Normal for Iraq?
- 14 Mar 07, 12:00 PM
Newsnight is following a number of people in Iraq over the coming weeks in order to gain some perspective on the situation across the country. Window on Iraq will feature a series of text, audio and video blogs hosted by Baghdad blogger Salam Pax - who will be posting regular entries himself. In this, his first, he examines claims that the situation in Baghdad is improving.
Just a day before the recent international meeting in Baghdad many news sources published a piece about the Iraqi PM making a surprise appearance on the streets of Baghdad where he told reporters that (emphasis mine). If you ask me the headline to that piece should have read: Iraqi PM moves into his own Reality Distortion Field, finds it a very lonely place.
It seems Mr. Maliki's idea of what "normal" looks like is suffering from a severe case of Green Zone delusional disorder from spending all that time in the little oasis of false calm in that heavily fortified American enclave. Walking in the centre of a tightly closed circle of machine gun wielding bodyguards does seem to stretch any definition of normal you want to choose.
And as another indication of normalcy Now how is that for a "all is normal, folks" campaign poster? We obviously don't see him hurrying back to his armoured car right after the photo op.
The situation, dear Mr. Maliki, is far from normal.
And I will refuse to describe it as normal until I can move back into the home my family and I had to abandon two years ago when the neighbourhood was taken over by insurgents.
I had not been to my old house since we moved out and as the months went by I had less and less reason to do so. One after the other, my uncles and aunts who also lived in the same area, rented homes elsewhere or left the country. But yesterday I did go and now I wish I hadn't, I would rather remember my neighbourhood the way it was than see what it turned to now.
Not a single shop was open in the 1.5km stretch of the main shopping street, and from the amount of rubbish and rubble in front of these shops no one has bothered with opening these shops for a very long time. Cars which have caught fire during an explosion a couple of weeks ago are still there on the side of the road and more inexplicably the twisted and burned remains a huge 40 passenger bus can be seen at the entrance to one of the side streets.
The top of the street is flanked by the rubble of what used to be two flashy five story buildings. One was destroyed by a car bomb about a month ago and the second by two mortar rounds hitting it just last week. The only signs of life were the armed guards of a Sunni political group standing on the roof of a building they have commandeered, it used to be the Baath Party headquarters in the area.
The feeling you get driving down that street is of despair. People who have hope don't leave burned cars at the entrance of the street they live in. Although they would leave it there hoping that whoever has done this will have some mercy the next time and spare them another attack. People who still have hope in Mr. Maliki's political process go to pick the pieces of their shattered stores and repair the broken window panes. I know what having hope feels like because for two years after the war we did that, Baghdadis tried to act as if nothing was going wrong and tried to keep their lives on track. Today despair and hopelessness can be seen around every corner you turn in the west of Baghdad where I used to live. A place Mr. Maliki has obviously never been to.
I didn't make it our house. The empty streets and all the bombed buildings scared me and saddened me more than I expected them to and I decided to turn around and go back. My mother did not want to hear about what I saw, keeping things how you remember them is a much wiser decision.
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Normal in the uk means having 900 known organised crime gangs [an ncis report], people who openly boast they are 'untouchable', avoiding city centres after 8pm and still having a political class with the arrogance to think they can sort other country's problems out.
no one is going to help you. We can't help ourselves. No one is going to solve your problems. We can't solve our own.
ordinary people [wherever they are] are chess pieces in someone else's game.
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Maliki is burying his head in the sand and crossing his fingers hoping that by saying it's getting better that it is. From over here in the UK there doesn't seem to have been a let up in bombings, or terrorising of Baghdadis. No reporters tell us what it is like on the ground because there doesn't seem to be any reporters on the ground - this speaks volumes. I feel sorry that your home and the surroundings have been levelled. I really hope for your sake and for all Baghdadis - Iraqis even - that Mr Maliki knows something that we clearly don't.
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Ref dicky #1
Unfortunately, you paint a rather accurate picture of crime & avoidance.
However, we should be asking why things have gotten to this state, since the cause/s will govern our strategy to achieve a re-balance & take the initiative.
History shows us violence, intimidation, crime etc, not a phenomena of 21st Century, rather its human nature (consequence of have & have nots ref abilities/resources living in close proximity).
However, what is rather unique, is given our societies ability to build upon what are regarded as the successes of previous generations (law, culture, institutions etc) we as a society are regressing in terms of societual order & control (the basis of stability, without which nothing else sustainabley flourishes)
There are several factors in play & its usual for me a this point to blame the effects of policy, expectation & delivery by the left, liberal left & ultra liberals.
But I cannot see any other influencing corrosive ethos (never ending RIGHTS issues) which has near fatally undermined the state/society/community/citizens/parents ability to discipline & control disruptive elements around them *
* esp when the state representatives, seem inherently more interested in covering their own back given plethora of RIGHT ON & PC laws/rhetoric that they have too content with, that actaully doing the job.
Sir Ian Blair was on Radio 4 before Christmas, being interview by John Humphries. Each interviewee in this series, could change one thing. Sir Ian said his would be the Criminal Evidence Act (or similar) since in his day on the beat he could process 3+ arrests per day. Whereas now, despite far more people (front & back) a constable could only process 1 arrest per day. **
** ludicrous state of needing 1 Policeman per crime, is both unachievable & unaffordable
That I believe is another example of often well intentioned legislation (but part of the ever burgeoning RIGHTS rollout) results in near paralysis for those who have to enforce it & results in near anarchy in communities & society, caused by those who choose to disregard it & actually use this unbalanced system for their own advantage ***
*** meaning mainstream not only foot the cost in terms of social unrest & crime but actually foot the resources bill, diverted from elsewhere.
That is why, we see continuing calls & measures aimed at a 'Renaissance of Rights' whereby a rebalance of individual rights v society right to exist & govern is re-achieved.
vikingar
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Dear Salam Pax. As total opponent of Iraq war from the start, I have seen many of your reports from Iraq over recent years. These have always been informative and enjoyable to watch. I remember you once saying, happily, "you are seeing the birth of a new Iraq". Now it seems you have become despondent about the situation in your country. It's so interesting to read your reports whether you are optimistic or pessimistic. In this report I have picked up a hint that you don't think much of Mr Maliki. Have you a theory about how the current situation might be salvaged, for example (the obvious) the withdrawal of foreign troops; the diplomacy with, for example, Iran or Saudi Arabia; or the re-installation of Mr Allawi as leader; or the division of the country into 3 separate states? Or can you see no way out of the current desperate situation?
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Couple of questions for Salam Pax
Given Saddam Hussein would have eventually have been removed from power, regardless of how this was eventually achieved …*
* Saddam dying of 1) natural causes; 2) assassination; 3) removed after coup/another failed foreign adventure; 4) coalition invasion
Q.1 was Iraq's descent into inner chaos an inevitable event & re-balance of sorts?
Q.2 as an Iraqi, given turbulent history of the country, with a dispassionate head on, do you think Iraq's neighbours believe 'Iraq' had it coming & has reaped the whirlwind it had sown & Iraq 'deserved it'? **
** in the same way many think the US had it coming, for its accumulated misdemeanours of its foreign policy over the years
Q.3 what is Iraq's capacity for further inner turmoil & are there any imitators ? **
** in terms of stomach/motivation for further violence, availability of victims, willingness of perpetrators to committ atrocities etc
Q.4 in pragmatic terms, what will cause Iraq 'Pandora's' box to be closed?
Personally, from the luxury of a British keyboard, my pet theory ref post invasion ... the only scenario that made sense, which explained why the US did not have a suitable post Iraq invasion plan in place, was they believed someone in Saddams regime would take over the state (he would be deposed) managing Iraq with existing state agencies & infrastructure.
Keep Safe … respect & enjoy your insights [1]
vikingar
SOURCES:
[1]
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Salam,
Thanks for your reports they are by far the most incisive and representitive articles on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website.
Sadly the mainstream media in general fail to report even a handful of the daily killings outside Baghdad and those that are reported are generally the large scale bombs that claim many lives in one go.
A few examples from today and yesterday' violence:
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Gunmen set fire to an office of the political movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the town of Kefil, south of Hilla, on Wednesday night, police said.
Police found the body of a man, shot dead and tortured, on Wednesday in the southern city of Diwaniya, 180 km south of Baghdad, police said. The victim was abducted from a cafe earlier that day.
Police found two charred bodies on Wednesday in the northern city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The victims were blindfolded, handcuffed, and tortured.
A car bomb killed two people and wounded 11 others on Wednesday in the city of Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad
A total of 16 bodies were found shot dead on Wednesday in different districts of Baghdad, police said.
Police found the bodies of three people, shot dead, on Wednesday in the town of Dhuluiya, 80 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
Gunmen killed three off-duty policemen just south of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, a hospital source said
Police found four decapitated heads in the insurgent stronghold of Baquba, officers said. It was not clear who the victims were.
The bodies of two men were found, with gunshot wounds and signs of torture, near the Sunni Arab stronghold of Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
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Taken from www.icasualties.org a website largely relying on user donations.
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Salam - Do you think that Maliki really believes the situation is improved by the surge of US troops and security clampdown? The supposed lull in insurgent activity is surely down to the fact that they have gone into hiding while there are extra forces on the streets and will come back out to wreak more havoc once they figure out new urban warfare strategies.
Can you see an end to this?
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"Iraqi PM moves into his own Reality Distortion Field, finds it a very lonely place." It's nice to see you can find some humour in all this sh*t...
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I found this blog by luck - Why aren't you writing Iraq analysis for the whole of the ´óÏó´«Ã½? Respect Salam
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You mention that Salhaddin was the greatest Arab leader in the video about life and death of Saddam, I just wanted to say he was a Kurd not Arab plus he flighted for Islam not Arabs, so when next time you talk about him try to say the greatest Muslim leader because he was religious leader not nationalism
sorry for my English though.
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Freedom doesn't come for free. Every nation have struggled for freedom and Europian countries had to sacrify millions of lives. Not only Iraqis should learn this lesson again and again. Nothing is granted for ever and it is very likely that Europiens will be learning this lesson very soon again.
I think that situation in Iraq is Iraqis responsibility and US troops can't change this.
Either common Iraqis will resist terorrists, join them or extinct.
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