Iraqis Must Take Responsibility for Iraq and Lead The Way
Marshall Adame
December 14, 2006
On December 9th 2006 Iraqi President Jalal Talabani severely criticized the recently released bipartisan report on Iraq. President Talabani said the report "is not fair, is not just, and it contains some very dangerous articles which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and the constitution."
Of course I do not expect the President of Iraq to appreciate the irony of his remarks, but I want to point out some of it to him and to everyone else.
I lived and worked in Iraq for over three years from 2003 until 2006. As a private contractor in 2003 I was the Coalition Provincial Authority Airport Director of Basrah International Airport and later an appointed Department of state diplomat assigned as an advisor to the Minister of Interior and the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT). I worked closely with the Iraqi Government and had a bird’s eye view of how they operate.
What is unjust, unfair and dangerous to Iraqi sovereignty is the lack of national conscience among the elected Iraqi government representatives and those appointed by them.
Many of the elected Iraqi officials are pursuing objectives unrelated to national unity, governmental organization, or the establishment of leadership that the people of Iraq can respect and count on for the sustainable future of Iraq as a sovereign country.
The Iraq Police, under the control of the former Minister of Interior are up to their elbows in corruption and sectarian slaughter of fellow Iraqis. This slaughter, I am told, orchestrated, organized and executed at the direction of former Minister of Interior Bayan Jabr, now the Iraq Minister of Finance. I am told he continues to control much of the sectarian violence at the bequest of his very close friends in the Iranian government. After the fall of Saddam, Jabr returned to Iraq almost broke. Today he is a multi-millionaire. How did that happen? I have spoken to many of those close to him over the past three years. Most validating what you already knew Mr. talabani; That this guy is dangerous and is not good for Iraq. I am also told he is now so feared that no Iraqi government official will raise his voice against him for fear of their own safety and that of their families.
While assigned to the Ministry of Interior myself, I had enough first hand experiences around Minister Jabr to know how he abused his office and how even we, the coalition, ignored it. The price being paid for that now by the Iraqi population at large who are being executed and tortured in the sectarian violence so many apparently know Jabr’s leadership may have personally initiated. What have you personally done about this Mr. Talabani?
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Maliki, is himself totally dependent for his own political survival on a rouge cleric, Muqtada Al Sadar, who himself is responsible for many Iraqi and Coalition deaths in Fallujah and Baghdad. Your Minister of Health has Al Sadar’s portrait prominently displayed in the Ministry of Health buildings. How many Sunni will come their and expect to live through it?
The Iraqi people are tired, beaten down, abused, angry, unemployed and living in poverty conditions under the actual rule of extremist militiamen. The Iraqi government rules little. The militias all over Iraq have become the real law, the real authority. They have assumed the right to abuse and kill the population at large while the elected and appointed people in the government of Iraq remain afraid and huddled in the International Zone living like kings (I’ve been to a few of your houses) while being fully protected and cared for by the People of the United States of America. The very same people you so hardly criticize and bemoan for trying to resolve the mess you helped create.
Is not talking to the Sunni more important than the health, welfare and safety of your people? Is not reaching out to your neighbors more important than losing your country for failing to act at all?
Please let me refer you, President Talabani, to the remarks of the present Mayor of Fallujah, Mr. Jassim Bedawi, as reported by a New York times reporter immediately after the execution killings of Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Hamza.
His voice cracking with emotion and anger, the mayor of Fallujah lashes out at his city council: Insurgent violence is growing. He tells them they (the city council) are not trying to stem the tide”.
"You haven't done anything," says Mayor Jassim Bedawi. "When Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Hamza got killed, what had you citizens done to prevent their deaths?"
"The people of Fallujah are not standing with me," the mayor complains, saying that without such support, asking for help from the central government could "get my head cut off, or a member of my family kidnapped."
"Citizens can't just come here and make requests," says Bedawi. "They must also give support."
Authorities like Mayor Bedawi, willing to stand and lead from the front are rare in Iraq today. An Iraqi leader, still willing to participate in a democratic institution once seen as central to the rebuilding of Iraq, rarely remains in power long and usually ends up dead.
I can see no-one like this brave mayor within the central government Mr. Talabani. Not even you.
Essentially, the United States did what it came to do, get rid of Saddam. The coalition, although having made many mistakes in the process, has tried to bring a new beginning back to Iraq and its viability as a sovereign country. The elected government of Iraq has actually resisted that guidance and assistance in pursuit of personal material gain and sectarian hatred. It seems the welfare of the Iraqi population at large has not even come in a distant second in the minds of the Iraqi government. There is profit in chaos it seems.
Corruption in the Iraq government is primarily corruption of the heart and mind. Hatred, distrust and revenge rule the soul there among the Shia and Sunni leaders. Faith, hope, charity, forgiveness, restoration and vision all lost to the divisive nature of evil and greed. The average Iraqi Shia, Christian, and Sunni simply want to live in peace. In Iraq, Shia, Christian and Sunni have co-existed, and even married into each others families, over the past 50 years. The extremist brought this hatred and separation to Iraq.
No sir Mr. Talabani, you have no right to question Americas motives or tactics! If you are looking for blame, look in the mirror. If you are looking for solutions, look to friend and foe alike. Diplomacy brings unlike ideas together and forges a way forward. Most former Baathist civil servants, under Saddam, were “compulsory” Baathist just to keep a job. They were freed from Saddam too.
Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and, to a lesser degree, Saudi Arabia (the seat of Wahabi radicalism)have diplomatic and material resources Iraq can call on. Iran can be pressured to do the right thing by their own fellow Islamic neighbors, not America.
You need answers and solutions Mr. Talabani. To find them you need look inward. Looking for someone or something outside to blame, or for someone more interested in your future than you to come up with the best answers for Iraq is futile.
We have given our sons and daughters, our treasure and our blood. We have asked nothing in return and we share a hope for your future to validate the sacrifices we have made in pursuit of right.
The solutions for Iraq and the Iraqi people are with the Iraqis themselves, not in America. We have done our part. The first butcher of Baghdad is gone. Now it is up to you to defeat the ones you let in the door.
Of course I do not expect the President of Iraq to appreciate the irony of his remarks, but I want to point out some of it to him and to everyone else.
I lived and worked in Iraq for over three years from 2003 until 2006. As a private contractor in 2003 I was the Coalition Provincial Authority Airport Director of Basrah International Airport and later an appointed Department of state diplomat assigned as an advisor to the Minister of Interior and the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT). I worked closely with the Iraqi Government and had a bird’s eye view of how they operate.
What is unjust, unfair and dangerous to Iraqi sovereignty is the lack of national conscience among the elected Iraqi government representatives and those appointed by them.
Many of the elected Iraqi officials are pursuing objectives unrelated to national unity, governmental organization, or the establishment of leadership that the people of Iraq can respect and count on for the sustainable future of Iraq as a sovereign country.
The Iraq Police, under the control of the former Minister of Interior are up to their elbows in corruption and sectarian slaughter of fellow Iraqis. This slaughter, I am told, orchestrated, organized and executed at the direction of former Minister of Interior Bayan Jabr, now the Iraq Minister of Finance. I am told he continues to control much of the sectarian violence at the bequest of his very close friends in the Iranian government. After the fall of Saddam, Jabr returned to Iraq almost broke. Today he is a multi-millionaire. How did that happen? I have spoken to many of those close to him over the past three years. Most validating what you already knew Mr. talabani; That this guy is dangerous and is not good for Iraq. I am also told he is now so feared that no Iraqi government official will raise his voice against him for fear of their own safety and that of their families.
While assigned to the Ministry of Interior myself, I had enough first hand experiences around Minister Jabr to know how he abused his office and how even we, the coalition, ignored it. The price being paid for that now by the Iraqi population at large who are being executed and tortured in the sectarian violence so many apparently know Jabr’s leadership may have personally initiated. What have you personally done about this Mr. Talabani?
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Maliki, is himself totally dependent for his own political survival on a rouge cleric, Muqtada Al Sadar, who himself is responsible for many Iraqi and Coalition deaths in Fallujah and Baghdad. Your Minister of Health has Al Sadar’s portrait prominently displayed in the Ministry of Health buildings. How many Sunni will come their and expect to live through it?
The Iraqi people are tired, beaten down, abused, angry, unemployed and living in poverty conditions under the actual rule of extremist militiamen. The Iraqi government rules little. The militias all over Iraq have become the real law, the real authority. They have assumed the right to abuse and kill the population at large while the elected and appointed people in the government of Iraq remain afraid and huddled in the International Zone living like kings (I’ve been to a few of your houses) while being fully protected and cared for by the People of the United States of America. The very same people you so hardly criticize and bemoan for trying to resolve the mess you helped create.
Is not talking to the Sunni more important than the health, welfare and safety of your people? Is not reaching out to your neighbors more important than losing your country for failing to act at all?
Please let me refer you, President Talabani, to the remarks of the present Mayor of Fallujah, Mr. Jassim Bedawi, as reported by a New York times reporter immediately after the execution killings of Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Hamza.
His voice cracking with emotion and anger, the mayor of Fallujah lashes out at his city council: Insurgent violence is growing. He tells them they (the city council) are not trying to stem the tide”.
"You haven't done anything," says Mayor Jassim Bedawi. "When Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Hamza got killed, what had you citizens done to prevent their deaths?"
"The people of Fallujah are not standing with me," the mayor complains, saying that without such support, asking for help from the central government could "get my head cut off, or a member of my family kidnapped."
"Citizens can't just come here and make requests," says Bedawi. "They must also give support."
Authorities like Mayor Bedawi, willing to stand and lead from the front are rare in Iraq today. An Iraqi leader, still willing to participate in a democratic institution once seen as central to the rebuilding of Iraq, rarely remains in power long and usually ends up dead.
I can see no-one like this brave mayor within the central government Mr. Talabani. Not even you.
Essentially, the United States did what it came to do, get rid of Saddam. The coalition, although having made many mistakes in the process, has tried to bring a new beginning back to Iraq and its viability as a sovereign country. The elected government of Iraq has actually resisted that guidance and assistance in pursuit of personal material gain and sectarian hatred. It seems the welfare of the Iraqi population at large has not even come in a distant second in the minds of the Iraqi government. There is profit in chaos it seems.
Corruption in the Iraq government is primarily corruption of the heart and mind. Hatred, distrust and revenge rule the soul there among the Shia and Sunni leaders. Faith, hope, charity, forgiveness, restoration and vision all lost to the divisive nature of evil and greed. The average Iraqi Shia, Christian, and Sunni simply want to live in peace. In Iraq, Shia, Christian and Sunni have co-existed, and even married into each others families, over the past 50 years. The extremist brought this hatred and separation to Iraq.
No sir Mr. Talabani, you have no right to question Americas motives or tactics! If you are looking for blame, look in the mirror. If you are looking for solutions, look to friend and foe alike. Diplomacy brings unlike ideas together and forges a way forward. Most former Baathist civil servants, under Saddam, were “compulsory” Baathist just to keep a job. They were freed from Saddam too.
Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and, to a lesser degree, Saudi Arabia (the seat of Wahabi radicalism)have diplomatic and material resources Iraq can call on. Iran can be pressured to do the right thing by their own fellow Islamic neighbors, not America.
You need answers and solutions Mr. Talabani. To find them you need look inward. Looking for someone or something outside to blame, or for someone more interested in your future than you to come up with the best answers for Iraq is futile.
We have given our sons and daughters, our treasure and our blood. We have asked nothing in return and we share a hope for your future to validate the sacrifices we have made in pursuit of right.
The solutions for Iraq and the Iraqi people are with the Iraqis themselves, not in America. We have done our part. The first butcher of Baghdad is gone. Now it is up to you to defeat the ones you let in the door.
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