Posted on 06/21/2003 4:27:42 PM PDT by Pokey78
THE commander of British forces in Iraq has admitted that keeping the peace is proving harder than winning the war against Saddam Hussein and complained that the US-led civilian administration is taking too long to get off the ground. “We always knew we were going into the unknown and the aftermath would be less straightforward than the war, but it has turned out to be much more complex,” said Major-General Peter Wall in an interview at his office in what used to be the VIP lounge of Basra airport. Speaking in the week when American troops in Baghdad opened fire on Iraqi soldiers demonstrating against the administration’s decision to disband the army, leaving 400,000 unemployed, Wall acknowledged that in British-controlled southern Iraq he was ignoring this policy. “It was not just Saddam’s army,” he said. “Many of them were just conscripts.” He added that he had re-employed 13,000 former soldiers in militias to protect hospitals and other public buildings, and to act as river guards. Wall denied any rift between the British and Americans over this policy, part of a controversial programme of “de- Ba’athification” under which all senior members of Saddam’s Ba’ath party are banned from holding state jobs. An estimated 30,000 people have been sacked as a result, many of them doctors, professors, head teachers, engineers and architects who, aid agencies say, are needed for reconstruction. Wall acknowledged that he “had expected the civilian aspects would be significantly far more advanced by now”, but insisted: “We don’t regard Ba’ath party membership as an obstacle, rather on the contrary, for they are the people with the experience to run things. “The majority of Ba’ath party members joined because they had to — in the judiciary, for example, all judges were members. Our challenge is to distinguish between those for whom it was a badge of convenience and those to whom it was an ideological commitment.” Wall spends much of his time meeting local religious leaders, tribal chiefs, politicians from at least 15 parties that have sprung up, and people in health and education. “I feel that we as the military are doing non-military things for much longer than we should,” he said. The coalition administration had been “slow at getting off the ground so the military has been carrying the can for everything”. The four British-controlled provinces of southern Iraq are a marked contrast to Baghdad, where American troops are still dressed for war in bulletproof vests and menacing Kevlar helmets, outfits that must be insufferable in temperatures that hit 131F last week. Patrolling the streets in tanks and Bradley armoured vehicles, eyes hidden behind dark shades, they finger their weapons nervously and freely admit that they are fed up and want to go home. In Basra, which is even hotter, British troops patrol in open Land Rovers, clad in T-shirts and combat trousers, and often stop to play football with the locals. “A shared sport is a great advantage,” said one officer. At 1 Armoured Division headquarters at Basra airport, where the departure lounge has been converted into an operations centre, a large sign proclaims, “No sunglasses, remember no military tourism”. Wall explained: “We want our soldiers to look approachable because we can acquire a lot of local trust and information that way.” He added: “When we thought about post-war, we never legislated for the extent that some of the locals would be adding to our difficulties.” In the south, where the mainly Shi’ite population was savagely repressed by Saddam, there are a number of such difficulties. Supporters of the old regime are believed to be responsible for attacks on power lines but the army also has to deal with looting, which is endemic, and arson attacks on shops selling alcohol. In the Baghdad area, anger has been expressed by attacks on American soldiers. Iraqis are suspicious of the administration in the capital, which hides behind tanks and barbed wire in the former presidential palace complex. Not only is the administration isolated, it is also understaffed with only 600 American and British civil servants, along with a handful of Italians, Poles and Australians, to run a country of 24m. On the rare occasions that any members of this group venture out, they travel under full military escort. It has become increasingly clear that despite the long run-up to the invasion, Washington and London paid little attention to preparations for post-war Iraq. “It’s astonishing but there was clearly no plan for what happened after the war,” said a senior United Nations official. The consequences of liberation extend far beyond the shortages of power and water and the continued lawlessness in the cities, where the sound of gunfire punctuates the night. In rural parts of eastern Iraq last week clinics were closed because all the doctors had resigned. Under Saddam, doctors were required to spend two years in such health centres or face the consequences. “When will Bush and Blair kill our mosquitoes?” said farmers, angry that the yearly spraying of insecticide has not taken place. A vet pointed out that he had been unable to carry out annual vaccinations of cows and buffaloes because the supply at Nasiriya had been destroyed by American forces in a bombing raid; they suspected it was anthrax. Many of the problems stem from the purge of Ba’ath party members decreed by Paul Bremer, the American administrator. It has left hospitals, schools and universities short of senior staff. Baghdad technical college has lost 20 professors, including the heads of mechanical and electrical engineering. Among those astonished to discover that liberation meant losing his job was Dr Usama Saleh, head of orthopaedic surgery at the al-Kindi hospital in Baghdad. He joined the party in 1972 before Saddam became president. “We were told this war was about freedom,” he said. “I understood that the Americans were liberal, democratic, that they believed in human rights and freedom of speech and thought. “ I travelled to the US, France and Spain and I was envious of that freedom. Yet now I am being punished because of what I think.” At the same time the disbanding of the army has left families with no income and many blame disgruntled former soldiers for the lawlessness in Baghdad. Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN representative to Iraq, has warned Bremer against persisting with the policy. He believes the US could learn from the UN’s experience in war-torn Mozambique and Angola where it helped to bring soldiers back into civilian life. One of the soldiers among those demonstrating in Baghdad last week was Major Haider Ali Said Khusan, 39. He had fought in three wars since joining the army in 1985 but was now unemployed. Three months ago he had been manning air defences south of Baghdad and was promised huge rewards for shooting down an American plane. Now he scrapes a living selling cigarettes and cold drinks at a small roadside stall. He is married and has three young daughters. “Saddam was a bad man and he betrayed us but now the Americans have betrayed us too,” he said. “We are the Iraqi army, not Saddam’s army. Like armies all over the world we followed the orders of our commander. When I joined during the Iran-Iraq war, the British and Americans were our friends.”
He's right, IMHO. The Bush/Rumsfield policy in Iraq has been a poor show since the "fighting ended". The first two civ-admins were a couple of prima donnas, and the "new guy", isn't much better. Bush's dogma may get the better of him if he can't get a domestic policy in Iraq.
BTW, where is Bush getting the Bozo's and the Boza that he has sent in as Civ-Admins? I thought he'd do better than he has. It's a real disappointment as far as I'm concerned.
Oh dear, I see the "State is responsible for everything" mentality is intact.
Unfortunately, the Ba'athist state used to do these things & there's no other way for us to win over the Iraqi people unless we do it until they can do it for themselves..
Insecticide & crop dusters don't grow on trees..
Not true. In America, the terms and funding of agriculture, medicine,R&D,banking,mortgages,education, etc. are all controlled by the state without shooting anyone. Rather than nationalize the means of production we nationalize the results while dictating the terms.
Social Security, for instance, would never fly in China but Americans act as if the world would end if we were to even contemplate tampering with it.
But Federal Reserve Notes sure do.
The Democrats have been fostering dependency for decades and Republican's "compassionate conservatism " shows they've adopted the same strategy.
Even though fostering dependency can and does occur in a representative government, that does not negate my premise that totalitarian states foster dependency as well. Totalitarian states are probably more efficient in creating dependency since they can execute indendent thinkers as I alluded to in my original post
My experience has been the opposite. In the totalitarian regimes I've visited the government is either too busy exploiting the people or is simply too incompetent to cultivate dependency. If you ask a Chinese or a Nicaraguan to name the good things the government does for the people all you will get is a blank stare.
I have a friend who is Romanian. His family crashed the Yugoslav/Italian border in the 1970's and eventually emigrated here. He went back to his home-town a few years ago. He was apalled to find that hot water in this town was distributed fom a centralized heating station which broke down frequently for three or four days at a time. No one did anything about this except complain. This was about ten years after the overthrow of Ceausescu and these people still act like sheep
Benefitted? The Muscovites, sure. The farmers themselves? Nah. That's why Ukraine bugged out the first chance they got. Moscow needs Russia but Russia does not need Moscow. Same goes for D.C.
I have a friend who is Romanian. His family crashed the Yugoslav/Italian border in the 1970's and eventually emigrated here. He went back to his home-town a few years ago. He was apalled to find that hot water in this town was distributed fom a centralized heating station which broke down frequently for three or four days at a time. No one did anything about this except complain. This was about ten years after the overthrow of Ceausescu and these people still act like sheep
There is something profoundly wrong with the Slavs. You are familiar with the Slav's etymology?
They are entertaining in small numbers but the idea of an entire country full of such people is horrifying. I'm a bit of a xenophile, I love the Mongols,the Chinese,etc. Eastern Europe and Russia worry me.
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