Notes on an anniversary

By Swopa
Mar 25 2008 - 9:42am

So, five years of war/occupation in Iraq, 4,000 American soldiers dead (plus untold hundreds of thousands of Iraqis), and what do we have to show for it?

Maybe I've missed it, but this Washington Post story yesterday on Faisal Ismail al-Zobaie, the American-backed police chief of Fallujah, doesn't seem to have attracted much attention:

He is a former insurgent. Now, as the police chief, he has turned against the insurgency, especially al-Qaeda in Iraq. The U.S. military showcases Fallujah as a model city where U.S. policies are finally paying off and is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the region to promote the rule of law and a variety of nation-building efforts.

But the security that has been achieved here is fragile, the result of harsh tactics recalling the rule of Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown five years ago. Even as they work alongside U.S. forces, Zobaie's men admit they have beaten and tortured suspects to force confessions and exact revenge.

. . . In Zobaie's world, to show mercy is to show weakness. In a land where men burn other men alive, harsh tactics are a small price to pay for imposing order, he said.

"We never tortured anybody," he said. "Sometimes we beat them during the first hours of capture."

. . . "We don't have any Thomas Jeffersons here," said Capt. Sean Miller, a member of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division from Fairfax, Va., who works closely with Zobaie. "What we do have here is generally a group of people who are trying to save a city. It won't fulfill our ideals or what we desire."

Once a member of Hussein's elite Republican Guard, Zobaie is driven by allegiance neither to the United States nor to Iraq's Shiite-run central government. He wants U.S. troops to leave Iraq. But for now, he needs the United States to bolster him with military muscle and funds. And the U.S. military today depends on men such as Zobaie to help bring about the order and security in Iraq that could eventually lead to the end of the American occupation.

"I have realized that Americans love the strong guy," Zobaie said.

. . . Capt. Mohammed Yousef, a ruddy-faced police investigator in another joint security station, said he sometimes has to beat suspects to make them confess. He has interrogated suspects since 1994, he said, and sees no need to change his methods.

"Since Saddam Hussein until now, Iraq obeys only the force," Yousef said. "We are practicing the same old procedures."

. . . U.S. commanders are concerned that Zobaie's force could become a militia someday. Ninety-five percent of the men are Sunnis from Fallujah, more loyal to sect and tribe than to the government. . . .

What Zobaie wants is for the U.S. military to hand over full control of Fallujah. He believes Iraq's current leaders are not strong enough. Asked whether democracy could ever bloom here, he replied: "No democracy in Iraq. Ever."

"When the Americans leave the city," he said, "I'll be tougher with the people."

Mind you, this is one of the U.S. occupation's newfound best friends in Iraq, someone we're giving money to. And even as American soldiers have died for the new best-case scenario of Saddamism without Saddam in Sunni-controlled areas, their lives and our money continue to support the Shiite government they hate in Baghdad:

Iraq's prime minister pledged Thursday that the country would play an active role on the world stage in an upbeat speech delivered as this troubled nation entered a sixth year of war. Despite signs of progress, many Iraqis hold out little hope for a quick end to their suffering.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki spoke five years to the day after U.S. forces fired a first salvo of missiles at Baghdad before dawn on March 20, 2003, triggering a conflict that toppled Saddam Hussein but has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,000 American troops.

. . . He delivered his remarks Thursday at a cultural festival in Hillah, a mostly Shiite city about 60 miles south of Baghdad near the ruins of fabled Babylon, one of the great cities of the ancient world.

Al-Maliki said the cultural festival was a sign that normal life was returning to Iraq. He cut short his remarks a few moments later when the electricity failed.

Ah, well. Perhaps another five years will help us cement this impressive progress.

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