This story is near and dear to my heart, because I worked in the building in question. Proximity is relativity. There is no perfect security apparatus.
“I don’t think (the explosion) could have possibly happened were it not for the involvement of some … bodyguards of politicians who are in parliament, who are already co-opted by the insurgents,” said Allawi, who visited The Chronicle Thursday and is speaking at noon today at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
“It shows you how difficult it is to secure an area or a state or a central government if parts of the central government don’t really feel much loyalty to the overall plan for the central government,” he said.
The building in question used to be guarded by Gurkhas. This sort of thing wouldn’t have happened under their watch. The bombing goes directly back to the Sunni/Shia rift, which goes back 1,200 years or more, and which will not be solved anytime soon.
While this particular bombing was clearly an inside job, it speaks volumes about the Arab mentality towards government, as compared to a Western one. As a general rule of thumb, anyone raised in the Middle East will be an ineffective bureaucrat, at least in my experience. The whole attitude towards work and following a strict set of guidelines or rules is very different.
I remember one incident in which our Peruvian guards drew their weapons on Iraqi IPs (police) who were trying to let their friends and relatives into one of the government ministries without searching them. It took weapons being pointed and taken off of safe before the IPs grudgingly adhered to the “everyone gets searched, no exceptions” policy. This type of paternalistic and consanguine approach to life dictate some of Iraq’s major challenges. Cousins and brothers have historically gotten a pass in Iraqi society. Special favors get handed out like candy to relatives and friends. It’s tradition. And it is a hugely counterproductive millstone around the neck of a nation trying to rediscover itself without committing suicide.