As the last of the US troops pulls out of Iraq, to be at home in time for Christmas, after a nearly nine-year war, are they leaving behind a “liberated”, stable and peaceful nation? Or, one with a robust, democratic political system after ousting the dictator in Saddam Hussain?
Far from it. I visited Iraq — the holy Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf — in February 2011. My first and earlier visit to the beleaguered country was in October 2003, well after the toppling of the Saddam regime. The difference during the eight years was that, in 2003, I could make two day-visits to Baghdad from Karbala, a two-hour drive away, and which cost me just $20 in a private taxi. Petrol then cost 50 cents a litre.
October 2003
There was fear of being robbed at gun-point, if not kidnapped, but one could still make the trip. My taxi was stopped and searched by Italian troops more than once. During the second visit to Baghdad, while returning to Karbala, where Shiite martyr Imam Hussain's mausoleum is located, allied troops had barricaded the road and told the taxi driver to turn back.
The sun had set and I pleaded with the Italian soldiers to allow us into Karbala, as it was too dangerous to return to Baghdad in the night. The young soldier, barely 21 or 22 years old, shrugged, and barked: “You can walk the 5 km distance to Karbala.”
The Iraqi driver cursed in Arabic, asked me to get into the car, and said: “These people have no respect for women. Don't worry; I will take you. He is an outsider; I know my country and its roads.” He then spat out of the window to express his contempt for the “invaders”. Sure enough, I was back in the secure Bohra Muslim headquarters of Faize-Hussainy within an hour, driving through narrow lanes and bylanes. But the security guard frowned and said: “You are the last one in; I have to lock the gates, as there is fighting going on in Karbala.”
Through the night, intermittent gunfire could be heard. The dreaded Shia strongman, Muqtada al Sadar, who controls an entire army in Baghdad even today, had stormed the city and taken control of the Imam Hussain shrine.
If the Americans were in Iraq more for oil than Saddam's WMD, then al-Sadar was in Karbala for the rich shrine, where pilgrims could see overflowing sacks of world currency in different denominations being removed by the hour. He was, of course, later driven out.
I had managed to get several stories from Baghdad — including interviews with a couple of American marines — and decided not to venture anymore into the city.
This was much before the gag order on American troops. The marine, by the way, had literally pulled at his hair and said: “I don't know what the hell I am doing here. I thought we would be greeted by the Iraqis as liberators; instead I cannot even go out 10 steps from our secure, green zone without being in a group, and wearing plain clothes. I am yearning to see my son, who was born after I left for Iraq.”
I do hope the young man managed to go home, and not in a body bag.
February 2011
But fast forward to my second visit to Iraq. I was warned by everybody in Karbala and Najaf not to go to Baghdad as it was absolutely dangerous. An Indian businessman, a Bohra Muslim in Najaf, who was doing good business with the Iraqi government, made weekly trips to Baghdad, but refused to take me with him. “It is too dangerous for a woman,” he shook his head. Most of the offices in Baghdad, both government and private, open around 7.30 a.m. and down their shutters by 2.30 p.m, he said. “It is considered advisable to be secure in your homes by 3 p.m; so I leave for Baghdad very early in the morning and leave it by 2 p.m.”
So in almost nine years of “occupation” with an almost puppet-like Iraqi government at the helm, Baghdad had become too dangerous for outsiders.
But both Karbala and Najaf were getting rebuilt and with religious tourism booming, two and three-star hotels were coming up. At Hotel Zum-Zum in Najaf, where, thanks to the directions given by this Bohra businessman, a group of us — all Indian pilgrims — enjoyed a sumptuous feast of the most delicious roasted fish, the owner said he was desperately looking for some Indian graduates in hotel management. “We get plenty of Bangladeshis, but we know that Indians are smart, skilled and very hard-working. But they are scared to come here,” he had sighed.
And who would blame them?
Corruption et al
But the few Indian businessmen who had ventured into Iraq were extremely happy. “As in India… actually much more than in India… without paying colossal bribes, we cannot get our tenders passed.” But the man I met was not complaining: “The usool (principle) of bribe is that the more you corrupt, the higher the profits. For long years only Saddam and his family were making money; now the other politicians are making up for lost time and opportunities.”
But more than corruption, bomb blasts, violence and killings, Shia and Sunni rivalries that are cutting through the political system, murder, arson and looting continue to rock the country. Neighbouring Shiite Iran is playing its own set of games and with the exit of the Americans, its clout in Iraq is bound to increase.
From what little I saw on the ground in Iraq earlier this year, the country is a long, long way from becoming a peaceful, democratic nation… something that the Americans had set out to do in 2003.
But, then, that was an era when the world was far away from the rumblings of recession, when American supremacy as a world leader was unquestioned and it could preach to the rest of the lesser countries how to run their affairs. Both the US and the rest of the world have come a long way from there.
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