A Snapshot of Iraqi Life after the War

Post-9/11 Era Forum

John Stewart joined children as they began the day at a primary school in a Baghdad suburb:


It's barely more than a concrete shell. Not because of damage from bombing or looting but because in this Shia Muslim area they've had no government investment for about 20 years.

As well as a shortage of basic teaching materials, there are more fundamental problems. The lack of a reliable power supply or clean water means sanitation is a real issue.

Sewage sometimes floods the playground.

And it's not just the schools with problems. Baghdad's universities started back this week after being closed for two months during the war.

Buildings were looted after the fall of the regime. They've lost much of the up-to-date laboratory equipment and computers that help contribute to their very good international reputation.

Lecturers say some of them haven't been paid since March. And less than half the students have come back.

Many of them, especially the women, are just too scared to travel alone because of daily reports of muggings and car-jackings. Those that have come back are trying to carry on as normally as possible.

But because exams were set by Saddam's ministry of education, no one's really sure what will happen this year.

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Barbara Plett visited one of Baghdad's central markets:

There is food here at the Sharjah market in the centre of Baghdad. There are stacks of dried goods like tinned tomatoes and canned meat.

Fruit, vegetables and fresh meat are also available in the country. The problem is post-war disorder. People aren't getting paid so they can't buy the goods.

There are fuel shortages so it is difficult to transport them. Also, it is impossible to keep them fresh.

Sixty per cent of Iraqis depend on the UN ration system for basics like flour, rice and oil.

They were given six months worth of supplies before the war, but the UN estimates most will run out as early as June because poor families have been selling their supplies to get other necessities.

The UN is bringing lots of food into the country but it is still trying to restore the distribution system which was disrupted by the war and it is trying to stop the looting at the warehouses.

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Jennifer Glasse spent part of the day in the home of an Iraqi family in Baghdad:

Here in Baghdad, the water system is operating at about 50% of its pre-war capacity and electricity is about the same, according to the American reconstruction team.

But throughout Iraq, water and electricity services are sporadic. Much of the damage is not war-related.

Many power stations and water-treatment sites have been looted. Iraqi technicians say the main problem is security - that even when they get something fixed, looters often come and steal newly-installed equipment.

Living without regular power and water has disrupted the lives of almost all Iraqis.

Wealthier families can get electricity and water independently if they buy a generator or a water pump. For Salim Mohammed and his family, that's not an option. He says he just can't afford the $1,200 a generator costs.

Iraqis who can afford generators are having trouble - getting fuel is a problem here. Like water and electricity, fuel is in short supply.

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David Bamford visited the Electric Lighting Fitting Company in central Baghdad:

The workers are busy organizing things, cleaning up ready to start work again.

But like many small companies in Iraq, it has suffered: first from the UN sanctions that limited what could and couldn't be imported, and more recently by the war.

The company's manager, Mustafa al-Wakil, told me the factory closed a few days before the war started.

He said the companies now have to operate through the American-led administration here in Baghdad, ORHA, and that's not always easy. They have been given the run around, they say.

So life is tough for independent companies wanting to get started again here in Baghdad after the war.

They're being prevented from doing so first by the lack of security and secondly by the bureaucracy linked to the American administration.

Source: BBC

It took the US two years to stabilize Germany after WWII, and it took three years for the US to stabilize Japan after WWII. The British occupied Iraq for 30 years and had major problems throughout the period -- including several major Shiite uprisings. I submit that it will take the US at least a year to stabilize Baghdad, and two years more to stabilize the entire country. The infrastructure does not just need be rebuilt, in many cases it never exisited. There is a more disturbing problem: Arab culture and the work ethic. Progress will be slow, and lawless corruption will be rampant.

I commented that infrastructure need not just be rebuilt; Iraq never had much needed infrastructure in some areas. And it is not just a problem of design and construct. The "tarit", the hard-pack sand crust covering the desert has been broken by trucks, tank, troops, bombs, etc., and it is the tarit that prevents sand storms and major shifting and drifting sand dunes. That will have to be repaired-- a monumental task. Disrupted tarit threatens the entire Iraqi eco-system and agricultural systems. Because of concerns over tarit, building new roads and repairing old roads will require special design considerations. The electrical power grid system in Iraq is not like the power grid here in the US -- minor problems tend to quickly rise to crisis levels. The equipment was largely french in origin, but design cast-offs and constructed from second-rate materials with third-rate labor. Construction standards were largely ignored under Saddam, so reconstruction must begin first by curing existing design and construction defects. Testing and inspecting will be a monumental task. The Euphrates and Tigress rivers are filthy with human waste, industrial waste, and military waste -- clean water systems and waste treatment systems must be constructed and they will be large, complicated, and expensive. Many areas of Baghdad are not served and never were, so distribution systems must be constructed -- through the myriad tunnels and other fortified obstacles built by Saddam.

At its peak Baghdad had elctricity to only 65% of its residents, and that power was continually interrupted several times each day. The wealthier residents have relied on personal generators; the poor went without electricity. Clean water supplies have always been dismal, and waste treatment was sorely lacking, especially in the Shiite ares of Baghdad. The US destroyed several waste treatment facilities during the '91 Gulf War, so the waste systems have been overloaded for more than a decade.

The problems are large, yes, but not insurrmountible. But it would be foolish to think the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq will take months instead of years. A first progress assessment might be made after one year, and substantial progress after three years -- provided we do not get distracted militarily elsewhere in the region.