Mistakes.. what mistakes?
Excuse the lame title, I'm pretty sleepy and its late
It's so difficult a find a news article or a supposed political analyst mention exactly what led to the chaos we are facing now in Iraq. You know at least mention why things were relatively quiet after the fall of saddam and only exploded later.
All I seem to get is either that the US did everything right and its all the iraqis fault or stories that roughly say the US are money-grabbers who probably provide sexual favors to the devil for some cash. Very very few articles that provide a balanced view, just journalist using dying human beings as pawns in their little glorified "ha got you there" fight.
So instead of waiting for some article to show up i thought why not list things i thought went wrong after the war. It would be great to know what others (especially if other iraqis are reading this) think about it. Though just in case there are others who are wanting to do some name-calling and ass-roasting please keep it to a minimum as it won't do u any good. Intelligeble criticism on the other hand would be great.
1. Reluctance to give work to iraqis
This had to be the biggest mistake done. I mean why not let workaholics work. I mean these are ppl would go to work (and very hard) in the worst conditions such as sanctions, war ,when salaries were around 3-4 dollars a month and now when the threat of dying is everywhere. And in the aftermath of the war iraq was filled with overqualified and unemployed ppl who would be more than happy to rebuild their country.
This wasn't the bad part it would have been sort of understandable if hi-tech jobs were out of iraqis reach but even the most menial of jobs were given to non-iraqis hired from abroad (its almost like taking a page out of saddams book).
For example truck drivers from abroad... what so difficult about truck driving that its not given to the "simple-minded" iraqi… well at least if they were iraqi they could have been sued or jailed for selling 100s of thousands of dollars of equipments across the border (a matter that has happened alot). Also even cooks, cleaners and manual laborers was brought from abroad. You know how many poor families could have been helped by that. This would have also kept the young poverty-stricken age group away from these extremist groups. The young and unemployed are the meat these terrorist groups feed on.
2. Reconstruction
See when we were watching the damage during the war we would joke (in our own dark special way) about how at least there will be plenty of jobs later. Mind you, in some of saddam's detested cities such as the shia regions there are damages since the first gulf war and even the iran-iraq war that haven't been attended to.
Let me clarify there are really good projects going on ( see for ureself ) and some really determined and great iraqis and foreigners who were keen on providing the best for iraq.
Unfortunately corrupt individuals and businesses (and this from many many nationalities including iraqis sadly) were involved and by some sick reason decided to take advantage of the chaos to fill their pockets while focus was elsewhere. This was done by either setting up "dummy" companies, skimming from the budget, promising (expensive) products but failing to deliver etc...
Due to this, most of the reconstruction was halted and each project had to undergo a slow validation process.
Also security has worsened so most companies are not sure how to move on with projects if their equipments are looted within hours of installing them
I have some idea about the reconstruction bit but I think someone who has worked in iraq (like mustang for example) would be a better source for information regarding that
The sad part is that this would have been a great opportunity to win the hearts and minds they keep talking about. I mean if people could see that there were improvements in the country. These conspiracy theories would slow down
3. Sidelining iraqis when it came to security
What didn't make it to the news was that iraqis were coming forward to US and coalition authorities to give info on suspicious characters, especially when they thought they were secure. For example of iraqis knew the triangle of death was the HQ for ex-baath officials even ppl from their cities were coming forward. They weren't taken seriously.
Also the mehdi militia have been harassing people since last summer, either looting travelers who crossed their paths or christian families for not acting muslims (whatever that means) while troops there were turning a blind eye . This caused a lot of resentment and lack of trust. Why do u think it was all silent an fairly peaceful the first month, these people were hiding because they expecting some form of punishment of jail-time. Unfortunately nothing came and that encouraged them to reach the point they are at now.
4. De-baathification and subsequent baathification of jobs
Actually this is a point my grandmother mentioned alot. Just to clarify she's lived through 4 regime changes so she knows what she's talking about.
What used to happen during the previous regime changes, the structures of various ministries and organizations would remain the same, a curfew would be imposed and the leaders of these orgaisation would be caught (and then executed) while the lower ranks remain the same and continue their job. Through time, the members of the ministries who were thought to have strong links to the previous government would be weeded out and probably faced the same treatment their leaders did.
I know it sounds harsh but we're dealing with the Baath here. Maybe a pardon law could be implement for those who don’t have blood on their hands).
Now what happened instead was that these organizations were disbanded. Given enough time to regroup privately under different names and then a year later put back into circulation. How else do you explain the way all these criminal gangs knowing exactly where iraqis IP and ING are.
5. The wanted list only contained 55 people.
Unfortunately it wasn't only 55 ppl who were controlling iraq. There were also the secret police (mukhabarat), army, saddams and baath members family. Why were these ppl let go. Saddams family were allowed to leave stealing most of iraqs money, no questions asked. The other 55 members the same thing. All have registered their properties and accounts under the names of family members, and no surprise if that is one of the many sources funding the insurgency.
As for the secret police is it any wonder that these crimes are committed, filmed and documented exactly the same way the mkhabarat used to work. And its no wonder its taking place in the triangle of death were most of the mukhabarat officials came from. Take falloujah , 30% of that city's population were part of the mukhabarat . I'm not exactly trying to loop these cities i mean there are good people there as well but these cities were generally saddams preferred groups
6. Regional countries interferences in Iraq's future.
This was even during the war, i never got to see an iraqi speak about what it meant to him all we got were ppl from every country in the world speaking for Iraqis.
Also after the war why were all the deals done with government that saddam worked with. I mean why were the iraqi schoolbooks given to jordan to publish (for millions pf dollars) when there are printing presses in Iraq. To make it worse it’s been 2 school years and students still don’t have new books
Why was our telecom (ok baghdads anyway) given to egypt (no offence but its extremely faulty... as ridiculous as getting camels from alaska) Anyway if the kurds could establish mobile phone companies the iraqis can definitely do the same if given the right resources.
Also how come every single office/company that closes in Iraq ends up in jordan (UN, Red Cross, etc) and why do all iraq-related conferences take place there, haven’t they made enough money out of us aready. Why not keep it in Kurdistan (which is relatively dafe) at least the money the money would go back into iraqs economy.
Or how about security, when iraqs police and army was disbanded turkey demanded the US to take the peshmerga out of mosul and kirkuk, which they did. Now who was left to protect those cities from the insurgency
7. Borders
This has been mentioned alot. Of course this leads me to what i thought was a crazy theory but seems to becoming more and more true by the day. But I leave that for another time
8. Kirkuk
aah kirkuk, look now i don't care if the city is called arabic, turkmen, Christian or kurdish just let the ppl go back home. It is not fair that there are people living like refugees in their own country. The past 2 years no one has asked why a city that was once over 21,000 sq km (i'll check the exact number and add it here) was reduced to 9,000 sq km during saddams time. No one gives a damn why there are refugees living outside their car and in dingy refugee tents, i mean there are organizations that support non-iraqi arab refugees in iraq but nothing for iraqis.
Now these people aren't allowed to return but foreign fighters have filled the city, and no one seems bothered by that. And if it is true zarqawi is hiding there then watch out this will be much more bloody than falloujah.
It's so difficult a find a news article or a supposed political analyst mention exactly what led to the chaos we are facing now in Iraq. You know at least mention why things were relatively quiet after the fall of saddam and only exploded later.
All I seem to get is either that the US did everything right and its all the iraqis fault or stories that roughly say the US are money-grabbers who probably provide sexual favors to the devil for some cash. Very very few articles that provide a balanced view, just journalist using dying human beings as pawns in their little glorified "ha got you there" fight.
So instead of waiting for some article to show up i thought why not list things i thought went wrong after the war. It would be great to know what others (especially if other iraqis are reading this) think about it. Though just in case there are others who are wanting to do some name-calling and ass-roasting please keep it to a minimum as it won't do u any good. Intelligeble criticism on the other hand would be great.
1. Reluctance to give work to iraqis
This had to be the biggest mistake done. I mean why not let workaholics work. I mean these are ppl would go to work (and very hard) in the worst conditions such as sanctions, war ,when salaries were around 3-4 dollars a month and now when the threat of dying is everywhere. And in the aftermath of the war iraq was filled with overqualified and unemployed ppl who would be more than happy to rebuild their country.
This wasn't the bad part it would have been sort of understandable if hi-tech jobs were out of iraqis reach but even the most menial of jobs were given to non-iraqis hired from abroad (its almost like taking a page out of saddams book).
For example truck drivers from abroad... what so difficult about truck driving that its not given to the "simple-minded" iraqi… well at least if they were iraqi they could have been sued or jailed for selling 100s of thousands of dollars of equipments across the border (a matter that has happened alot). Also even cooks, cleaners and manual laborers was brought from abroad. You know how many poor families could have been helped by that. This would have also kept the young poverty-stricken age group away from these extremist groups. The young and unemployed are the meat these terrorist groups feed on.
2. Reconstruction
See when we were watching the damage during the war we would joke (in our own dark special way) about how at least there will be plenty of jobs later. Mind you, in some of saddam's detested cities such as the shia regions there are damages since the first gulf war and even the iran-iraq war that haven't been attended to.
Let me clarify there are really good projects going on ( see for ureself ) and some really determined and great iraqis and foreigners who were keen on providing the best for iraq.
Unfortunately corrupt individuals and businesses (and this from many many nationalities including iraqis sadly) were involved and by some sick reason decided to take advantage of the chaos to fill their pockets while focus was elsewhere. This was done by either setting up "dummy" companies, skimming from the budget, promising (expensive) products but failing to deliver etc...
Due to this, most of the reconstruction was halted and each project had to undergo a slow validation process.
Also security has worsened so most companies are not sure how to move on with projects if their equipments are looted within hours of installing them
I have some idea about the reconstruction bit but I think someone who has worked in iraq (like mustang for example) would be a better source for information regarding that
The sad part is that this would have been a great opportunity to win the hearts and minds they keep talking about. I mean if people could see that there were improvements in the country. These conspiracy theories would slow down
3. Sidelining iraqis when it came to security
What didn't make it to the news was that iraqis were coming forward to US and coalition authorities to give info on suspicious characters, especially when they thought they were secure. For example of iraqis knew the triangle of death was the HQ for ex-baath officials even ppl from their cities were coming forward. They weren't taken seriously.
Also the mehdi militia have been harassing people since last summer, either looting travelers who crossed their paths or christian families for not acting muslims (whatever that means) while troops there were turning a blind eye . This caused a lot of resentment and lack of trust. Why do u think it was all silent an fairly peaceful the first month, these people were hiding because they expecting some form of punishment of jail-time. Unfortunately nothing came and that encouraged them to reach the point they are at now.
4. De-baathification and subsequent baathification of jobs
Actually this is a point my grandmother mentioned alot. Just to clarify she's lived through 4 regime changes so she knows what she's talking about.
What used to happen during the previous regime changes, the structures of various ministries and organizations would remain the same, a curfew would be imposed and the leaders of these orgaisation would be caught (and then executed) while the lower ranks remain the same and continue their job. Through time, the members of the ministries who were thought to have strong links to the previous government would be weeded out and probably faced the same treatment their leaders did.
I know it sounds harsh but we're dealing with the Baath here. Maybe a pardon law could be implement for those who don’t have blood on their hands).
Now what happened instead was that these organizations were disbanded. Given enough time to regroup privately under different names and then a year later put back into circulation. How else do you explain the way all these criminal gangs knowing exactly where iraqis IP and ING are.
5. The wanted list only contained 55 people.
Unfortunately it wasn't only 55 ppl who were controlling iraq. There were also the secret police (mukhabarat), army, saddams and baath members family. Why were these ppl let go. Saddams family were allowed to leave stealing most of iraqs money, no questions asked. The other 55 members the same thing. All have registered their properties and accounts under the names of family members, and no surprise if that is one of the many sources funding the insurgency.
As for the secret police is it any wonder that these crimes are committed, filmed and documented exactly the same way the mkhabarat used to work. And its no wonder its taking place in the triangle of death were most of the mukhabarat officials came from. Take falloujah , 30% of that city's population were part of the mukhabarat . I'm not exactly trying to loop these cities i mean there are good people there as well but these cities were generally saddams preferred groups
6. Regional countries interferences in Iraq's future.
This was even during the war, i never got to see an iraqi speak about what it meant to him all we got were ppl from every country in the world speaking for Iraqis.
Also after the war why were all the deals done with government that saddam worked with. I mean why were the iraqi schoolbooks given to jordan to publish (for millions pf dollars) when there are printing presses in Iraq. To make it worse it’s been 2 school years and students still don’t have new books
Why was our telecom (ok baghdads anyway) given to egypt (no offence but its extremely faulty... as ridiculous as getting camels from alaska) Anyway if the kurds could establish mobile phone companies the iraqis can definitely do the same if given the right resources.
Also how come every single office/company that closes in Iraq ends up in jordan (UN, Red Cross, etc) and why do all iraq-related conferences take place there, haven’t they made enough money out of us aready. Why not keep it in Kurdistan (which is relatively dafe) at least the money the money would go back into iraqs economy.
Or how about security, when iraqs police and army was disbanded turkey demanded the US to take the peshmerga out of mosul and kirkuk, which they did. Now who was left to protect those cities from the insurgency
7. Borders
This has been mentioned alot. Of course this leads me to what i thought was a crazy theory but seems to becoming more and more true by the day. But I leave that for another time
8. Kirkuk
aah kirkuk, look now i don't care if the city is called arabic, turkmen, Christian or kurdish just let the ppl go back home. It is not fair that there are people living like refugees in their own country. The past 2 years no one has asked why a city that was once over 21,000 sq km (i'll check the exact number and add it here) was reduced to 9,000 sq km during saddams time. No one gives a damn why there are refugees living outside their car and in dingy refugee tents, i mean there are organizations that support non-iraqi arab refugees in iraq but nothing for iraqis.
Now these people aren't allowed to return but foreign fighters have filled the city, and no one seems bothered by that. And if it is true zarqawi is hiding there then watch out this will be much more bloody than falloujah.
posted by Dilnareen @ | Permalink 
