This week, Rick McDowell of the American Friends Service Committee visited the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram to talk about his time in Iraq. McDowell and his wife, Mary Trotochaud, were part of an assessment team for a consortium of faith-based humanitarian agencies.
McDowell talked about sharing common experiences with the Iraqi people in Baghdad's dangerous "Red Zone" for the past two years.
Finally, the city grew too dangerous for Westerners and they left, concerned that they were putting not only their lives in danger but also the lives of the Iraqis that they interacted with.
McDowell's job had been to assess the conditions in Iraq and see how humanitarian resources were being used, as well as to work with new Iraqi non-governmental organizations and help with larger projects such as water sanitation.
What he saw wasn't good.
"In the past two years, rather than seeing an improvement in services, (Iraqis are) seeing a continual decline in those services," McDowell said.
That's gone hand in hand with a decline in security.
The American invasion, unfortunately, was undertaken in a manner that allowed chaos to take over.
On one hand, people were thrilled that Saddam's regime was overthrown. On the other hand, McDowell said, "I don't know anybody that would tell you conditions are better. They are worse. Obviously, there were problems under the regime. But they could walk the streets. Their kids could go to school. They felt safe - as long as they didn't engage in politics."
First, there was widespread looting. McDowell recalls a meeting at the Ministry of Health that was held on the 12th floor of the building because every stick of furniture had been stolen from the first 11.
Then, the chaos turned into something more sinister: Organized crime, a powerful insurgency and a continued fracturing of ethnic and religious groups.
Continuing violence put an incredible strain on an already broken system.
"The reality is there will always be insurgents in Iraq as long as we have bases there," McDowell said.
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