Frank,
The reason I posted that particular article wasn't so much to convey facts on the ground as to convey an attitude toward the US. This isn't to say facts aren't important, god knows, they are. But as the we all know, policies and actions are often done on the basis of far more than "mere" facts--they are frequently the results of innuendo, impressions, wishful thinking, fantasies about what "might" be or have been, vengeance, anger, etc. The writer is obviously an educated person, and was a prisoner under Saddam--obviously one of the people who should have been "dancing in the streets" in a post-Saddam world. When she writes,
The CPA and IGC's early promises were colourful: they would build a new democratic Iraq, they said, guaranteeing human rights and freedom. But a year on, the picture they painted is fading. Car bombs, shootings and kidnapping have become part of daily life. Only 50% of the population have fresh water, compared with 60% before "liberation". Electricity is intermittent. Drugs are sold openly in the streets. Ten thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed since the start of the conflict. But it is not for the security crisis alone that the majority of Iraqis hold IGC members in utter disdain.
Corruption is widespread. To get a job, one needs a tazkia (letter of recommendation) from one of the IGC parties. Allocation of subcontracts only follows a payment of 5%-10% of the value of the contract to the American contractors. Nepotism starts at the very top (eight ministers are close relatives of the IGC members).
Although most of the IGC members were once victims of Saddam's regime, they now turn a blind eye to the violations of human rights by occupation troops...For all the talk of democracy, opposition in any form to the IGC and the occupation is not acceptable.... The IGC has allied itself with the occupation administration. Its role is to shield occupation forces, not its own people. The gulf between it and the majority of Iraqis has widened. Away from the vulnerable majority, they stand well-protected by bodyguards driving special cars and carrying free mobile phones courtesy of the US.... The interim constitution was written behind closed doors. Iraqis were not consulted, but Paul Bremer and Jeremy Greenstock, the British ambassador, were.
she is conveying an attitude that should be dismaying to everyone here. I make no claims as to its veracity (although, as you may have guessed, my guess is that it is more accurate than not). I present it as a voice of an individual who by all rights ought to be an ally and isn't, something we have to come to terms with and rectify if at all possible....
Sam |
