USIP's Iraq program aims to reduce interethnic and interreligious violence, speed up stabilization and democratization, and reduce the need for a U.S. presence in Iraq. As part of this program, USIP has maintained a small office in the Green Zone in Baghdad since early 2004. Rusty Barber, a former political officer in the Foreign Service, has run the office since March 2007. His regular dispatches offer a lively and sobering insider's view of the promise and peril facing U.S. efforts in that country. We'll update this section each week, making only minimal changes for security reasons.
Returning to Washington from Baghdad, I had naively anticipated a brief respite from the rigors of life in the "Emerald City." Bouncing between retreats, board meetings and Capitol Hill drive-bys, I quickly discovered I had merely exchanged one rambunctious environment for another. At the Iraq team retreat, a veritable blast wall of multi-colored stickies, each noting a problem confronting stability in Iraq, threatened to flummox the stamina of the facilitator and the participants alike. Even a promised quiet evening with relatives in Northwest D.C. turned into a "duck and cover" event as I found myself under an intense barrage of questions, scrambling for shelter amidst the ensuing heated debate over U.S. policy in Iraq. More than once, I found myself glancing vainly around for the rhetorical equivalent of vest and helmet. Which is to say that while events in Iraq remain a divisive abstraction for most Americans, there seems to be a general awareness that the stakes for our future engagement in the region, and the world, could not be higher. With that in mind, and for our own sake and that of the citizens of Iraq, it is critical that we navigate the road out with greater clarity and care than we did the route in.
The above rumination is a long-winded way of saying that due to last week's heavy schedule, I'm behind in getting out our weekly report. What follows is a consolidated update for the last two weeks. "Zena" and the staff have been doing a superb job of minding the shop, continuing to keep our regular activities on track despite the challenges and moving ahead with plans for a major SENSE training event in July and a possible tribal mediation in August.
Before moving onto the projects, however, I thought I would pass on choice tidbits from Baghdad's Rumor Mill, one industry that the Coalition Provisional Authority neglected to dismantle. As in other places, it is a thriving sector of Iraq's social landscape. The following items were collected from a weekly panel of prominent Iraqi locals who report to coalition forces on a variety of social, economic and political issues.
The Baghdad Rumor Mill*
- Muqtada Al Sadr was ordered by Iran to return to Iraq when Abd Al Aziz Al Hakim arrived in Tehran. The Iranians are now depending on Al Sadr to carry out their agenda to control southern Iraq due to Al Hakim's serious illness.
- Ice vendors in Baghdad are selling ice blocks made of contaminated water.
- Iraqis now call the current Baghdad security "Enforcing the Terrorism."
- Young men under 18 years of age are now being recruited heavily by the Mahdi Army to be the "next generation." They are being provided with weapons, newer cars and motorcycles. They are being saturated with Sadrist music and chants for them to listen to in their cars and at home.
- Citizens, especially Sunnis, cannot go to Sadr City to pick up their ration card items as it is too dangerous of a journey. This was purposely done so that their rations can be sold by individuals who will funnel the funds to Mahdi Army.
* The source of the Baghdad Rumor Mill is The Baghdad Mosquito. The collected views do not necessarily reflect the opinions or impressions of USIP's Baghdad staff.
