Posted on 05/27/2004 7:08:52 AM PDT by Remember_Salamis
May 27, 2004, 9:32 a.m. Spinning Out of Control Iraqis are frustrated with the CPA.
By Mahdi Bassam
The Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist in less than six weeks. Its administrator L. Paul Bremer will return home; many Iraqis hope he will not return to their country. U.S. government officials say the "Bremer-Brahimi-Blackwell" plan may be unveiled within a week. Its general outlines have already become clear. It is headed for failure.
The choice of a Sunni Arab nationalist to appoint an interim government is misguided. While undersecretary of the Arab League between 1984 and 1991, Brahimi remained silent while Saddam's forces lined tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children in front of bulldozer-dug trenches and executed them. Brahimi showed his antipathy toward Kurds, Turkmen, and Chaldeo-Assyrians when he opened his first meeting with the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) declaring that he came before them as "a fellow Arab." With those three words, he reminded Iraq's minorities of 35 years of ethnic cleansing and discrimination.
Iraqis have reason to worry. Bremer has lost control. Rather than lead Iraq with the goal of democratization or liberty, Bremer appears motivated by ego and the politics of spite. Bremer has lost credibility among Iraqis. They see him sacrificing the good of Iraq for his own short-term interest.
After all, Bremer approved the reappointment of a general in Saddam's Republican Guards, handing victory to the insurgents in Fallujah. Juxtapose this with the raid on the house of Chalabi, who has angered the Americans with his criticism. The lesson? Americans reward violence; but they do not tolerate peaceful dissent.
Iraqis listen to Bremer's spin doctor, Dan Senor. Senor has no credibility among many Iraqis. They view him as arrogant and dishonest. It is a shame that the White House made him the symbol of the American presence. Why not an Iraqi? Senor insults us when he says there is a wonderful vetting process to insure that no persons with blood on their hands are hired into the government. Did Senor not know that Bremer's appointee to lead Fallujah had executed civilians in 1991? It's that kind of dishonest and ignorance that has caused Iraqis to loose faith in the CPA.
After the recent assassination of the IGC president, Senor insisted that the CPA gives the highest consideration to the security of Governing Council members, calling U.S. security "second to none." Iraqis, however, realize that the IGC president was killed at an American checkpoint. U.S. military forcibly disarm the guards of other IGC members, despite their valid, CPA-issued licenses. Bremer even disarmed the security of the minister of defense. You can understand why Iraqis joke that Senor has outdone even "Baghdad Bob."
Take the case of the investigation into the United Nation's Oil-for-Food corruption. The IGC finance committee initiated an investigation. The matter is an Iraqi matter; the United Nations recognizes the IGC as the legitimate interim government of Iraq. But, Bremer has sought to handicap the investigation into U.N. corruption. On May 20, Bremer ordered gun-wielding American troops to vandalize the home of Ahmad Chalabi. According to Americans civilians in Chalabi's house at the time of the attack, a CIA official in an American flak jacket gave orders to Iraqi police to seize documents that might be relevant either to the Oil-for-Food investigation or corruption in the Arab Bank which has close financial ties to the Jordanian royal family. Both sets of documents could embarrass U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. After all, not only is Brahimi a part of the upper echelon of the U.N. elite, but his daughter is also engaged to Prince Ali, the half-brother of King Abdullah of Jordan. King Abdullah has siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars from illegal Iraqi oil sales. Rather than spend money on his people, the Jordanian king built a huge palace complex in Aqaba. Once again, the U.S. government covers up rather than exposes corruption. The only winners are those U.N. and Arab officials who took money meant for sick and hungry Iraqi children. Surely this is not the Bush Doctrine.
The American military initially preformed with valor in Iraq. Iraqis did greet Americans as liberators. Paul Wolfowitz was not wrong. But, the success of the U.S. military has been undermined by arrogant State Department diplomats and ambassadors who hide themselves behind the walls and manicured-lawns of the Green Zone. Many write memos, but do not wander the streets. I have heard of only one CPA official who bucked security rules to live among Iraqis. The saddest part of the saga is that the mistakes of the past year will not be studied in military schools. The civilians who ran Iraq will bury their mistakes and receive promotions without being accountable for their actions. American diplomats have soiled the reputation of the United States. It is the civilians, and not the military, who bare the brunt of Iraqi anger. Iraqis will be united in one aspect. Many Arabs and Kurds alike, unfortunately, will wish CPA good riddance on June 30.
— Mahdi Bassam, a Texas physician, is an Iraqi American activist.
The Beaurocracy in STATE is so bad that our Civilian appointees are overwhelmed.
I've been frustrated with my CPA, too. I hate having to pay any taxes....
Has anyone noticed that there isn't ONE Arab writer who is happy about ANYTHING we do? What a bunch of whiny jerks.
If these idiots were so all-knowing, they would be showing us where the WMDs went...or they would have gotten rid of this jerk long ago.
I think we should appoint Mohammed from "Iraq the Model" as President for Life and act like a hockey player and get the puck out of there...what a bunch of ungrateful jerks.
Sounds like they miss the good ole days of Saddam.
He's an Iraqi-American, Bonehead!
He's criticizing how the CPA is running the war, praising Wolfowitz by name, and glorifying the military.
In fact, I totally agree with the writer. The Pentagon wanted a swift handover of sovereignty ala the Gen. Garner model. The State Dept. griped about Garner and got him removed, replaced by a State Dept. weasel. DoD wanted this whole interim thing to happen LAST summer, after only a few months of "occupation". If that happened, we would be seeing ELECTIONS THIS SUMMER.
Like I've said before, the State Department is a Threat To National Security.
Considering they just lost a war and got rid of one of the most brutal regimes in history
and are suddenly confronted with Freedom....
And are also awash in radical Islam and deep divisions jockeying for control...and armed insurgents
Given the time frame of all this happening in the last year or so....
Its amazing that it is as tame as it is...
Of course the democrats care nothing of Iraqis or freedom...their one consuming interest is POWER how to get it how to keep it and how to make sure others dont have access to the truth...smother the world in lies...and sew confusion...and offer yourself up as the solution
and urge the people to give you their power...
And then dominate them...
All things considered Iraq is in remarkable shape
imo
The State Department is out of control. Plain and simple. The Clintonistas run the show at Foggy Bottom, and they want nothing more than to be sure that our efforts in Iraq fail. They are succeeding.
State needs to be disbanded along with the UN. Let our foreign policy be run by the DoD.
You are 100% correct.
It sounds like a bunch of takiyah.
He whines and moans about the horrible CPA, but in the end, the CPA is finished in a month anyway.
He says "Iraqis are angry" but cites no survey data or any evidence whatsoever.
Lies, lies, lies.
No need to get personal...
I'm' not a bonehead, but it seems I can't open a single mag where there isn't some arab writer talking about "you guys are screwing things up royally...and when Iraq fails, it's all America's fault."
I wasn't even criticizing the writer specifically...it's the cacophony of voices that I reacted to...
The sad thing is that STATE has been like this for decades. There was a brief reprieve under Secretary of State Schultz in the 80s, but that's it.
Read "An End to Evil" by David Frum and Richard Perle. They give some good ideas to reform STATE.
am halfway through that right now...I agree. I was really surprised...but not...was the attack on Richard Boucher...
Right or wrong, this guy is speaking to the wrong audience. Why doesn't he spend some sabbatical time in Iraq explaining exactly what representative government is, how it benefitted him, and how they can use it for their own self betterment?
The Iraqis that the "mainstream" media finds are sitting around the cafe with a coffee and a hookah, bitching about how they don't have enough electricity, while pointedly ignoring the fact that it is a failure of Iraqis to turn in the terrorists blowing up power stations etc, and the most important fact that he CAN bitch about the prevailing government.
The sooner the Iraqis quit bitching, and start cooperating and taking responsibility for their own country, the sooner we can get the hell out of there.
Moral of the story: Dump Powell and get James Baker in the SOS office ASAP...
State is hopeless and useless.
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