The simple horror of Iraq

So, I’ve been in Jordan for the last month and am just now getting my project into some sort of shape so that we can implement the damn thing. It is called remote management and it is a pain in the ass. I’m talking to people I don’t know, have never seen, may never see, and I am asking them to do things that I can’t even begin to communicate to people in the same room, yet I need to explain this fairly complex program with emails and over an inconsistent cell phone connection. You can imagine how well this sort of thing works: I leave clear instructions, by email and phone, and expect what I’ve asked to be done to happen. Then I don’t hear anything for a day or two so I call and the guy says, “Oh, I’ve been waiting for your instructions.” So, I send him the email, again, the one where I laid out clear instructions before and…well, you get the idea. The guys who work for us in Iraq know that they can claim “security” for any delay and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

But I didn’t write to tell about my headaches. I’m writing today to talk about the true horror of Iraq. Despite all the press, and lack there of, about the bus bombs and the EFPs and the mortar rounds landing in the green zone and all the rest, the real tragedy of Iraq is astonishingly simple. To wit: anyone can go to their local weapons market, there are dozens in Baghdad along, purchase a handgun and a few bullets for well under $30. With this weapon, a person can then go any place, even a busy street in the middle of the day and shoot any other person in broad daylight and there will be NO official consequences. NOTHING. You can shoot someone, fire a few rounds in the air while you run away through a back alley or a few streets over and NOTHING will happen to you. No police will take a report, no investigators will follow up and arrest you, no judge will arraign you, no jury will be empanelled, no prosecution, no defense, no verdict, no jail.

For those wondering what is actually happening in Iraq and why this civil will continue for a LONG time, you must understand that the entire apparatus of civil and criminal law is completely broken down. I know people love to quote Shakespeare: “The first thing we do, we kill all the lawyers.” But that was spoken by a despot who wanted to rule without interference from people who make their living making sure that the law is properly applied. If you don’t like lawyers, if you want a society without them, go to Iraq and see how well it works. Not many lawyers working there.

So no official consequences, that is true, but it is not the end. Some one will see. That person may report it, not to the police, of course, but to a neighbor, or a militiaman or to a mullah or to a relative. And they might make a proper identification. Or, as happens so often in real life, the “eye witness” may turn out to be mistaken and report the name of the wrong person. Or could, for reason of their own, lie about who they saw to the family. Then comes the retaliation. Another murder, another fleeing perp, another set of witnesses, another identification…and the cycle continues.

Mind you, the legal system is just one problem. There are dozens of other systems, all of which are in some state of breakdown. For starters, there’s the electric system. The generating capacity of Baghdad was placed well out of town; in the event of an uprising in the city, Saddam wanted to be able to shut off the whole city. Well, now the places that generate power are pulling off the grid, leaving the city of Baghdad with only a few hours of power per day. And these systems are not just turned on and off with the flick of a switch, either. Electricity is used everywhere. No power means no water pumps or filters, no communications, no medical devices, no machine tools, air conditioning, etc. so electrical failure leads to a cascade effect, cutting out many other services in the wake of a shutdown. Once THESE systems go down, the problems multiply through the network effect. Water backs up through pipes, fouling filters and popping gaskets; buildings and other machines overheat, but the lack of security means maintenance can no longer be done on the water system or the communications system or the health system or the tax collecting system, or the transport system, or the sewage system, or the education system…you get the idea.

I don't mean to downplay Saddam's part in this. Many of these systems, due to the trade embargo, were on their last legs before Mr. Bush’s war. But left at peace, Iraq would have ultimately recovered even from Saddam's tyranny. I wonder how they will recover from this because the systems mentioned above, their design, construction, operation, maintenance and funding, are the result of and play the crucial role in supporting what we call civilization. And here’s where we come to the true tragedy of Iraq: An entire civilizational structure has been completely, wantonly and needlessly destroyed. In so many ways, in so many places, we will be paying the price for this war for generations.

Crossposted at dailykos.com