Nine reasons why Iraqi occupation is a disaster

Catholic New Times, June 6, 2004 by James Loney

The American occupation of Iraq is an absolute failure. Here's a partial list of some of their bigger mistakes.

1. "The Looting Bomb." In the wake of the fall of Baghdad, American forces watched as criminal gangs, Baathist thugs eager to hide their crimes, and impoverished Iraqis wanting to get even with Saddam Hussein, went on a month-long looting spree. Every single government building, except the Ministry of Oil, was looted and burned.

A year later, oil-production is back to pre-war levels but no one can buy or sell property because there is nowhere to register the deed. The looting was a kind of neutron bomb that reduced Iraq's government infrastructure to ground zero, making reconstruction enormously complicated and expensive.

2. "You're Fired!" Paul Bremer, the Coalition Provisional Authority's top dog, fired everybody who was a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. This clumsy edict failed to discriminate between powerful insiders responsible for criminal government policies and everybody else who had to join the party in order to get a job. Not only has this intellectual decapitation of the Iraqi civil service contributed to the post-war chaos, but it also has created an army of disaffected, unemployed professionals who would otherwise be an invaluable bulwark against the looming spectre of a "failed" Iraqi state.

3. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." After the war, Bremer dismantled Iraq's army and police forces. While they are in the process of being reconstituted, this break in the continuity of Iraq's security institutions has resulted in an unprecedented rise in crime. Meanwhile, over 400,000 young men who know how to use guns have no money and nothing to do.

4. "Reconstruction-what's that?" In January, Iraqis were saying that the success or failure of the occupation depended on whether or not the U.S. tackled the 70 per cent unemployment rate and got things working again. Very little has been accomplished on either front. The phone system is till not repaired after the network was destroyed by American bombs. Traffic lights don't work. The electricity is on for eight to 12 hours a day. Baghdad is littered with uncollected garbage. The health cam system is in collapse. Everybody is dependent on a monthly food ration of basic staples.

In the ten weeks I was in Iraq, I saw a bridge and two roads being fixed, one boulevard being planted with trees, and two government buildings outside the "Green Zone," the headquarters of the American occupation, repaired. The reconstruction money that has been spent is largely wasted by the backroom Halliburton-Cheney cronyism that passes for private sector efficiency. To add insult to injury, foreign workers from India, China and Nepal instead of local Iraqis have been hired at danger-pay rates.

5. "Open-door policy." The borders of Iraq were never secured. When I crossed the Jordan-Iraq border in the beginning of January, there was one American soldier on duty drinking coffee in a booth. No one checked our bags or searched the bus. Millions of Shia pilgrims from Iran have entered Iraq to visit the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and countless militants with their suicide-bombing tactics have come to wage war against the American "infidel." When a member of our team told a U.S colonel about Iraq's open borders, he was shocked.

6. American style democracy. The chickens came home to roost with the publication of photos depicting naked and hooded Iraqi prisoners, but the "abuse" goes right back to the beginning of the occupation. Security detainees, thousands and thousands of them, nobody knows how many (not even the Americans), are routinely swept up from their own homes in terrifying middle-of-the-night raids. They are held indefinitely without access to a judge or a lawyer. The vast majority never get a family visit. They are routinely put in "stress positions" during interrogation. An American military intelligence officer recently said over 70 per cent of the detainees are innocent. Ambassador Jones, Bremer's right-hand man, told Christian Peacemaker Teams that the system was overwhelmed and that they had no policy for dealing with the detainees. With increasing frequency I would hear Iraqis say, "Is this American democracy?"

James Loney was recently in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams