One of my more thoughtful readers, Dale, recently asked me whether there is any real progress in Iraq. He was very specific and I will answer him in the same way. He asked about four categories, and I’ll try to address those individually:
- Physical safety of citizens
- Infrastructure (power, water, fuel, food)
- Growth of commerce
- Rule of law and justice
Physical safety of citizens
The physical safety of individuals citizens in Iraq is primarily in the hands of Iraqi security forces at this time. The coalition is focused on training Iraqis to provide Iraq with security, which is as things should be. There is a lot of work to do in this area and many horrible and vile acts still take place daily in Iraq. The Shia and Sunni divide continues to be a problem with attacks on one another continuing. The recent reports of Shi’ite death squads snatching people off the streets are an indicator that Iraq still has open wounds. The government is, however, investigating. Under Saddam, the death squads operated with complete impunity.
Average citizens most assuredly need better protection from their government. The insurgency does everything in its power to destabilize the situation by murdering indiscriminately and trying to keep Iraqis in a state of constant fear. The coalition and the fledgling government of Iraq have a real challenge ahead of them. They’re working hard to rise to the occasion. Bearing in mind that Saddam is Sunni and Iraq has a horrible history of violence by minority Sunnis against majority Shias, it is going to take a long time for Iraq to fully heal. Right now the country in what I would call a state of “fire control.” Putting out fires is the primary mission. You cannot change 26 million people’s reality overnight, or take a country destroyed physically and morally by 30 years of war and make it shiny and new in an instant.
You can’t remove a brutal dictator who murdered a half million people over a 30-year span and expect the power vacuum created to be instantly filled with carefree peaceniks holding hands and singing Kumbaya, especially in an artificially created country like Iraq, where the history of Shia vs. Sunni violence is long and bloody and predates the formation of the nation itself by hundreds of years. The recipe for success is to get Shia and Sunni alike to stop thinking of themselves as Shia or Sunni and start thinking of themselves as Iraqi. When this happens, individual safety of citizens will be vastly improved. Lots of work is ahead, and sadly, more people are going to be murdered.
Infrastructure (power, water, fuel, food)
Iraqis are getting enough to eat. Massive reconstruction projects continue all over the country. The water situation is pretty good relative to what it was under Saddam (from my understanding.) The coalition continues to attempt to bring all Iraqis potable water, but the insurgency doesn’t want that to happen. The same applies to electricity. The coalition adds megawatts to the grid only to have them removed by violent attacks. What we’re facing here is a culture that reaffirms life and the value of human beings fighting a culture that glorifies death and martyrdom above all else. The mentally unstable rank and file insurgents are directed by morally bankrupt power hungry connivers who make false promises of eternal glory in the afterworld for committing unspeakable acts here on Earth.
Many Iraqis, ignorant of the facts, believe the coalition is purposely delaying delivery of reliable electricity. The truth of the matter is that Saddam ignored the power grid for 3 decades while prosecuting various wars against Iraq’s neighbors. Understand that Iraq after Saddam needs more power than it did before, as Iraqis are no longer restricted from owning televisions, phones, and whatever other home appliances and technology they want. But 30 years of neglect to the power delivery and generation systems coupled with active attacks on any power generation projects by the insurgency have caused the current situation where power delivery is unstable.
Iraq has plenty of fuel. Iraq also has plenty of corruption and plenty of insurgents. Put the three things together and you end up with problems delivering the fuel to average Iraqis. Until the security situation has been dealt with fuel will continue to be an issue. The financial wellbeing of Iraq’s people rests in the hands of Iraq’s new elected government. If it can put honest people in charge of fuel production, many of the remaining problems in the country will be able to be solved. When Iraqis stop worrying about tribal and religious affiliations and start worrying about national survival, then the situation will improve vastly.
Infrastructure is improving slowly through massive efforts by dedicated coalition and Iraqi forces working together. The irony is that many Iraqis who are complaining about the slow progress support the insurgency, or have in the past. That is the primary reason for the slow progress. Iraqis who want the coalition out faster should consider helping efforts to rebuild this war torn nation instead of hindering them. Alas, educating ignorant people is a slow and often painful process. And educating people motivated by raw greed and short-term self-interest is nearly impossible.
Growth of Commerce
In this area there is good progress. Iraqis were once forbidden from having cell phones, satellite TV and the Internet. Those days are over. Access to technology and the open flow of information from outside into Iraq will be key to the long-term outcome of the war, and to the overall direction of the future of Iraq. An Iraqi with a computer and Internet access will likely form very different opinions about the world and his or her place in it than one without those things.
Again, the insurgency plays a key role in holding back progress. If the security situation in Iraq were better, foreign investment would skyrocket, benefitting many Iraqis and stimulating huge improvements in overall quality of life. However, foreign companies are reluctant to invest in a place where their employees are likely to be kidnapped and decapitated while trying to conduct business. The insurgency appears to want Iraqis to remain disconnected and cut off from the rest of the world, living in poverty and ignorant. If I were Iraqi, I would be very angry and uncooperative towards insurgents. Some Iraqis are waking up to the fact that the insurgency is only holding everyone back. Some have known it all along. Many remain completely ignorant to the deleterious effect that their tacit support of anti-coalition activities is having. The coalition would have left Iraq already if it weren’t for the three steps forward, two steps back situation caused by terrorists, thugs and those scared of losing power and relevancy in the new Iraq.
But there is hope. The Kurds are doing well in the North, and lots of expatriate Iraqis have returned home to participate in making Iraq an economically dynamic nation.
Rule of Law and Justice
Unless you, dear reader, happened to be a highly placed member of the Baath Party under Saddam’s rule, there should be no question that Rule of Law and justice are drastically improving in Iraq. Yes there are a lot of mad bombers in the streets these days. But there are a lot more Iraqis serving as policemen despite the mad bombers.
Under Saddam people just disappeared. Rule of law under Saddam was don’t make Saddam angry. If you do, you die. Saddam was the Law. Justice under Saddam was being fed into a paper shredder or finding yourself dragged into a room where one of his sons would have fun raping you. Saddam was Justice. The Iraqis are having to learn what rule of law and justice actually mean. Most of them alive today have never experienced anything approaching an impartial court system. It’s going to be a long road.
Rule of Law has never existed in Iraq, that I am aware of. Most Iraqis are just now being introduced to the concept. It will take time. All over Iraq, Iraqis are experimenting for the first time with a whole new range of possible realities. They not only have to unlearn Saddam’s way, they have to unlearn pre-Saddam Iraqi traditions. A tribal outlook won’t help Iraq in the modern world.
Summary
Progress in Iraq, or lack thereof, can be measured in many different ways. Several things are clear to me. The situation of the average Iraqi is grim, but improving slowly. The insurgents are impediments to any real improvements in the daily lives of most Iraqis. Iraqis themselves must make a choice to support the insurgency, in which case they condemn their country to a continuance of Iraq’s Dark Age or they can choose to support the coalition and the new government. A large majority of Iraqis voted for a civil government on December 15 of last year.
By and large, the insurgents are part of an ignorant death cult. Kill them all or help them change their minds about being members. Iraqis deserve better. The world deserves better too. Death cults have no place in the 21st century. Support winning in Iraq. Don’t patronize the prophets of doom and gloom in the mainstream media. Too much of what we hear from our media is poisoned by pessimism and self-rightous indignation that completely skews reality. And that isn’t fair to all the regular joes, Iraqi and otherwise, who are over here striving and dying to build a country worth living in.