Jared Polis for Congress - Iraq

My Night On A Mercenary Compound

2007-12-13T01:58:00Z

Mercenaries, Missionaries, and Misfits

Cross-posted on SquareState.net, MyDD.com, and DailyKos.com

As we pulled out of the Al Rashid hotel around 6 pm, we saw smoke a few hundred yards off, and wondered why our van was made to halt at the checkpoint. Apparently a car bomb or mortar shell had gone off, so the checkpoint was closed and we could not leave the Green Zone. We waited about ten minutes, then were told to get out of the car by the “Triple Canopy” Peruvian/Corporate troops. They took us behind some bunkers. The only Spanish-speaking member of our group, I joked around with them. It was all in a day’s work for them; this is their job.

After another fifteen minutes, they let us back in our van and re-opened the checkpoint. Just another day at Assassin’s Gate. As we sped through the red zone wearing our bullet proof vests and helmets, we got a few glimpses of regular Iraqi life such as it is. There are always three vans, and the front van pulls all sorts of maneuvers to head off oncoming traffic, create a path for the other vans, and trip any explosion wires so we don’t. Every trip through Baghdad is a risk, but these mercenaries are professionals and excel at their jobs.

Mercenaries, Missionaries, and Misfits

We rolled into a private mercenary compound in the red-zone about fifteen minutes later. The thought of walking outdoors in the red-zone was scary, but the trade-off is that while the risk of being shot increases, no mortar rounds are being aimed at compounds in the red zone, they are generally pointed towards the “International Zone” (Green Zone).

The compound is composed of a few dozen villas. I am spending the night in a relatively luxurious one in the room of one of their “executives” who is out of town. I was going to say “brass” but they are really more like management or executives than military brass; or perhaps “commanders” works well; equally at home in a battlefield and a boardroom.

The facts and observations below are all true but I am changing and switching a few details so that the particular compound and individuals are not readily identifiable. I do this because (only somewhat tongue-in-cheek) these are not people that I want to be on the wrong side of, but more importantly because whatever you think of the way contractors operate and the fact that we hire mercenaries, the individuals and particular company I visited are not at fault nor would I want to single them out just because they happened to be hospitable to me. Insofar as you agree with me that there is a problem, the fault lies with the system and the America’s utilization of private for-profit armed militias.

The guards throughout this compound are Angolan, and their commanding officers (or “managers”) are South African. The senior staff they protect are a variety of nationalities including American, Western European, Egyptian, and Romanian, and stateless. The company that employs them, like most (all?) of them, is American. Mercenaries have always existed and have participated on all sides of major wars, but the corporatization of mercenaries is a startling spectacle to behold and Iraq is ground zero.

Concrete bunkers form a maze throughout the compound, and walking around the compound staring into the eyes of armed Angolans, images flash in my head of the movies Blood Diamonds and Lord of War and I wonder what kind of life stories these men have. The hardened and sometimes battle-scarred faces stare back as they check to see that I’m wearing the correct company badge to let me pass by. One time they spotted me with my camera and they called over their supervisor who “reminded” me not to take pictures and then thankfully let me on my way.

I have been able to take far fewer pictures than I had hoped; Photographs are generally not allowed anywhere someone official can see you. There are two kinds of photography-forbidden zones, one in which they will warn you to put away your camera and stop taking pictures, and another in which they will shoot you. I do not pull my camera out in areas where they might shoot first and ask questions later, and I’ve only been successful a few times in covertly filming fairly mundane areas before being caught in “warning” areas. Every time I film in a “warning” area I am taking the risk that they will take all my film (tapes) away and I will lose everything I have. So I have some film I will digitize when I get back, but precious little.

I couldn’t help but feel that the armed mercenaries would just as soon shoot me as not shoot me; it’s all in a day’s work. Needless to say, I am posting this blog after I have left Iraq and am now safely in Amman. Fear is an instinctual and subconscious response. Surely we’ve all felt our hair rise and our senses heighten. On this trip, I felt more fear on the mercenary compound than anywhere else including the streets of Baghdad.

A Dire Prediction

I think it likely that there will be a mutiny from within the lower ranks of contractors. It’s only a matter of time. The fact that they are of various nationalities and speak different languages might mean it will be a poorly coordinated and easily put down mutiny, but it is a virtual certainty to occur if the presence of armed contractors continues; the people at the bottom of the chain of command have all the guns and outnumber all the others. They don’t have a heck of a lot to lose (they are working in Iraq as mercenaries for $1,000/month after all) and I highly doubt they have any scruples relating to war given their line of work.

I frankly asked the executive (commander?) of the compound about this, and his answer was far from reassuring. He recognized the possibility but said that because (in this case) the commanders of the Angolans were South African, they spoke the same language and understood “how to keep them happy.” Right..

All it will take is a slight, real or perceived, from a corporate employer; perhaps a late paycheck, a corporate error that costs lives, or orders that the mercenaries don’t want to follow. It’s a question of when and how, not whether this occurs. At its best, the mutiny will be a work-stoppage; at its worst there could be bloodshed on all sides. Inevitably a company will have hard times or greedy executives, a paycheck will be missed, and so no one will need to break the news to the guy who has been shooting people for a living since he was fourteen.

I believe that taxpayer money should not go towards private contractors to operate militia forces. Corporations should be prohibited from operating armed militias for combat operations. We will regret it if we don’t pass a law to set parameters around the hiring of contractors and encourage other nations to do the same (perhaps seek a United Nations approach towards eliminating corporate mercenaries). There can be a place for private contractors in a war situation, but we should not place the contractors into combat roles like manning checkpoints and conducting official searches. We must not privatize the core purpose of our military. I will introduce a bill in congress to ban corporations from operating armed militias in combat operations.

I am most interested in the contractors who bear arms and organize fighting forces. Who owns them? How large are their respective contracts? Can anyone direct me to a consolidated list of armed corporate contractors that operate in the Iraq theater and elsewhere? If so please post the link in the comments.

If no one can find a site like this, let’s start one. Let me know if you’re willing to help be a researcher; this will be an all-volunteer effort to promote transparency and advocate for the end of arming corporations.

The cafeteria hall at the mercenary compound was far better than I had all trip (although that’s a pretty low bar). The contractors’ cafeteria features a great buffet offering and had the appearance of a mediocre college dining hall (five-star by Iraq standards!). They even bake the bread on premises and have staples like hard boiled eggs, fish, and chicken which are vastly superior to the extremely limited food available at the Al-Rashid. Our American troops are not allowed to drink any alcohol in Iraq, but the mercenaries imbibe freely. One mentioned that American troops stop by from time to time for the better meals.

This is the only mercenary compound that I have ever seen, so I don’t have a basis for comparison, but it is in a luxury neighborhood and probably ranks among the nicer compounds. The pay is better too (except for the armed Angolans). I was told that the contractor is “leasing” all the houses from the original owners, most of whom are in exile in Jordan and Syria, but I have no idea about whether it is at market rates or if payments are even being made. If I owned one of these houses where the mercenaries are staying in and valued my life, I highly doubt I would tell them “no.”

We sat with the senior manager/executive/commander in charge of the compound. We had a great discussion about their work and who their employees are; he said that three kinds of people sign on to become contractors in Iraq: Misfits, Missionaries, and Mercenaries. The misfits are those who are socially awkward, perhaps seek adventure, or simply don’t get along well with others. The Missionaries are those who believe that we are bringing freedom to the Iraqi people and are there to help. The mercenaries are just there to earn a buck (or a Peso, or a Dinar, or a Euro).

After hours, everyone gathered in one of two bars on the mercenary compound. The westerners generally tended towards the Red Kangaroo across the compound (about 100 yards) from our apartment. The makeshift bar was 50% Jabba the Hut’s den and 50% MA*SH’s “swamp”. Playing “Don’t you love me baby” and filled with cigarette smoke, the mascot is a red kangaroo with two inflatable versions on the walls, which are painted a garish red to echo the theme. A nice CD sound system, a dartboard, a well-stocked bar, a kitchen table, and some couches fill out the ~800 sq/ foot room.

At the bar, I talked to a short, 50ish bespectacled man with a bad comb-over and distinct eye twitch. I asked him where he was from and he said “everywhere” and elaborated that “I was born in Czechoslovakia which no longer exists and have lived all over and don’t consider any place home.” An American visitor who was here with me, and whom I had talked with about the three M’s a little earlier (and who had a couple beers) asked whether our stateless friend was a misfit, mercenary, or missionary and the crumpled contractor readily responded “half misfit and half mercenary.” His self-honesty was admirable and he didn’t delay a moment before responding.

The senior ranks of contractors providing technical expertise to the Iraqi government are nearly all over fifty. There are a few in their forties and I think I met only one under age thirty. They are a hardened lot. Some have worked oil rigs, some have worked other wars, some are just out of the military, and some just don’t say (and I’m not about to press them). The armed mercenaries themselves from South Africa, Angola, Uganda, Peru, and Chile among other nations are perhaps in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s but it is hard to tell because they are so battle-hardened and old for their chronological age.

Before I left America, a good friend of mine warned me to be nice, polite, and courteous to the contractors here because it would be easy to have me killed as an “accident” if I published anything they didn’t like. I only slept two hours tonight mostly because I wanted to complete writing this post, but also because my friend’s words echoed in my head and I tried to stay alert.

The first question here is always “who are you with?” rather than “where are you from?” The contractors hold their corporate identity above their national identity. Indeed, they come from many nations and the common corporate culture bonds them and allows them to work together for their mutual benefit. It is eerily reminiscent of the post-nation state futures depicted in dystopian corporatocracy science fiction or anime. To a person, the contractors we talked to were confused by us because we were with an NGO and not a corporation.

Some of the contractors are American (at this compound, perhaps a quarter are). They are typically social eccentrics over age fifty. One of the more obvious “misfits” I played darts with at the Red Kangaroo was a pleasantly mannered accountant in his fifties with flowing white hair and a penchant for repeating himself and asking the same question over and over. He also had his own set of darts he didn’t let anyone else touch and said he always takes his food back to his room and eats alone. Among his more rational behaviors, he said he never goes to the PV in the International Zone (where I went yesterday, with the well stocked American commissary) to shop and rather makes due with what he has on the compound, because “I don’t want to die over a bag of potato chips.” He added the cynical (but not altogether unjustified) remark that if he were to die over a bag of potato chips the official story released by the government would probably be that he died “heroically fighting to bring freedom to the people of Iraq.”

After playing darts, I stopped by the hookah lounge which was just closing. It was mostly patronized by the non-American contractors on site including many Iraqis that work for this Company. It was a more lively scene than the Red Kangaroo, but not very many of them spoke English so I wasn’t able to connect as well.

The bedroom was incredible. One-room dormitories and workspace now filled what was once a proud family mansion with its own drained swimming pool and three full stories including a pool table in the basement. Built in white marble, it was extremely tasteful and it seemed awkward that four people had desks in the foyer. Each of the villas on the compound had the feel of a frat house; individual doors leading to rooms were decorated with posters on the outside and an air of loose camaraderie prevailed.

Adding insult to injury

Part of the problem with the occupation is the way that the planners of invasion had utter disregard for the honor of Iraqis. I’ve been told Iraqis value “honor” even more than Americans do, but we too are a people with some degree of honor and pride and it shouldn’t be too hard for us to understand these matters.

For instance, in addition to occupying the Republican Palace (the closest thing to our White House) as our embassy and major base of operations, we have renamed their major roads for our own convenience. While the map I saw was on the wall of a contractor’s compound, I was told that the names like Cardinals, Huskies, Oilers, Irish, and Pluto are the official names that our forces “gave” to major Bagdhad roads.

Can you imagine how it would feel to wake up one day and discover that the famous veins and arteries of your capital city have been renamed by the invading forces for their favorite sports teams, as if the occupation were some sort of game?

I realize that it might be a little harder for members of our military to learn the real Iraqi names for things, but it is worth it in public perception rather than renaming their major roads for our own convenience after sports teams. That’s just demeaning. This is typical of the incompetent way this invasion has been handled; According to Wikipedia, “Route Irish and the other MSRs and ASRs in Iraq were named during the invasion planning period.” People are people. We need to put ourselves in their place for goodness sakes and imagine how we would feel if the shoe was on the other foot! Iraqis are no different than us.

Return to Amman

Much like the American invasion of Iraq itself, I too found that leaving Iraq is much more difficult than getting in. No, there is not an automatic Kiosk in Baghdad airport. There really isn’t even an airline agent. Our flight was scheduled for 2:30 pm, but after my restless two hours of sleep we were taken to the airport at 7:00 am because that is right after American troops clear the “Irish” way and it’s safest to travel through the red-zone to the airport. Especially given the mortar attack yesterday, the contractors wanted to get me to the airport early and who am I to argue (never argue with a mercenary).

We put our bullet proof vests and helmets back on and got to the airport quickly. Friday is the Iraqi Sunday so there weren’t many cars on the street at 7:00 am and we saw little signs of activity about as we successfully made our way to the airport.

While the flights are commercially scheduled and operated by Royal Jordanian Airways and Iraqi Airways, it’s really an iffy proposition at best whether they fly on any given day. Today Royal Jordanian canceled my flight, and I had to try to get a ticket on Iraqi Airways. The Iraqi Airways agent refused to take my Royal Jordanian ticket unless it was stamped by a Royal Jordanian agent, but there weren’t any agents at the airport except for one junior guy who said he didn’t have the stamp. So I had to find $300 to pay cash for the ticket. Nowhere in Iraq can take credit cards, nor are there any operational ATMs in Iraq (except perhaps on the American military base). After counting my money, I only had about $200 left in Iraqi Dinars and Dollars. I had about $50 in Jordanian Dinars and fortunately there was a money changing office at the airport, but I was still $50 short. Fortunately I met an American who loaned me the money and I promised to repay her when I got home.

The Iraqi Airways flight was scheduled for 4:30 pm, but it didn’t leave until 8:30 pm. I was at the airport since 7:30 am with no power outlets for my laptop and no cell coverage; fun! I observed the Iraqis around, and was encouraged by how they are striving for normalcy in the situation.

The airport is run by Iraqis, but there is still some kind of vague American military presence there (an attaché?) because I saw the same senior American officer walk across the public areas several times during the day and a few other Americans in uniform looked like they were working, not waiting for a flight.

Corruption, however, has already reached the airport. The junior Royal Jordanian Airways representative told me not to pay Iraqi Airways anything because they didn’t need the stamp on the ticket. Nevertheless, the Iraqi Airways guy demanded the $300 to give me the ticket. Someone also had an enterprising idea to make a handmade “departure tax” sign and block a corridor. I had to pay him $2 to get past. We will hear a lot more about corruption in the months ahead. The mainstream media will likely feature “corruption in Iraq” as a main story line from Iraq through 2008.

The flight finally left, and I arrived back into Amman Jordan around 9:00 pm, having slept only 2 hours in the last 24, I still had to do a public conference call at 10:00 pm (noon, Colorado time). I dialed in and was thrilled that over 300 of my future constituents (and a few people from other places) had called in, and I gave a trip summary and answered questions. After the call I returned a few calls from participants on the call who hadn’t gotten their question answered, then I fell asleep and slept soundly through the night, safe in Amman.

Jared Polis Candidate for US Congress Colorado 02 www.polisforcongress.com Donate now to help our fight!

Previous installments:
I am going to Iraq
My Arrival in Amman, Jordan
Arrival in Baghdad
In Iraq for Thanksgiving

Tomorrow: IRAQI REFUGEES IN JORDAN

Coming soon: THE LGBTQ STORY: The systemic execution of gays and lesbians in Iraq

THE CLOSET OF FEAR

2007-12-11T15:00:00Z

The systemic execution of gays and lesbians in Iraq

Cross posted from SquareState.net, DailyKos.com, and MyDD.com

One of my goals on my recent trip to Iraq was to find a way to help the gay and lesbian population. Even the best case scenarios for the general population are still abysmal for gays and lesbians in Iraq. Yet I never suspected the intrigue and danger I soon found out surroud the mere discussion of the topic.

Hoping to learn more about the community, and the unique challenges it faces, I searched the web for information and resources relating to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) issues in Iraq.

I sent the following email to a number of contacts I found on the Internet :

I am visiting Iraq in two weeks and am interested in meeting with and helping agencies working with the LGBT population in Iraq. I will be in Baghdad on November 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. Can you help arrange for me to meet with representatives of the LGBT population and agencies who help them?

The systemic execution of gays and lesbians in Iraq

Cross posted from SquareState.net, DailyKos.com, and MyDD.com

I sent the following email to a number of contacts I found on the Internet :

I am visiting Iraq in two weeks and am interested in meeting with and helping agencies working with the LGBT population in Iraq. I will be in Baghdad on November 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. Can you help arrange for me to meet with representatives of the LGBT population and agencies who help them?

I received several encouraging replies about what I could learn in Iraq and Jordan, and was soon in dialog with Ali, a gay Iraqi living in London,

It ain’t easy being green

The cultural approach of the conservative Arab world toward homosexuality makes 1950s America look like West Hollywood. It is simply not an acceptable topic to talk about. Men who are attracted to other men, and women who are attracted to other women, generally marry the opposite sex and do not tell their families or friends of their orientations. Rather, many carry on a secret gay social life on the side, meeting up at private parties and other impromptu events.

There are no “gay clubs” as such, even in Jordan, but as one gay Iraq refugee said, there was a certain club in Baghdad during the 1990s, which everyone knew catered to only men after 8pm.

The straight Iraqis and Jordanians with whom I brought up the subject of homosexuality found it extremely unpleasant even to discuss. “If I wanted to marry a girl, and her brother was like that, I could not marry her even if I loved her,” said one otherwise liberal and pro-American Iraqi.

The mere mention of gay and lesbian issues is a major conversation-stopper, so when I did ask straight Jordanians and Iraqis about it, I soon learned only to bring it up after other discussions, typically just before the end of our conversation. So great was the cultural impediment to broaching homosexuality that, after its mention, any subsequent dialogue felt awkward and uncomfortable, with whomever I was speaking to probably thinking, “why would he want to know about gays and lesbians?”

And yet, while the vast majority of gays and lesbians in the Arab world live in a permanent closet surrounding all aspects of their lives, they are not usually at risk of losing their lives. Indeed, they may well be forced to marry a member of the opposite sex, or face being disowned, kicked out, or shunned, but generally, death is rarely a punishment. Iran as a nation has officially executed several gay men, and there are also unofficial “honor killings”, even in Jordan, but once again these constitute the exception rather than the rule. To execute someone for being gay means acknowledging that homosexuality exists, and that is a step that much of the conservative Arab world seems unwilling to take. In the conservative Arab world, “don’t ask, don’t tell” pervades all segments of society.

American Policy Nexus: The prevailing norms in much of the Arab world demonstrate the social ramifications of “don’t ask, don’t tell” taken to the extreme. The policy of maintaining “don’t ask, don’t tell” in our armed forces perpetuates the closet and tacitly insinuates that there is something wrong with you if your sexual orientation is towards members of the same sex. The US should end don’t ask don’t tell and cease the removal of capable and courageous members of our military based exclusively on their openness about their sexual orientation.

Iraq, however, is currently far worse than Jordan for gays and lesbians. According to Ali, Ahmed, and Mohammed, gays and lesbians are specifically targeted for extortion and murder, by the roving gangs/militias that essentially control most of Baghdad.

It’s amazing to think how globalization and the Internet have brought the worlds of San Francisco and Baghdad so close, and yet how far apart they are on the treatment of human desire.

The Closet of Death

The otherwise personable and even liberal Iraqis and Jordanians with whom I talked, found homosexuality extremely unpleasant to even talk about. Faiza, an Iraqi refugee who is helping to organize empowerment programs for women in Jordan and Iraq, was dismayed when I told her I was looking to work with a relief agency to help gays and lesbians. “Why they help lesbians? Widows and orphans need help, and they help lesbian???” she said in broken English. Her perspective was one of complete disdain for any group of crazy westerners who would actually want to help gays and lesbians amidst such an enormous humanitarian crisis.

In Iraq, I talked to “Muhommad” on the phone. I later found out from Ahmed in Jordan that Muhommad was not even his real first name. Muhommad, who is gay, runs a safe house where fifteen gays and lesbians live in hiding until the day they can flee Iraq. While speaking with him, he passed the phone around to several other gays and lesbians staying at the house, and I talked to them as well.

The gays and lesbians who have the hardest time, according to Muhommad, are effeminate men and butch women. Unlike others for whom the presumption of heterosexuality is strong, Iraqis who defy gender stereotypes are frequently suspected of being gay and, in many areas of modern Iraq, killed on the spot.

American policy nexus: The Democratic party recently had an unfortunate debate about whether to include “gender identity” in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The gay and lesbian community was split, some feeling that getting protection for gays and lesbians was a solid accomplishment, while others felt that leaving out “gender identity” sold the transgendered community and those who defy stereotypes down the river. Hearing about the extreme risk faced by Iraqis who defy gender stereotypes since it is difficult or impossible for them to hide in a closet only reaffirmed my commitment to pass an inclusive ENDA bill that includes protections based on gender identity.

Intrigue and Danger

When I decided to focus on the plight of gays and lesbians in Iraq, I hardly guessed that I was signing up for cloak and dagger drama.

The day I arrived in Iraq, I received the following email:

Dear Jared It is glad to me to read your message and I hope I can meet you soon. Can you sen to me your contact information for cellar mobile inside Iraq and I will contact you as fast as I could. Respectfully yours

I answered that I could not receive calls inside Iraq, and requested his number. He responded and I called back but he didn’t speak English very well and I figured I would call him later that day when I met up with a bilingual friend I could trust with such a sensitive matter.

Later that day, when I talked to Ali in England, I asked if he knew the same individual, and he stated that the name was familiar, that he’d heard of religious extremists using the same name to lure gay people only to kidnap or kill them.

After forwarding Ali the email, we further corresponded:

Ali wrote: I know this email address, they are trying to use the name of Iraqi Lgbt to get some fund , so much fraud is going on, luckily I had so many friends and members of our group are aware of them, please do not give any of your details to anyone you do not trust here on the net. Warmest regards Ali
Jared Polis wrote: Do you still think they are religious extremists who will kill gays and lesbians?

Ali wrote: Or it could be elements of Government or religious shia militia monitoring the Internet

With all the high-stakes subterfuge, I promptly ended my quest to meet gay and lesbian Iraqis within Baghdad. Through Muhammad, I had another lead to someone I had planned to meet with, but I called it off for the safety both of myself and the person with whom I was going to meet. I was told that various militias take photographs of Iraqis entering the green zone, and they are later targeted as collaborators. So too, I didn’t want to be captured and killed by a fundamentalist militia trying to infiltrate the homosexual communications network. I like James Bond as much as the next guy, but I prefer watching it on the big screen to living it.

In Amman, I felt safe enough to at least meet with Ahmed, an actual gay Iraqi who has, like nearly all those who had the ability, fled Iraq.

Ahmed was a stereotypical “aging queen. In his early fifties, overweight, and diabetic, he wore little baggies over his swollen feet instead of shoes. He had a feminine, wise air about him and spoke flowing English fluently.

His personal story began with a Baghdad taxi driver he didn’t even know, who claimed that he knew Ahmed was gay, and proceeded to extort $20/week protection money in exchange for not outing him. The taxi driver then upped the amount to about $100/week, which Ahmed couldn’t really afford, but he feared for his life if he didn’t pay. One day he returned home and saw people in his house as he was about to enter. He didn’t go in and never went back, staying with a relative for a few days before fleeing to Jordan where he was later joined by his 80-year old mother.

Consistent with the Arab cultural context, even though he never married a woman, Ahmed is not out to his mother. His effeminacy would make any American mother without blinders assume her son gay; presumably Ahmed’s mother either had no idea or at least chose to maintain the pretense of assumed heterosexuality. With his mother in the other room, Ahmed insisted we use the term “LGBT” instead of “gay” or “homosexual” in case she should overhear us, even though she didn’t speak English well.

Ahmed seemed to be personally comfortable with his identity as a gay muslim and has never married a woman. He spoke of gay life in Baghdad in the 1980s and 1990s, and how he had “about a thousand” gay and lesbian friends. He said that he knew of many who had been killed, some who had fled, and even more old friends from whom no one has heard in a long time.

As his white persian cat, Sufi II (Sufi I had died), climbed his china cabinet, he expressed doubts that Iraq would be hospitable toward gays and lesbians for the foreseeable future. For his own future, he hopes to be able to emigrate to America, where a cousin lives in Seattle, or to Europe. He also believes that all gay and lesbian Iraqis should leave, and that organizations like Ali’s, which help run “underground railroads” for the LGBT community, are the only realistic way to save lives.

The nature of the work to save gays and lesbians is so secretive that it cannot be coordinated through the Iraqi government or the NGO coordinating council. All the gays and lesbians I talked to confirmed that there are security risks at all levels; it seems unlikely they would all share the same unfounded paranoia, so I believe them. Unable to coordinate relief efforts through the NGO coordinating agency or the Ministry of Civil Society, gays and lesbians are left entirely on their own to operate a rogue underground railroad.

There are many reasons that lesbians and gays have fled Iraq, and they are certainly not the only Iraqis to flee, but they face a special burden because of their sexual orientation. In areas of Iraq that fall subject to theocratic rule, they will probably never be able to return. On an individual basis, it appears that their best hope is to seek asylum in a western nation.

American policy nexus: The United States grants asylum to refugees who face persecution in their own country. In 1994, the US first granted asylum based on persecution based on sexual orientation. Since then, while there have been a trickle of cases based on sexual orientation, the United States should do a better job helping gay and lesbian Iraqis feel comfortable about this option. The concept of discussing their sexual orientation with anyone who is official is a scary thing for those who grew up in a climate of fear, and making sure that we have friendly immigration officials including gay and lesbian case workers will help ensure that gay and lesbian asylum seekers have the same rights as other asylum seekers.

I have decided to donate to Ali’s group in the UK. I heard back separately from another group that has donated and said positive things. Ali has a difficult time deploying the aid in Iraq, but is trying to make a difference, as are “Mohammed” and the other brave Iraqis involved with the underground railroad that helps save the lives of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Iraq.

In the United States, regardless of whether you support equal rights for gays and lesbians or not, it’s a legitimate cause on both sides and you aren’t putting your life at risk by weighing in on the matter. Outside of a few tragic events and fringe, we can disagree without being disagreeable. Brave gays and lesbians sometimes risk their jobs and their familial relationships when they come out, but seldom risk their lives. Like many gays and lesbians in the United States, I have often looked towards Canada and Europe and thought “why can’t we be more like that?”

This experience has helped me realize that even in the most conservative of states and counties, we are so fortunate to be Americans. We have come so far, and yet there is much work left to do.

Jared Polis Candidate for US Congress Colorado 02 www.polisforcongress.com

Donate now to help our fight!

Previous installments:

I am going to Iraq

My Arrival in Amman, Jordan

Arrival in Baghdad

In Iraq for Thanksgiving

Inside a private mercenary compound

Exporting instability: Iraqi refugees in Jordan

American Media Bias on Iraq

Coming in a few days: POST-IRAQ-JORDAN THOUGHTS: Where do we go from here?

American Media Bias on Iraq

2007-12-06T16:08:00Z

Upon returning from Iraq, I have become more sensitive to the American media bias regarding what is occurring in Iraq.

Here is a small case study that shows the example of media bias; three extremely different press perspectives on the exact same story from a news cycle last week.

From the Nov. 27th news cycle, one of the main stories from the middle east was that Iraqi refugees were returning en masse from Syria. The Iraqi government chartered buses and invited media to see off the over 800 refugees returning to Iraq.

The official Iraqi government line, that the refugees were returning because it is “safer” in Iraq, was heavily if not exclusively featured in the mainstream American media. The fact that most of the Iraqis were returning because their visas were expiring or they were running out of money was not even mentioned.

Upon returning from Iraq, I have become more sensitive to the American media bias regarding what is occurring in Iraq.

Here is a small case study that shows the example of media bias; three extremely different press perspectives on the exact same story from a news cycle last week.

First an American media story from this cycle,

The AP Article on the return of the Iraqis is called “Buses Bring Hundreds of Iraqis Home”

The first two paragraphs:

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqi refugees boarded buses for home on Tuesday in the first convoy from an Iraqi-funded effort to speed the return of families that fled the country’s violence and insecurity. Many Iraqis have headed back on own their own from Syria and elsewhere as extremist attacks have fallen sharply in Baghdad and other areas. But now the Iraqi government is hoping to accelerate the flow — and draw more attention to the recent drop in violence — by offering to pay for trips home.

It then goes on for sixteen paragraphs generally extolling the return of the Iraqis including proclaiming that many Iraqis loudly chanted “Baghdad, you are victorious,” Finally, almost as an afterthought, it ends with the only other perspective on the story, a toned-down UN warning in the last paragraph:

Sybella Wikes, press officer for the UNHCR in Syria, said the agency doesn’t “think it’s time” yet for a massive refugee return. “We certainly can’t define the situation as being safe in any area in Iraq,” she said.

Next, a BBC article, entitled “Iraqi refugees begin journey home” which provides quotes that security is improved in Iraq but also offers a compelling alternative explanation, not even mentioned in the American rendition:

However, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said most of the refugees it spoke to are returning because they have run out of money or have been unable to renew their visas.

A third piece on the same topic from the Malaysian Sun is entitled “Syria wants Iraqi refugees to go home” and continues

Syria has persuaded about 800 Iraqi refugees to return to their homeland. Syria has struggled to cope with the 1.5 million Iraqis who have sought refuge there, and it has recently tightened visa rules.

The mirror image of the AP article, the Malaysian Sun only gives the most fleeting reference to any possible security improvements:

Iraq’s ambassador to Syria, Hassan Abdul Aziz, said people were returning because the security situation had improved.

Three very different perspectives on the same exact story.

Finally, a thoughtful and well-balanced piece from the Financial Times (British) helps apply some objective criteria to exactly why the Iraqis are leaving Syria:

A survey of 110 Iraqi families by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees found that only 14 per cent were returning because of improved security, while 46 per cent said they could no longer afford to stay in Syria, where the law prevents Iraqis from working. A further 26 per cent pointed to Syrian visa regulations introduced on October 1 – immigration officials are now issuing Iraqis with exit stamps once their existing three-month visas have expired. Only those with medical requirements and children in Syrian schools are granted visa extensions.

So there you have it.

72% of the returning refugees are leaving Syria because their visas have expired or they have run out of money. Only 14% believe that the security is improved in Iraq. The UN itself is “not participating in the convoy because UNHCR doesn’t think it’s time right now to tell refugees to go back.”

The Malaysian piece isn’t far from the mark in that the return to Iraq is more a function of the Syrian government making it difficult for the refugees than it is the Iraqi security situation per se. The AP article largely gives the Iraqi government/American perspective with a toned down nod to the UN, and the British press features two well-reported stories including both sides and some excellent and highly relevant objective data.

This is just one example of how the American people are not necessarily getting accurate stories in our press. The AP article failed to include the highly relevant information that the vast majority of the returning Iraqis are returning because they are out of money or the Syrians are kicking them in the rear.

Here’s a site I like that features news from many sources on the Iraq situation. Next time you read an article in the American press on what’s going on in Iraq, it’s well worth to time to check out what the British and other international press are saying on the matter.

Jared Polis Candidate for US Congress Colorado 02

Coming in a few days: THE CLOSET OF FEAR: The systemic execution of gays and lesbians in Iraq POST-IRAQ-JORDAN THOUGHTS: Where do we go from here?

Photos from Jared's Trip to Iraq

2007-11-30T17:33:00Z

Exporting instability: Iraqi refugees in Jordan

2007-11-26T15:30:00Z

While searching for a particular carpet shop in an obscure Ammani neighborhood we must have stopped to ask for directions three times and circled around the spot at least twice. I wasn’t on my way to buy carpets but rather to meet with the people who lived above the shop; like many families now living in this neighborhood, they were Iraqi refugees.

Finally I had the opportunity to meet with Iraqis in a less intimidating and more comfortable setting, with the possibility of open and honest dialog. Jordan is neither a wealthy nor a poor country, and the Jordanian tenements I visited were regular apartments with clothes drying on laundry-lines and carpets slung from balconies overlooking bustling boulevards. But more importantly there is stability here. The Iraqi refugees who have come here no longer see Americans in uniform marching by every few minutes, nor do they fear for their lives, so they are less afraid to speak freely.

Over the course of several meetings in three different locations around Amman, here is who I talked to:

Faiza It’s always fun to meet a fellow blogger while traveling, and I had contacted Faiza through her blog, A Family in Baghdad. I wound up meeting her over lunch yesterday with her five Americans on a Global Exchange mission. Many of my friends from Boulder have been on their missions and spoke highly of Global Exchange, and I was fortunate to be invited to join her group for several meetings with NGOs including the Jordanian office of Save Our Children and the National Coordination Committee In Iraq for NGOs. Faiza’s own story is that she was a water engineer in Baghdad and fled two years ago because militias had seized control of her neighborhood.

Ali Ali looked to be in his late thirties, and arrived from Baghdad just over two months ago. Ali fled because his neighborhood was being used to stage Al Quada attacks on American troops and he feared an American retaliation. A slightly overweight man, Ali had been a car salesman in Bagdhad and like everyone else in Amman was now unemployed; He asked of our plans: “Didn’t American understand there were many ethnic groups in Iraq?”

Enas A plain woman in her early forties, Enas first left Iraq eight years ago because of the economic effects of the sanctions. She and her husband are both engineers and they took a job in Sudan until the fall of Saddam when, full of hope, they returned to Iraq in 2004. They had to flee again in early 2007 when her brother was killed and his house was seized by gangs. They arrived in Amman just over a year ago and she’s upset that the Americans aren’t providing more help to the refugees that they caused. She believes that we should have taken Saddam out in 1991. Her husband went back to Iraq six months ago to bury his mother, but he has not been able to return. Apparently he has been delayed at the border for months and the Jordanians are not allowing him in yet.

Mohamed The sixteenish son of Enas, Mohamed appeared almost Goth with a brass skull necklace, gloves with no fingers, and low-riding jeans also featuring skulls. He said he is frightened because he sees his mother crying every night because they don’t know when or if their father will return from Iraq. He spoke some English so we communicated directly in addition to through the translator, and he seemed enthusiastic about meeting an American. He gave me his website and when I looked at it later I saw he listed Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Grand Theft Auto among his interests.

Amna The younger daughter of Enas, twelve year old Anma came home from school while I was there and gave a poetry recital of a poem she wrote about how she and her family longed to return to Iraq. She proudly sported a Strawberry Shortcake backpack and her webpage, decked out in pink proclaiming “go girls!” features sparkling fairies and anime figures.

Omar A 20ish, smartly dressed university student with gelled hair studying graphic design, Omar and two of his friends had been kidnapped “because of our names” (they are Sunni) by Shi’ia militia, beaten up (his eye area is still scarred), and ransomed back to their families for $50,000. Needless to say, after this episode Omar’s family decided to leave Iraq. His parents are now in Syria and he studies in Amman and lives in the university district.

I listened to their personal stories (briefly summarized above) and then asked questions about the situation in Iraq, their thoughts on American actions, and what we should do next. I collected email addresses and contact info from those who had it and plan to stay in touch with them as the situation develops.

One of the unique aspects of the Iraqi refugee population is that they are disproportionally educated, wealthy professionals. Composed of many doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors, and teachers it was primarily the secular intellectual elite that could afford to leave and who the extremists targeted. As the intelligentsia of Iraq was hunted down and forced to flee, it reminds me of the (more deliberate and organized) intellectual purges of Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

The stories of Iraqi refugees can blur together; There are likely over four million Iraqis who have fled the violence stemming from the aftermath of the US invasion. I could have stopped in and visited with any of Enas’s neighbors and received thousands, indeed millions, of similar stories to the ones above. Lost an uncle, house was taken, beaten up and threatened. By talking to a few Iraqis, at least I got some personal sense of what many of them are going through. I asked one if they knew anyone who had been kidnapped who I could talk to and they summoned a cousin from a nearby room in minutes. These are the typical stories for all the four million or so refugees, not the exception. Human suffering writ large.

The refugees I talked to, who have suffered brutally at the hands of warlords and militias, feel that America could and should do more to stop the militias. Some believe that America is deliberately not stopping the militias so that the violence continues and we have an excuse to continue our occupation. Faiza refers to the warlords (Chalabi, Hakim, and Sadr were her examples) as “mini-Saddams” and would like to see them either killed or bought off and settled into distant retirements with their ill-gotten gains.

Many of the Iraqi refugees want mutually exclusive and contradictory things. They want America to leave Iraq; they want America to do more to defeat street gangs and warlords. They think the new Iraqi government is corrupt and illegitimate; they bemoan that the new Iraqi government has no authority anywhere. And even within families there is little consensus: Enas argues that the Americans should leave now, but her son Mohamed says that we should stay and try to stabilize things.

They are frustrated; frustrated that a country as great as America could possibly invade Iraq without a plan of what to do next. The more paranoid among them believe that the plan was precisely to sew chaos in the region for our own unknown ends, perhaps to seize Iraqi oil. I responded by asking them if they honestly thought George Bush was that clever, which generated a laugh.

The remarks of several of them can be summarized as: If we’re going to do something, like help the Iraqi government beat the militias or meaningfully rebuild their infrastructure then they want us to stay, but our presence has been so useless and counterproductive that they are now skeptical we can do anything right to help so we might as well pull out now to avoid causing even more devastation.

The majority attitude about Saddam is that he was a bad dictator but what they have now is much worse. You find one opinion, and you find a dozen others condemning and bad-mouthing it. Even from the same Iraqi you can hear five or six contradictory opinions inside a few minutes; they are justifiably frustrated at the loss of their homeland and their way of life; frankly I’m impressed that they are so civil with me about this horrible ordeal.

There are many Iraqs, and each one exists inside every thoughtful Iraqi.

Jobless refugees

Through the poor luck of its location, little Jordan finds itself deluged with refugees. Jordan has a population of 5.9 million people, and there are estimated to be over one million Iraqi refugees and two million Palestinian refugees (some of the latter are included in the population count because they were allowed to become Jordanians).

To put the impact on Jordan in perspective, it is estimated that the United States has about 18,000,000 undocumented immigrants within our total population of about 300,000,000. Jordan, with a population of 6,000,000 now has over 1,000,000 Iraqi refugees. That’s the equivalent of over twice as many undocumented immigrants for the US, and we all know how edgy a lot of folks are about America’s current underground workforce.

Exporting regional instability is yet another negative repercussion from the invasion of Iraq. Even the official figures indicate that over 2,000,000 Iraqis have fled for Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Europe, and elsewhere, but most estimates show the actual figure to be as high as 4,000,000 refugees. Iraq’s pre-war population was 26,000,000, so this means more than 1 in 6 Iraqis are no longer in Iraq.

In Jordan, the refugee problem is just hitting the fan; many Iraqi families came with money, having sold their possessions in Iraq but they are now nearing the end of their personal savings and are not allowed to work. The reason for this, according to my Jordanian interpreter, is that in order to maintain their national sovereignty the Jordanian government has been hesitant to bestow permanent status or working permits on the refugees. Surely this is a recipe for disaster, or at least a costly UN effort to provide housing and sustenance for Iraqis who have spent through their savings, cannot yet return (if ever), and have not found a country that allows them to resettle and get on with their lives.

Enas’s idea is to bring jobs to refugee camps by letting Iraqi teachers teach Iraqi students, Iraqi doctors treat other Iraqi refugees, and Iraqi professors lecture to students. My meeting with Save Our Children was extremely informative in this area. They are focused on providing services to Iraqi refuge children in Syria and Jordan. The Iraqis, most of them educated professionals, sit idle and wait for world events to give them a role in pursuing their own destinies once again.

There is also trouble on the Jordanian side of things. Most Jordanians I talked to expressed frustration that the Iraqis have money and have driven up real estate prices and crowded the schools (now that they are allowed to attend). Though I think they may be even more frustrated when the Iraqis run out of money, they do have a point. The patience of the hosts is starting to wear thin.

For instance, Jordanian schools were not exactly well funded to begin with, and most schools in Amman now run double shifts with 50-80 children in each class in order to accommodate the refugees. The teachers are underpaid, and they can’t even find enough teachers to staff all classes. One solution as Enas suggested would be to hire Iraqi teachers, who are proportionally if not more so represented in the exile population, but Jordan is opposed to allowing them to work for fear that they will put down roots in Jordan and never return to Iraq and also because it doesn’t want a two-track education system (one for Iraqis, one for Jordanians).

The refugees are hopeful that they can return to Iraq, but are also resigned. Omar said he thinks it might be twenty years before he can return. Unfortunately he might be right.

How the surge is “working.”

With our global exchange group in Amman, we went to see the NGO Coordinating Committee for Iraq.

Our Global Exchange minibus pulled up near a school, and we were told to wait for someone to show us the exact location of the NCCI. Even in Jordan, the committee coordinating the non-profit sector’s efforts to provide aid in Iraq still has to be kept hidden and secret because of security risks. Finally we followed their representative on foot through some back alleys to reach their humble unmarked office.

The aid organizations (NGOs) doing work in Iraq got together in 2003 because no government agency existed to oversee them and they didn’t want to be part of a military coordination effort. They feel that even today there is no one to work with at the Ministry of Civil Society (representatives of which I met with in Baghdad a few days earlier) and the national government has established neither its legitimacy nor a meaningful presence in most of Iraq.

On the wall, surrounded by maps of Iraq and Baghdad with various notations on them, was a sheet of paper that said:

In the Orwellian world of Bushspeak ~ success is a relative matter whereas failure is always avoided, incompetence is always competence , accountability is ignored at all costs and apathy reigns

The NCCI representative said that one of the reasons that the violence in Iraq has decreased is that the ethnic purges have almost entirely been completed. Few mixed ethnic areas are left.

The “surge,” according to the NCCI representative, has also reduced violence by increasing the isolation of neighborhoods. From the relief worker perspective, it has made it extremely difficult to move food and aid around Baghdad. When there is no hospital in your neighborhood, it is now extremely difficult to move to another. Isolation is increased; it is very difficult to get from one part of the city to another: “Yes less death, but at what price,” the director summarized.

The director eloquently summed up the question we are facing about whether America should maintain its military presence in Iraq:

“Is America preventing a national dialog or postponing a massacre?”

No answers, just questions.

Faiza, Enas, Ali, Omar, Amna, and Mohamed don’t know what America should do to help them at this point. They hope that America knows what to do, but we don’t. But we all agree that the person who is responsible for initiating this war should have had a plan before he started it, and that if we can’t figure out what to do we should get out rather than make things worse.

We have really, REALLY messed up Iraq and the region; restoring stability will take a long time and a lot of hard work.

Amna’s poem, which I filmed her recite and promised to put up on youtube for her, was a touching tribute to her lost country and her childhood interrupted. Amna is a child of the global age, and her home page could be the home page of any young girl in Boulder, London, Topeka or Tokyo.

The Iraqi refugees languish in this desert outpost on the outskirts of Amann, biding their time waiting for events to reintegrate them somewhere into the world they were so recently part of. The children represent A New Hope; time will tell if Amna, Mohamed and their friends will be a force for reconciliation, wisdom, and light or whether the next generation will perpetuate the cycle of hatred, revenge and darkness.

Jared Polis Candidate for US Congress Colorado 02 www.polisforcongress.com Donate now to help our fight!

I will be departing Amman in a few hours for Colorado, and cannot comment or post for about twenty-four hours, but please do have at it in my absence!

Previous installments:

I am going to Iraq

My Arrival in Amman, Jordan

Arrival in Baghdad

In Iraq for Thanksgiving

Inside a private mercenary compound

Coming in a few days: THE CLOSET OF FEAR: The systemic execution of gays and lesbians in Iraq POST-IRAQ-JORDAN THOUGHTS: Where do we go from here?

Thankgiving in Baghdad

2007-11-22T16:58:00Z

Cross posted on DailyKos.com, MyDD.com, and SquareState.net

It is easy to forget that it is Thanksgiving in Iraq. The American troops are having their traditional Thanksgiving feasts once again far away from their family and loved ones, but in the rest of Iraq it is just another day for good Iraqis to work hard to prevent their country from sinking deeper into the abyss.

I had a full day of meetings in our “office.” We commandeered a section of the café at the Al Rashid hotel and had several sets of people come and go during the seven hours that we were there. The hotel isn’t exactly busy these days, so the café staff was happy to have us as we kept a steady clip of orders for bottled water and tea all day.

We met with about forty people over the course of the seven hours; I actually wish we met with less people today; at times our three adjacent tables were jammed with over a dozen people and it was hard for much of a conversation to occur. The dialog was best when there were four or five people.

I really enjoy one-on-one conversations, like my time in the Iraqi parliament member’s room yesterday evening, after my Q & A on Colorado Confidential.

We talked for an hour or so well into the night and I think she grew more comfortable with me in a maternal way and really opened up. In fact, my live blog session wasn’t as great as I would have liked because for part of the time I was trying to explain to her what the heck I was doing and the keyboard also had a weird layout that slowed me down (still QWERTY but also adapted for Arabic). But in the name of meeting more people, today was certainly efficient.

NGO leaders discuss the state of NGOs in Iraq and how to cooperate with American NGOs.

First of all, there is a very unusual power-dynamic between an occupier and the occupied. Especially among the Iraqi members of officialdom (whom I met with today), there is a strong deference accorded to their invader, as if they fear I might send someone to shoot them or at the least their career could suffer if they displease me as an American. Particularly during the parts of the day when we had members of the US military with us, the power dynamics of the situation unfortunately impeded our communications from being as effective as they could have been. Obviously it was extremely awkward and embarrassing for me to have this effect on people, and I did my best to reduce any influence that my privileged status as an American had upon what they shared with me.

Being relatively young helps, as does the fact that I am running for Congress and not currently in Congress. I fear that our members of Congress who come here get less of a real and varied experience, as their schedules are tightly managed by the Congressional Liaison Office of the Army (which operates out of Saddam’s old palace). I walked by but didn’t go in lest they call their higher-ups and try to corral me. Even if members of Congress visiting Iraq do have additional meetings, the power dynamic is such that they are even less likely to get a full story than an average American. This is actually a bigger problem for our military than they probably realize, because of the uniform, and because we are the occupiers, people tell us what they think we want to hear far too often and it’s dangerous when we believe it because we are basically just echoing ourselves.

The Iraqis I met with at the Al-Rashid Hotel are a self-selected group and generally pro-American (or at least lukewarm). They are among those working with or “collaborating” with the Americans. As such their fate is tied to ours. The terrorists threatening the lives of our troops are also threatening them. Thus they are generally inclined towards the US staying in Iraq longer. The Iraqis who want us out now, some of whom would rather kill me than meet with me, are not at the café with us today and I don’t have a firsthand viewpoint into their perspective yet.

Everyone I met with knows that I am an American, and to a certain extent they tell me what they want me (and all Americans) to believe and act on. They don’t know whether I have any influence, or how I fit into the whole American hierarchy, but they can reasonably assume that any American’s opinion is worth helping to shape towards their own ends. This was one of the classic intelligence failures that lead to this “mistaken” invasion. The US readily believed Chalabi’s lies as he played us like a fiddle in goading us to invade Iraq. Of course there is the counterargument that the Neocons, who wanted to go to war in the first place, simply used Chalabi and others who advanced their preconceived notions. There is probably some truth in both of those statements, but at the very least it turned out that many anti-Saddam Iraqi exiles fabricated whatever they felt it would take to get us to invade, and it worked. Who knows what we’re being told in an effort to influence us today.

With the above disclaimers, here is an account of some of the highlights from today’s meetings. I will switch a few details and comments between individuals to reasonably protect everyone’s identity, but all statements and quotes are entirely true. When I get back to the US, I’ll post some of the pictures with the elected officials, as they are public figures anyway with assassins gunning for them already and were willing to take posed shots with me.

The meetings blurred together as people came and went, but our first meeting was with representatives of the national Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Human Rights. Then we met with representatives of local municipal governments followed by representatives of NGOs (non-profits) operating in Iraq. Finally, we met with regional government (provincial) officials. We were joined for part of the day by another Colorado elected official serving here as Marine, State Senator Steve Ward. The best way to describe the content is to break it down by section.

The Ministry of Civil Society and Ministry of Human Rights:

In my opinion, these national ministries are generally well-intended but impotent. Please see my summary of my meetings the prior day with the same ministry of Civil Affairs (different people). First of all, the charge of these ministries is murky and even their top people cannot adequately explain it. There is also a major disconnect between their responsibilities and their authority. The “Ministry of Civil Society” is presumably charged with regulating and assisting NGOs that operate in Iraq. The Ministry of Human Rights seems to have no teeth to their charge and no real funding.

Because they exist, the Ministry of Civil Society is deluged with requests from NGOs for funding. They don’t really have any resources to provide or even a real process to evaluate grants (although they bragged twice about sending ill Iraqi children to Dubai for medical treatment), so I had an idea to open a web portal for them (a la www.kiva.org and www.donorschoose.org (both worthy of plugs here) that would allow donors to support the Iraqi relief project of their choice. Americans feel a lot of guilt (rightly so) about this whole “whoops, we invaded your country by mistake” thing, and I think that some Americans in the position to help would open up their own pockets to assist the Iraqi people if there were an easy and convenient way to do so. Even those of us who opposed this unjust war from the start and want more than anything else to bring our troops home cannot help but feel responsible for the situation over here and cannot help but be full of the best wishes and prayers for the Iraqi people in their quest towards stability and democracy.

If anyone wants to help with this web portal idea, please give me a shout out as a reply and I’ll contact you when I get back. A few of us could put this together if we put our minds to it. Of course the vetting and oversight piece within Iraq is the most important. The ministry would certainly offer its help, but it is hard to say what success they would have and curbing corruption without another perspective on the matter.

Representatives of Municipal Government:

As the level of government closest to the people, those who serve on “district councils” (the neighborhood city councils of which there are many in Baghdad) have suffered a heavy toll. A sobering statistic that one of the municipal representatives offered up is that of the approximately 1300 local elected officials in Baghdad, 213 have been killed. Another argued that actually 226 have been killed. Before your eyes bug out, 1300 elected officials is a reasonable number for a city of over 4 million people.

Colorado, with a similar population of over 4 million, has well over 2000 elected officials (close to a thousand on school boards alone). The difference is that no Coloradoan officials (and few American officials) in recent history have been killed while in office. One in five Iraqi officials has been killed. It’s amazing that these public servants labor on and it is one of those Thanksgiving Day reminders about how fortunate we are to live in a country where people of different ideologies battle it out on the blogs and the ballot-box rather than the streets (almost makes me want to kiss the nearest troll).

One municipal official, a gray mustachioed gentleman of fiftyish, observed that he was the only one alive from the seven people originally on his town council. He moves around to a new residence every month and he doesn’t even tell his own children or wife (safely in Jordan) where he lives. He seems resigned to fate as he tries to make the best of it and rebuild his city and his country.

Unlike the members of Parliament, many of whom live in internal exile in the International Zone and cannot safely visit their constituencies, local government officials live and work in their towns. One of the representatives described another failed American operation in which the Americans did extensive leafleting in his town telling his constituents to contact his office for anything they needed. His constituents dutifully contacted him with lists drawn up of their needs, but his office had no support and no resources to help anyone and it turned out to be yet another exercise in reducing American credibility (with collateral damage to his credibility).

This particular municipal contingent was composed of independent secular representatives who felt that the biggest threat to municipal government is making municipal elections partisan. In the United States, most of our municipalities (particularly in the western US) have non-partisan elections and personally I think that system works best. A few years back, one of Colorado’s right-wing legislators tried to make school boards partisan in CO with the thought that since most of our 186 school districts are rural, conservative, and solidly Republican it would tilt our boards to the right by having Republican primary voters rather than voters as a whole elect most of our school boards. Fortunately we stopped his proposal but it shows how partisanship can be used to advance a conservative agenda.

In this case, according to the municipal officials I met with, the major political parties really just operate as street gangs on the neighborhood level. According to one of them, the real conflict is not between Shiites and Sunnis but rather between rival partisan factions; since many areas are homogenous, different Shiite parties essentially battle on the streets for control and power.

I would characterize the feelings of the Municipal government towards the Americans as that of a clumsy giant that tends to crush what it tries to hug, and punches up the wall to kill a fly. They are slow to request American help in many matters because they usually think that the medicine is worse than the disease and while we might be well-intended we are grossly incompetent.

NGOs, the non-governmental relief agencies that operate within Iraq:

Non-profits are a critical part of civil society. In the United States, among other functions, they feed the poor, educate children, and provide a safety net beyond that provided by our government. I have learned a lot about the civic sector by founding and running several (public charter schools and computer recycling) non-profits. In Iraq, a strong non-profit civic sector is critical to actually accomplish the social progress that government ministers at best pay lip service to and at worst impede or corrupt.

Eight people representing several different non-profits (I will use the term NGO from here on out) met with us. It was actually hard to figure out how many non-profits were represented, because some of the people had three or four different NGOs they represented and/or were starting. One makeshift business card had five different titles with five organizations for the same individual.

It seems to be a trendy thing among the active educated set in Iraq to start NGOs, which is a good thing because some entrepreneurship in that arena is needed, although ultimately focus and execution is more important than conception. What they lack in know-how they make up in enthusiasm.

One of the things that the Ministry of Civil Society is cracking down on, according to both the NGOs and the Ministry, is bogus NGOs designed simply to raise money. The NGOs we talked to agreed that bogus-NGOs have given all of them a bad name lately and were glad that something was being done about it.

Because of the totalitarian nature of Saddam’s dictatorship, civil society did not exist in any real sense. There was no real NGO sector under Saddam because he retained control of all elements of society and saw entities he didn’t control as a threat to his authority. So now Iraqis are engaged in a learning process regarding NGOs. Some of the work done by the people we met with includes empowering and training women, offering early childhood daycare programs, and providing family counseling.

The topic briefly turned to American politics, and I asked a young woman who runs an NGO which of the US presidential candidates she likes, and she immediately responded Hillary Clinton. She cited the help that she had received from Bill Clinton’s global initiative. I hadn’t thought of this before, but one thing that could potentially make a Hillary presidency even more effective would be Bill Clinton’s extensive post-presidential networking and meaningful assistance to NGOs across the world. Of course if you’re not a Hillary fan that could mean that the Clintons will have even more influence globally than a president otherwise would.

Regional (state/provincial) government:

The province including Baghdad has its own government with an annual budget of $500mm this year hoping to double to one billion next year according to one of its representatives we met with. We met with two members from the elected legislature of the regional government, who were jealous when I told them that Colorado, with a similar population, has a budget of over $16 billion.

I was warned before this meeting that these particular state government officials were sectarian Shi’ites, as opposed to the more mixed and secular people from the other agencies. Thus we were advised to play our cards close to our vests and not inform them of all of our other meetings nor whom we met with. Clearly these regional representatives have decided to cast their lot with the Iraqi government, and thus they are threatened by the same terrorists that pursue members of parliament, but they still derive part of their own power base from elements close to Iran.

One important topic that I only discussed briefly (with these regional/provincial representatives, because one had an economics background) was the private sector and the economy. Save for the oil sector, the Iraqi economy is a complete basket-case. We didn’t have time to do a thorough treatment of the subject, but obviously a robust private sector is important for Iraq if they are to have the resources they need in the civic and governmental sector as well as a happily employed population. The critical element for any kind of economic growth to occur is security. After they reach a reasonable level of security, then they can worry about a functioning legal system, building infrastructure, and ending corruption. Right now though business is still an afterthought until security is handled and people feel safe enough to engage in commerce again.

During these meetings, my wheels were turning on what ideas I could launch when I got back to the US to do my small part to improve the situation. In addition to the giving portal website described above, I have a few other ideas I’ll discuss in more detail when I return and would love your help.

After meeting with all these fine people, and I do think that most of them are honorable, well intended albeit in-above-their-heads, I had the sobering realization that when I return (and I will return!) to Iraq, some of them will likely have been killed. They take on enormous risks every day. While our troops are still deployed we think of Iraq in terms of the destructive powers of war and military occupation, but America does also have a constructive (non-military) role to play in helping to rebuild this country, and that work has just begun.

I really wish I could have interacted with more “real Iraqis” but as I suspected when I started, I will probably be able to have more frank and honest discussions with Iraqi refuges in Amman. Although they certainly have their biases as well, at least they won’t see me as a member of a force that has the compound we’re meeting in completely surrounded and who-knows-who listening to every word.

We finished with our meetings around 6 pm, and prepared to leave the green zone for a rather unique Thanksgiving evening outside of the IZ in the red-zone….

Best quotes from today:

“We have, still, some natural deaths in this country.” —A town council member who had just described a late friend of his, who was an architect. I had asked if he too had been assassinated but apparently he had actually died of natural causes.

“Thank you for all the things you have done to Iraq.” —This non-profit executive’s words revealed both her poor English skills and her over-deference to me as an American. But this inadvertent mis-speak was more than that. It was at the same time a biting parody (a la Jon Stewart) and a cruel joke, a hilarious absurdity and a poignant or even tragic summation of the relationship between well-meaning Iraqis and their American occupiers.