[Marxism] Catastrophic decline of Baghdad under US occupation

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Leaving aside the author's political views, this article (first
published in March of last year) highlights the social collapse of
Baghdad not only under the impact of war and sanctions, but ESPECIALLY
SINCE THE OCCUPATION WAS ESTABLISHED.

Because of formatting problems -- reconstructing the table in plain text
-- I am omitting a table that shows Baghdad's fall from to the bottom of
the list of capital cities of semicolonial countries, well below the
capitals of such current disaster areas as Sudan, Chad, and Mauretania.
Fred Feldman

Chaos versus hope in Iraq
by Dr Abdul-Hadi Jiad Tamimi
Tuesday 09 March 2004 3:50 PM GMT


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Iraqi capital Baghdad has degenerated from one of the Middle East's most
attractive and affluent cities in 1990 to "the least attractive city" in
the world to live in.


It is currently ranked the worst out of 215 cities assessed by Mercer
Human Resource Consulting, with the lowest score "based on detailed
assessments and evaluations of 39 key quality-of-life determinants",
including economic, human and social services and development as well as
security and safety. (See table below.)

That reflects the worst fears of the two clashing and conflicting
attitudes which prevailed during the preparations to invade Iraq: that
the situation will slip out of control once the government of President
Saddam Hussein is defeated and its security and military apparatus is
undermined.

Both sides, those who supported and others who either opposed or were
indifferent to the US and UK military occupation of the country, ended
up with a "messy" situation which threatens to lead to a civil war and
can potentially spill into a security risk to neighbouring Arab
countries, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait, the latter playing a
major role in facilitating and supporting the US-UK invasion of Iraq.

However that eventuality of chaos and civil war was dismissed, at the
time, by US and UK politicians and military commanders and by Iraqi
opposition abroad, as scare-mongering by Saddam supporters and
non-democratic elements who were accused of attempting to thwart the
winds of freedom and democratic change.

The occupiers offered a rosy and attractive image for post-Saddam Iraq:
it will have a democratically elected government, respect for human
rights and the rule of law, as well as freedom in all aspects of life,
social, educational, political and economic prosperity and development.
None of that has materialized since the occupation.

A table of the least attractive and poor cities in the world (Source:
Mercer Human Resource Consulting study of 1 March 2004).

[snip -- click URL for table--ff]

They even codenamed the military invasion "freedom Iraq". An Iraqi
historian asserts that this in fact echoes a statement by the British
General Stanley Maud when he led his colonial army into Baghdad after
the First World War saying: "We come as liberators not conquerors."

Bleak image

In verified contrast, Iraqis agree that the current realities present a
bleak image of life in post-Saddam Iraq, which is characterised by the
lack of social, health, medical, sanitarian, public services and other
basic requirements.

Lawlessness, violence, assassinations and the disruption of the people's
personal security have set deep roots since the US-UK invasion and
occupation of the country.

Furthermore unemployment has soared from around three per cent before
the war to 78% according to UN agencies' estimates.



Both sides, those who supported and others who either opposed or were
indifferent to the US and UK military occupation of the country, ended
up with a "messy" situation.

The human cost is however appalling as death and infant mortality rates
have escalated due to the lack of medication, health services and clean
water and environment.

It has been worsened by the dual negative impact of: a) the collapse of
the economic infrastructure as a result of the US-UK bombing campaign
and military operations and b) the decision of the occupation
administration to lay off more than a million employees who were working
for the Iraqi ministries of defence, interior, information and other
government departments.

That decision suddenly deprived more than a third of the population from
any source of income to sustain their families or even to plan for a
future for their children.

Undermining the situation

Furthermore the worsening security, and general safety, environment had
undermined economic and commercial activity and restricted expansion and
long-term investment.

Certainly, nowhere in the world had superpower alliances and their
strategic schemes produced such misery and death as it had in Iraq. It
is chaotic, or can be described as "well planned, well managed and well
orchestrated chaos" according to Dr Salman Jumaily, an Iraqi political
analyst and university professor.

He explained that the occupiers, mainly the US, had encouraged, if not
planned deliberately to create, the current chaos so that the
US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) and the occupiers can argue
that the presence of US and UK military forces are required to deal with
the chaotic situation and establish security in Iraq.


        

Analysts say the chaos gives the
US/UK forces an excuse to stay

What purpose does that serve?

Dr Sami Ali, an Iraqi media university lecturer, defines the objective
of that as continuous US military and political occupation of Iraq to
control its oil riches and cripple its ability to play a vital role in
the Middle East that can undermine US strategic plans.

However, the worst of all scares, according to recently published
opinion in Iraq, is the gazing danger of civil war, the elements of
which are simmering and ready to launch into a sectarian, ethnic and
political blood bath.

Indicative of that are the ongoing incidents of bombings,
assassinations, raids by US special forces and the oppressive operations
by Shia and Kurdish militia into civilian homes.

Fuelling clashes

The occupation authorities had contributed to deepening the domestic
conflicts and clashes by formalising into political reality the division
of Iraqi society along religious, sectarian and ethnic lines through
membership shares in the Governing Council and other administrative
bodies.

The society has become acutely polarised and is poised to explode into
internecine violence with each group seeking its "own rights".



Yet the most disadvantaged constitute the majority of the society,
described as the "silent majority", whose daily life is disrupted by
violence, occupation and the lack of services and basic amenities.

Their future is still as uncertain as when they were living under the
previous regime. No democracy is viable in such an environment of death
and fear where the IGC and the occupation authorities had refused to
hold general elections.

All members of the council, bar one, were brought from abroad with the
US and UK invading forces. No economic development can be realised as
violence and tension undermine confidence and expel investment while the
US occupation authority controls the production and export of Iraqi oil
and its revenues.

Despite that bleak picture, a sizeable proportion of Iraqis still
believe that there is a real prospect for stability and that their
future will be prosperous and the sacrifices for that worthwhile.

Some believe that the political situation will improve as the US
administration and its Iraqi followers will be forced to loosen their
tight grip in this year of US presidential elections whereas other
ordinary persons, such as my 67-year-old mother, have lost all hope for
democracy and freedom and only care about their daily diet of bread to
avoid being starved to death.

The irony is that this can occur in a country such as Iraq which sits on
the second largest reserve of oil in the world.

Dr Abdul-Hadi Tamimi is a broadcaster, writer and lecturer on Arab
politics in the UK. He has recently co-authored a book with Noam Chomsky
and other leading journalists and writers called Tell Me Lies, on the
media and the war against Iraq.

Aljazeera
By Dr Abdul-Hadi Jiad Tamimi

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