Ignatius is not a right wing columnist. We keep getting a much different story from the people that are not "if it bleeds, it leads" types.
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washingtonpost.com
Anger Control in Baghdad
By David Ignatius
Friday, September 26, 2003; Page A27
BAGHDAD -- The cascade of bad news from Iraq leaves a returning visitor unprepared for a small surprise here: Compared with six months ago, when the war ended, the Iraqi capital is cleaner and more orderly. The new Iraq is still a distant dream, but the work of rebuilding has at least begun.
The city is fragile, like an infant trying to take baby steps. Rumors of each new terrorist attack sweep across town. Yesterday morning it was a bomb at the small hotel where NBC News has its local headquarters. Each assault jangles the nerves of Iraqis and foreigners alike, making them wonder if the project of reconstruction is doomed -- which is obviously what the bombers want.
The death yesterday of Akila Hashimi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council who was gunned down outside her home last week, underscored the sense that an invisible but omnipresent menace still hovers over the city.
The slow process of trying to establish security goes on. I counted six Iraqi police checkpoints in different neighborhoods of Baghdad Wednesday afternoon. The cops were stopping vehicles without license plates and searching them to see if they were stolen or carrying weapons.
A policeman with his pistol drawn was running down one thoroughfare in the fashionable Al Jihad neighborhood. The cop was apparently chasing a bandit. People seemed mildly reassured by the police presence, even though everyone knows the police are outgunned.
The road from the Baghdad airport into the city, which a few months ago was a gantlet of daily attacks, is now a bit safer. There are still occasional assaults by what the military calls "IEDs," which stands for "improvised explosive devices." But the main impediment to traffic this week was the boys selling gasoline from plastic cartons along the dusty roadside.
Electricity in the city remains spotty, but it is now on more than off. There are still lines at gas stations, but they are shorter. Stores are stocked with goods, and restaurants that used to close at dusk for fear of bandits now stay open until 9. Nobody travels in the spooky darkness after the 11 p.m. curfew, except gangsters or soldiers.
The U.S. military is less visible than six months ago. There are occasional Army patrols, and a huge military presence is out of sight at the airport and in other encampments. But this looks less like a city under occupation.
The Iraqi economy is a shambles, but people have a bit more money to spend. U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer ordered a tenfold increase in the salaries of civil servants a few weeks ago to a minimum of about $60 a month. Pensions for retirees were also boosted about tenfold, to roughly $40 a month.
Who knows what Iraqis really think? But I would guess that a Gallup poll of 1,200 Baghdad residents released this week probably had it about right. According to the poll, 62 percent of Baghdadis think getting rid of Saddam Hussein was worth the suffering they've endured, and 67 percent think things will be better in five years.
If you gave Iraqis truth serum and asked them if they wanted U.S. forces to pull out immediately, I suspect a majority would answer no. They detest the American occupation, but they fear civil war more.
Catastrophe is still looming just over the horizon. The Sunni towns northwest of the city are slipping toward open revolt, and the daily attacks on Americans there could be harbingers of a true guerrilla war. The tensions between Sunnis and Shiites have become so worrisome that the Governing Council this week threatened to ban two Arab television networks for allegedly inciting religious strife.
Bremer's headquarters, inside the old Republican Palace, feels like a terrarium in which an American bureaucracy has sprouted like an exotic plant. Inside, 1,000 Americans are trying to run a large country about which they know very little. The compound is known as "the green zone," with the implication that what's outside is a different world.
The building still has grandiose slogans from Saddam Hussein chiseled in marble. But the bulletin board shows it has become Little America. Notices announce an "Amazing Pool Party," an "Ultimate Frisbee Football" league, a visit by comedian Drew Carey.
A hint of what it feels like to be an American soldier on patrol outside the "green zone" comes from this Army medical advice on controlling combat stress: "Control your anger -- don't sweat the small stuff. Anger exists in your mind and is the direct result of your thoughts. Realize it is your interpretation of the event which makes you angry -- Why?"
Baghdad is a neater place than it was, and Iraqis and Americans are united in wanting real security. But the window for cooperation won't stay open much longer.
davidignatius@washpost.com
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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washingtonpost.com
Anger Control in Baghdad
By David Ignatius
Friday, September 26, 2003; Page A27
BAGHDAD -- The cascade of bad news from Iraq leaves a returning visitor unprepared for a small surprise here: Compared with six months ago, when the war ended, the Iraqi capital is cleaner and more orderly. The new Iraq is still a distant dream, but the work of rebuilding has at least begun.
The city is fragile, like an infant trying to take baby steps. Rumors of each new terrorist attack sweep across town. Yesterday morning it was a bomb at the small hotel where NBC News has its local headquarters. Each assault jangles the nerves of Iraqis and foreigners alike, making them wonder if the project of reconstruction is doomed -- which is obviously what the bombers want.
The death yesterday of Akila Hashimi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council who was gunned down outside her home last week, underscored the sense that an invisible but omnipresent menace still hovers over the city.
The slow process of trying to establish security goes on. I counted six Iraqi police checkpoints in different neighborhoods of Baghdad Wednesday afternoon. The cops were stopping vehicles without license plates and searching them to see if they were stolen or carrying weapons.
A policeman with his pistol drawn was running down one thoroughfare in the fashionable Al Jihad neighborhood. The cop was apparently chasing a bandit. People seemed mildly reassured by the police presence, even though everyone knows the police are outgunned.
The road from the Baghdad airport into the city, which a few months ago was a gantlet of daily attacks, is now a bit safer. There are still occasional assaults by what the military calls "IEDs," which stands for "improvised explosive devices." But the main impediment to traffic this week was the boys selling gasoline from plastic cartons along the dusty roadside.
Electricity in the city remains spotty, but it is now on more than off. There are still lines at gas stations, but they are shorter. Stores are stocked with goods, and restaurants that used to close at dusk for fear of bandits now stay open until 9. Nobody travels in the spooky darkness after the 11 p.m. curfew, except gangsters or soldiers.
The U.S. military is less visible than six months ago. There are occasional Army patrols, and a huge military presence is out of sight at the airport and in other encampments. But this looks less like a city under occupation.
The Iraqi economy is a shambles, but people have a bit more money to spend. U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer ordered a tenfold increase in the salaries of civil servants a few weeks ago to a minimum of about $60 a month. Pensions for retirees were also boosted about tenfold, to roughly $40 a month.
Who knows what Iraqis really think? But I would guess that a Gallup poll of 1,200 Baghdad residents released this week probably had it about right. According to the poll, 62 percent of Baghdadis think getting rid of Saddam Hussein was worth the suffering they've endured, and 67 percent think things will be better in five years.
If you gave Iraqis truth serum and asked them if they wanted U.S. forces to pull out immediately, I suspect a majority would answer no. They detest the American occupation, but they fear civil war more.
Catastrophe is still looming just over the horizon. The Sunni towns northwest of the city are slipping toward open revolt, and the daily attacks on Americans there could be harbingers of a true guerrilla war. The tensions between Sunnis and Shiites have become so worrisome that the Governing Council this week threatened to ban two Arab television networks for allegedly inciting religious strife.
Bremer's headquarters, inside the old Republican Palace, feels like a terrarium in which an American bureaucracy has sprouted like an exotic plant. Inside, 1,000 Americans are trying to run a large country about which they know very little. The compound is known as "the green zone," with the implication that what's outside is a different world.
The building still has grandiose slogans from Saddam Hussein chiseled in marble. But the bulletin board shows it has become Little America. Notices announce an "Amazing Pool Party," an "Ultimate Frisbee Football" league, a visit by comedian Drew Carey.
A hint of what it feels like to be an American soldier on patrol outside the "green zone" comes from this Army medical advice on controlling combat stress: "Control your anger -- don't sweat the small stuff. Anger exists in your mind and is the direct result of your thoughts. Realize it is your interpretation of the event which makes you angry -- Why?"
Baghdad is a neater place than it was, and Iraqis and Americans are united in wanting real security. But the window for cooperation won't stay open much longer.
davidignatius@washpost.com
washingtonpost.com |
