malfunction of their own "shock and awe" strategy, many supporters of invading Iraq jumped out of the sinking ship leaving the Bush administration scrambling for any ideas to contain a situation that was clearly spinning out of control. Adding insult to injury, months of rigorous and quite expensive search throughout the country turned no weapons of mass destruction and aside from some retired trouble- makers, there was evidence pertaining to real links between regime and any anti-American terrorism.

Indeed, the open-border policy in the first months following the invasion turned Iraq into a nest of what may as well be a chronic problem for many decades to come. The collapse of the two selling excuses for the invasion of Iraq that would fit the adventure in the larger context of the "global war on terror" forced the administration to find a reason outside the original framework of the ante-bellum period. In preparation for declaring Iraq a WMD-free country, the administration reduced any mention of them in favour of the ever- increasing oratory concerning the democratisation of Iraq in order for it to serve as a model for the entire region, which was going to catch the virus of democracy from Bahrain to Morocco. Indeed, this might be a viable theory if not for the clumsy planning and catastrophically incompetent management of Iraq ever since the country was invaded in 2003. Instead of serving as a shining model for democratic transition, Iraq has become a model of what not to do.

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n Baghdad, Iraqis spoke to Nermeen Al-Mufti of life under occupation
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The journalist

Saleh Al-Shibani,
Editor of the weekly newspaper Al-Qalaa

"We are all liable to being killed by mistake or by a suicide bombing. We are all targeted, from university professors to garbage collectors, including hairdressers, journalists, doctors -- all Iraqis. I heard from a soldier friend that you cannot hear the sound of the bullet that kills you. As a result, every time I hear the sound of a bullet I praise God for my life. I would not make the heroic claim that I'm not afraid. It's fear that taught me to be cautious. I routinely change the times at which I leave the house to the office and vice versa, as well as the route I take. I fell silent in the wake of the occupation but, finding that futile, I went back to writing a few months ago. I speak for my conscience and for Iraq. And to my mind targeting journalists is first and foremost part of a campaign to terrorise Iraqis -- because journalists, being objective, tell the bitter truth; there are always parties who want to put an end to that. The claim is made that, among the virtues of the "new" Iraq is the plurality of voices as evident in the large number of newspapers on offer.

The truth is that the newspaper scene is in chaos; and however many there are of them, very few newspapers can be called professional at all. Every party, every party leader, basically everyone who can afford it has launched a newspaper. And each newspaper speaks for the entity it represents, makes a claim to the truth, assuming the right not only to criticise but to insult its adversaries; this is particularly easy in the light of the legal void. Democracy means constructive criticism and the ability to listen to another; in Iraq any other voice will set off an endless string of problems. The assassination a few days ago of our colleague Muhsin Khadir, editor-in-chief of the magazine Alif-Baa, raised only a few journalistic voices; this is the case given that, since the beginning of the occupation, 49 journalists have been killed. In the absence of security to protect Iraqis, working conditions are difficult. We live only by the grace of God. Before the occupation I used to work for Al-Jumhouriya newspaper, and despite the despicable dictatorial regime, I feel that publishing what I wanted to say was then easier than it is now. Every politician and leader wants you to write about him; everyone blames you because you have ignored their achievements. My question is, 'how does the destruction of the country, its values and sense of unity amount to an achievement?' My wife too was also a journalist before the occupation; now, for many reasons, she has become a housewife: she does not like to leave the side of our two sons, nor does she feel safe with the house unattended for a second "
The professor

Sinan Abdul-Aziz,
Professor of Arabic literature, Kirkuk University

"Deteriorating security means Iraqi academics are an easy target for abduction and assassination; a total of 190 professors have been killed under the occupation. You might be killed in an explosion on the street. Many professors can't afford private cars; they ride on the bus, which makes their death more likely. Not that I'd personally want the attention or misunderstanding incumbent on having a bodyguard. We work to build the students' confidence in us, but since we've grown to fear them sometimes, they too fear us. That said, both parties have resumed the work they do together -- teaching and learning. Iraqi minds are specifically targeted; it's a particularly dangerous dimension of the occupation which the killing of nuclear scientist Mohamed Al-Ardramali in Abu Ghraib prison during the first few months of occupation revealed. They want a backward Iraq to suit Zionist plans.

Neo-conservatives in Washington are already admitting that what is happening in Iraq serves Israeli, better than American, interests. So we were right to point to Zionism. Students attacked a colleague of mine; another, Abdul-Razaq Al-Naas, was assassinated. I've received threats since. If not for the absurd situation in which the occupation has placed us, with the vaguest promise of an elected government working towards security and stability, no student would dare hit a teacher. And what's even more of a joke: the government requests that we should protect ourselves. Hundreds of qualified Iraqis have fled their homelands.

Many universities are without staff, and campus has turned into a kind of investigative court or interrogation chamber, in which teachers have no right to question or punish students, especially when they belong to a party, much less criticise a political organisation. I hardly know any more where the threat is coming from, whose protection to seek. True, our financial situation has improved a lot; but give me the choice of salary or security, and I'll take the latter. Before the occupation, only one person and his family posed threats; now everyone is a threat, everyone capable of liquidating you at a blink. I don't understand how killing came to be so easy."
The doctor

Luway Al-Salehi

"Last January, according to unofficial sources, 26 doctors were assassinated in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.

Physicians are in the line of fire of many entities right now in Iraq. When a member of the national guard died in my care, I was personally beaten by his colleague. Never mind that the casualty was already brain-dead when he entered the hospital, the victim of a booby-trapped car. It's happened to many doctors besides me. But going on strike, we soon realised, only deprived the citizens of necessary medical care. Still, in the last six months alone, four doctors died on the job.

Violence on the streets makes the situation unimaginably painful in hospitals. There are too many injured for us to accommodate. We've even begun to spread people out on the floor. That's not to mention the constant lack of life- saving supplies necessary for wounds and burns. The numbers of dead are such that, rather than a month in the morgue, casualties are buried within three days of their photos being published if they haven't been identified. How many civilians have been killed? No one will answer that question; my conviction is that no official agency has undertaken a proper count of civilian casualties. Anyone who tries ends up fleeing the country; that was the case with some people who tried to publicise the number of corpses following the bombing of Samaraa. Despite the sanctions, the regime, the difficult material circumstances, before the occupation I for one was someone who had millions of dreams. I do not dream any more. In fact I'm often scared of my own shadow.
The housewife

Hana Madhloum

"I must tell you that I have suffered much to bring up my daughters, with what little help my family, my husband's family and the neighbours could spare; finances were not forthcoming and the sanctions made it all worse. My eldest daughter Reem has now graduated from the Faculty of Engineering; Suha is a pharmacology student. My youngest, Hind, is in the final year of middle school and wants to study medicine. And having suffered, I never thought I'd miss the Saddam Hussein years. My husband died in 1993, due to lack of medication in Iraq, also brought about by the sanctions; though he was a university professor, I was unable to take him abroad for treatment. And I despised the Saddam regime. Because of Saddam's mistakes, we lost many loved ones, many valuable things. But the last few years have been a nightmare by comparison. I wish they were a nightmare. I wish I could wake up to Saddam -- and security. The worry I go through on a daily basis, waiting for my daughters to come home: no one can endure that.

I used to place freedom above security. Now I know security counts more than bread."

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/787/sc3.htm