REPORT FROM BAGHDAD

Posted on April 29, 2004 by Dave Pollard
IraqI‘m out of town all day teaching new and prospective entrepreneurs about Community Based Enterprises (what I’ve called NCEs), and specifically about Innnovation & Entrepreneurship. I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, here is an extraordinary telephone conversation (requires Flash Player) between Jon Lee Anderson in Baghdad and Amy Davidson back at the home office of The New Yorker. In this article, and in the phone conversation, Anderson describes an Iraqi people that is increasingly cynical that anything can come from continued military occupation of their country, except the continued dysfunction of basic services, increasing anarchy, corruption, power struggles among ever-more-radical Islamic factions, and crisis levels of violence and insecurity. He explains that even the most ardent advocates of American presence have given up trying to win the “hearts and minds” of Iraqis, and describes the danger of ramping up military action against well-entrenched, widely-supported insurgents.

What is most frightening, and disheartening, is that the well-intentioned but grossly inadequate and under-resourced allies trying to rebuild Iraq have essentially accomplished nothing in the year since the ouster of Saddam — Anderson describes streets buried a foot deep in raw sewage, ineptly trained police, and American troops holed up behind tanks and barbed wire, in a seige mentality, totally hidden away from, and inaccessible and invisible to, the people they supposedly liberated. Meanwhile, the infrastructure and the institutions of the country remain broken, lawlessness prevails, and the militias and movements ready to fight each other and the Americans for political control grow bolder, readier, and more impatient, and they are now starting to work together to oust the Americans before they resume their war with each other. As one of the US advisors put it bluntly, “it’s a powder keg”.

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6 Responses to REPORT FROM BAGHDAD

  1. Mambrina says:
    April 29, 2004 at 10:12

    Thank you for posting this. It is a tragedy that the U.S. has managed to alienate the majority of the Iraqi people. My partner, an Iraqi-Canadian, comes from a family who opposed Saddam. They also oppose fanatical upstarts like Moqtada al-Sadr. But like Riverbend they despair that Americans are not in Iraq to help the people and they long for a return to stability — they go so far as to say that it was better under Saddam. Many Iraqis both inside and outside Iraq seem to echo those sentiments. Remember that Iraq was not some third world country. It was a wealthy, modern country (certainly by Middle Eastern standards) with an educated population(though many professionals and intellectuals had fled during the Saddam years). Now, it is being pounded back into the Stone Age, as I think Tariq Aziz predicted, and the U.S. is facing the consequences.My partner’s family, who were once comfortably middle class, now can’t afford simple things like a trip to the dentist. His nieces and nephews are suffering gastrointestinal ailments from drinking dirty water. The women can’t leave the house. Random violence is everywhere.Now, even moderates are turning against the U.S. coalition. Read this tragic story of a Baghdad political science professor killed in a blast this week. Sadly, I don’t hear anyone with a plan to resolve this situation to everyone’s mutual benefit.

  2. Mambrina says:
    April 29, 2004 at 10:13

    Ok, that comment got messed up, I’m going to have start again…. ARGH!

  3. Mambrina says:
    April 29, 2004 at 10:17

    Thank you for posting this. It is a tragedy that the U.S. has managed to alienate the majority of the Iraqi people. My partner, an Iraqi-Canadian, comes from a family who opposed Saddam. They also oppose fanatical upstarts like Moqtada al-Sadr. But like Riverbend they have some serious doubts about the real agenda of the Americans and feel that their situation now is worse than it was under Saddam! Many Iraqis both inside and outside the country appear to echo that sentiment.My partner’s family were once comfortably middle class. Now they can’t afford simple things like a trip to the dentist. His nieces and nephews are suffering from gastrointestinal illnesses from the water. The women can’t leave the house. Random violence is everywhere.Even moderates are turning against the coalition now. Read this tragic story of a Baghdad political science professor killed in a blast this week.Sadly, I don’t hear anyone with a plan to resolve this situation to everyone’s mutual benefit.

  4. Mambrina says:
    April 29, 2004 at 10:18

    OK, I don’t know why this is happening. Half my comment keeps disappearing. One more time:Thank you for posting this. It is a tragedy that the U.S. has managed to alienate the majority of the Iraqi people. My partner, an Iraqi-Canadian, comes from a family who opposed Saddam. They also oppose fanatical upstarts like Moqtada al-Sadr. But they have some serious doubts about the real agenda of the Americans and feel that their situation now is worse than it was under Saddam! Many Iraqis both inside and outside the country appear to echo that sentiment.My partner’s family were once comfortably middle class. Now they can’t afford simple things like a trip to the dentist. His nieces and nephews are suffering from gastrointestinal illnesses from the water. The women can’t leave the house. Random violence is everywhere.Even moderates are turning against the coalition now. Read this tragic story of a Baghdad political science professor killed in a blast this week.Sadly, I don’t hear anyone with a plan to resolve this situation to everyone’s mutual benefit.

  5. O RLY YA RLY says:
    May 1, 2004 at 18:12

    “Sadly, I don’t hear anyone with a plan to resolve this situation to everyone’s mutual benefit.”Maybe that’s because it’s not possible? When you give up on the hearts and minds, you’re effectively admitting defeat.

  6. Dave Pollard says:
    May 6, 2004 at 17:24

    Mambrina: Thanks for the awesome personal story, and the link. Damn, what a mess this world is in.

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