November 10, 2006
Marines Get the News From an Iraqi Host: Rumsfeld’s Out. ‘Who’s Rumsfeld?’

By C. J. CHIVERS
ZAGARIT, Iraq, Nov. 9 — Hashim al-Menti smiled wanly at the marine sergeant beside him on his couch. The sergeant had appeared in the darkness on Wednesday night, knocking on the door of Mr. Menti’s home.

When Mr. Menti answered, a squad of infantrymen swiftly moved in, making him an involuntary host.

Since then marines had been on his roof with rifles, watching roads where insurgents often planted bombs.

Mr. Menti had passed the time watching television. Now he had news. He spoke in broken English. “Rumsfeld is gone,” he told the sergeant, Michael A. McKinnon.

“Democracy,” he added, and made a thumbs-up sign. “Good.”

The marines had been on a continuous foot patrol for several days, hunting for insurgents. They were lost in the hard and isolating rhythms of infantry life.

They knew nothing of the week’s news.

Now they were being told by an Iraqi whose house they occupied that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, one of the principal architects of the policies that had them here, had resigned. “Rumsfeld is gone?” the sergeant asked. “Really?”

Mr. Menti nodded. “This is better for Iraq,” he said. “Iraqi people say thank you.”

The sergeant went upstairs to tell his marines, just as he had informed them the day before that the Republican Party had lost control of the House of Representatives and that Congress was in the midst of sweeping change. Mr. Menti had told them that, too.

“Rumsfeld’s out,” he said to five marines sprawled with rifles on the cold floor.

Lance Cpl. James L. Davis Jr. looked up from his cigarette. “Who’s Rumsfeld?” he asked.

If history is any guide, many of the young men who endure the severest hardships and assume the greatest risks in the war in Iraq will become interested in politics and politicians later, when they are older and look back on their combat tours.

But not yet. Marine infantry units have traditionally been nonpolitical, to the point of stubbornly embracing a peculiar detachment from policy currents at home. It is a pillar of the corps’ martial culture: those with the most at stake are among the least involved in the decisions that send them where they go.

Mr. Rumsfeld may have become one of the war’s most polarizing figures at home. But among these young marines slogging through the war in Anbar Province, he appeared to mean almost nothing. If he was another casualty, they had seen worse.

“Rumsfeld is the secretary of defense,” Sergeant McKinnon said, answering Lance Corporal Davis’s question.

Lance Corporal Davis simply cursed.

It did not sound like anger or disgust. It seemed instead to be an exclamation about the irrelevance of the news. The sergeant might as well have told the squad of yesterday’s weather.

Another marine, Lance Cpl. Patrick S. Maguire, said the decisions that mattered here, inside Company F, Second Battalion, Eighth Marines, were much more important to them than those made in the Pentagon back home.

There are daily, dangerous questions: When to go on patrol, when to come back, which route to take down a road, which weapon to carry, and, at this moment, which watch each marine would stand, crouched up on the roof, in the cold wind, exposed to sniper fire.

His grandfather fought at Iwo Jima, he said, and his father was a marine in Vietnam. This was his second tour in Iraq. “Here’s the deal,” he said. “Someone points a finger at you, and you go.”

“The chain of command?” he added. “You know how high I know? My battalion commander is Lt. Col. DeTreux. That’s how high I know.”

And so between the marines and Mr. Menti and his family, the split reactions to news of Mr. Rumsfeld’s resignation made for surreal scenes.

Mr. Menti, 50, a radiologist by training, spent part of the afternoon trying to impress the meaning of the news on the young sergeant beside him on the couch.

The war policy was soon to change, he said.

“I think in one year you return to America,” he said.

The sergeant sat implacably.

“This is good for you,” Mr. Menti said. “No?”

He spoke of years of fear. Under Saddam Hussein, he said, they were afraid. Now, with the American troops and insurgents fighting in Anbar, they are still afraid. He returned to the news of Mr. Rumsfeld’s resignation.

“People in America are very happy,” he said. “I saw this on TV. And I am very happy. Thank you, American people.”

He pointed at the young marines before him, smoking on his couches, drinking his hot, sweetened tea. “These soldiers, in Iraq, they make freedom?” he asked.

“Yes,” Sergeant McKinnon said.

“What kind of freedom?” he asked.

He had been talking about the living conditions in the province since the night before, when the marines appeared at his door.

There are almost no schools, he said. There is almost no medicine. There is little food, and no electricity except from generators. The list went on. No water. No work. Violence. Abductions. Beheadings. Explosions.

His son-in-law had been kidnapped by insurgents seven months ago, he said, and a note the insurgents left said he was abducted for being friendly with American troops. He has not been seen since.

In Baghdad, he said, Iranian-backed death squads were killing Sunni citizens. The country was falling apart.

“You like freedom?” he asked the sergeant. “This kind? This way?”

“No,” Sergeant McKinnon said.

“I think you and I and many people do not like freedom in this way,” he said. “I believe this. I am sure.”

“It is wrong, the American Army coming here. It is wrong.”

He looked at Sergeant McKinnon, who is younger than many of his 14 children. He was trying to draw him out.

“If American Army came here for three months, four months, O.K.” Mr. Menti said. “But now is four years.”

If there were no American military presence in Iraq, he said, there would be no insurgents. One serves as a magnet for the other.

Mr. Menti spoke to the sergeant as if he were an American diplomat, as if he had some influence over the broad sweeps of American foreign policy. The sergeant remained quiet and polite.

“I don’t think he realizes that we’re trying to make this country safer for him,” he said to Lance Corporal Maguire.

“I think he realizes that we’re trying to make it safe, but that the more we stay here the more people come in and make it worse,” Lance Corporal Maguire replied.

They went upstairs, to pack their gear for the next move, planned for after dark, to another house and another night of looking down on the roads, waiting for an insurgent with a bomb to step within range of a rifle shot.

Sergeant McKinnon spoke of the squad’s isolation. “I only found out yesterday that the Saddam trial was over,” he said. “Another Iraqi told me that.”

He turned to the task of planning for the night’s fire support.

Up on the roof, Lance Corporal Maguire mused about the news. Whatever Mr. Rumsfeld’s resignation might eventually mean, it did not matter here yet, and it would not keep them alive tonight.

Another marine, Lance Cpl. Randall D. Webb, was scanning traffic through his rifle scope, worried that they had been spotted and the insurgents would soon know where they were.

“I think they see us,” he said.

“Man, they all see us,” Lance Corporal Maguire said, and lighted another cigarette.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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KURDS' OIL LAW POSES PROBLEM FOR BAGHDAD. On October 22, the
Kurdish regional government published a final draft of the petroleum
law. The draft document is to be debated within the regional assembly
and, if passed, it would place the region's government in
opposition to the central government in Baghdad, which has indicated
that it will publish its own completed hydrocarbon law sometime in
December or early 2007.
If parallel legal frameworks are established in the Kurdish
autonomous region and Baghdad, foreign firms wanting to do business
may have to sign separate contracts and adhere to the laws of two
governments. Thus, the issue remains as to whether a compromise can
be reached between the Kurds and the Iraqi central government, or
whether the division of oil revenues will prove to be a source of
further instability in a country already reeling from insurgency and
sectarian strife.

Kurds Push Own Oil Policy

While violence engulfs much of Iraq and the Baghdad central
government continues negotiations over a petroleum law, the Kurds
have moved ahead and are poised to pass their own oil law. In
addition, they have already signed a handful of contracts with
foreign firms to explore oil fields in the north.
Issam al-Chalabi, a former Iraqi oil minister, said the right
to control local oil reserves constitutes a major complication
between the Kurds and the central government, AP reported on October
25.
"The Kurds have submitted a draft petroleum act to be adopted
that gives them the right to control oil, regardless of the
government in Baghdad. The Oil Ministry has submitted another
completely different draft that gives the authority to the ministry,
not regions. It's the main issue of the conflict: oil and Kurds,"
he said.
The establishment of a petroleum law in the Kurdish region
not only underscores the decentralization of oil resources, but it
constitutes another step in the Kurds' move away from the Baghdad
government.

Tension Over Signed Oil Contracts

In another area of contention, the Kurdish administration has
moved ahead and signed exploration contracts with several foreign oil
firms, including the Norwegian oil company DNO and the Turkish firms
PetOil and Genel Enerji. The contracts place the local administration
at odds with Baghdad by stressing Irbil's autonomy at the expense
of the central government.
The issue came to a head when Iraqi Oil Minister Husayn
al-Shahristani told the state-owned daily "Al-Sabah" on September 24
that contracts signed with foreign firms to develop oil fields in the
north without the approval of the central government were subject to
review by the ministry. Officials in the Oil Ministry also said that
foreign firms currently working in the Kurdish region would be
blacklisted in the future from attaining contracts to develop oil
fields in southern Iraq.
In response, Kurdish Prime Minster Nechirvan Barzani said the
move would be unconstitutional and he issued a statement suggesting
that his government may secede if the contracts were rejected (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," September 29, 2006). "If Baghdad ministers refuse
to abide by that constitution, the people of Kurdistan reserve the
right to reconsider our choice," he said.

'Future Oil Fields'

The key issue concerns the control and management of
so-called "future oil fields". Although Article 108 of the Iraqi
Constitution says, "oil and gas are the ownership of all the people
of Iraq" and are to be managed by the federal government in
conjunction with regional governorates, only "current" oil fields,
which are controlled by the central government, are mentioned, not
any discovered in the future.
Kurdish Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami insisted
that future oil fields in the Kurdish region are to be managed by
Irbil and won't be shared with Baghdad, "USA Today" reported on
November 6. "In management of new fields, we are adamant that we will
not share with the federal government. Planning, coordination -- no
problem. But who has the right to write contracts? We can consult
with the center, but the ultimate authority lies with the Kurds," he
said.
The issue of future oil fields will becomes all the more
significant when the fate of Kirkuk is decided by a referendum in
2007. Recent demographic shifts as part of the Kurds' attempts to
reverse the Hussein regime's "Arabization" campaign suggest that
Kirkuk may very well have a Kurdish majority, thereby placing the
Kurdish government in a good position to annex Kirkuk and take
control of its massive oil fields.

Outlook Unclear

The fact that the Kurds have already drafted their own
petroleum law even before the creation of a federal law is itself
indicative of the strength of Irbil's position, in that the Kurds
are a major component of the Shi'ite-led coalition government and
without their support the government would probably fall.
Conversely, it may be in the Kurdish administration's
interest to back down and show a willingness to compromise with
Baghdad. The Kurdish region is land-locked and export outlets are
crucial. Experts contend that the existing Ceyhan pipeline from
northern Iraq to Turkey does not have the capacity to carry
additional crude exports. Furthermore, if Kirkuk is annexed by the
Kurds, it may complicate matters with Turkey, which is already
concerned that the Iraqi Kurds' ambitions of autonomy may incite
their own sizable Kurdish population to follow in their footsteps.
Even if the dispute is resolved, the oil industry itself is
in shambles because of rampant corruption and insurgent attacks. The
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the U.S. agency
responsible for overseeing Iraq's reconstruction, issued a report
on July 30 describing smuggling as "pervasive" and "virtually
pandemic," which threatens Iraq's ability to maintain, let alone
increase oil production.
Even though Iraq is rich in crude oil and natural gas, it
must import much of its refined petroleum. Years of UN sanctions left
much of Iraq's oil infrastructure in a dilapidated condition,
crippling its refining capacity.
Finally, caught in the middle of the dispute are the Sunni
Arabs, who fear that Iraq is moving toward partition into three
sections: a Kurdish north and Shi'ite south, both rich in oil,
while the Sunnis are left with a resource-poor center. The Kurds'
demands and aggressive posturing might aggravate the Sunnis'
feelings of marginalization and provide more fuel for radicals among
them. (By Sumedha Senanayake. Originally published on November 8.)

WILL REINSTATING BA'ATHISTS HELP RECONCILIATION PROCESS? The
Iraqi government revealed a plan on November 7 that would allow the
majority of former Ba'ath Party members to return to their former
positions, in the hope of convincing what is seen as a major part of
the Sunni insurgency to lay down their weapons.
Ba'athist officials were purged from their positions soon
after the toppling of Hussein's regime by the U.S.-led invasion
in March 2003, even though many of those that joined the party under
Hussein did so out of necessity and not ideological fervor.
The de-Ba'athification campaign has been widely blamed by
many for creating a vast pool of unemployed and disenfranchised Sunni
Arabs, many of whom found no option but to join insurgent groups.

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=irr&s=p&apc_state=henh

The Other Half radio show explores the changing lives of women in Iraq through interviews, features and commentaries. The programmes are produced in Arabic by IWPR trainees and are broadcast on Iraqi radio stations. The contributors come from all over Iraq, while production is done by a team of four, three of them women, at IWPR's radio studio in Sulaimaniyah.

Best Minds Join Exodus
Brain drain concerns as number of Iraqis emigrating to escape violence multiplies.

By Yasin al-Rubai Baghdad (ICR No. 201, 10-Nov-06)

Karim Sa'id and his family looked sad as they said goodbye to their relatives.

Sa’id, 54, who has a leather-goods shop in Baghdad, has decided to take his wife and three kids to Syria, after being threatened by blackmailers.

They had shown up at this store and demanded that he pay protection money. If he refused, they said they would set fire to the premises or kidnap him or one of his children.

Rather than pay, he made plans to leave the country, sold his car, borrowed money from his brother and asked him to sell the family’s belongings. With the money, he intends to set up a new business in Syria.

"I never thought about leaving my homeland before," said Sa'id. "I worked hard to make a life here, but these brutal times force you to go.”

Every day, Iraqi families are packing their bags and emigrating to escape the violence tearing their county apart. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that 1.8 million people have fled to neighbouring countries and 1.6 million have been internally displaced since the fall of Saddam. In 2006 alone, 425,000 Iraqis sought refuge abroad.

Brigadier General Sabah Mahdi, head of passport services in the capital, said demand for travel documents has never been higher. “At our six offices in Baghdad, we’ve noticed the number has been increasing remarkably.”

Most go to Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Syria is popular because habits and traditions are similar to those in Iraq and living costs are relatively low. Sa’id hopes to rent a flat for 200 US dollars a month, a third less than a comparable apartment in Iraqi Kurdistan, where growing numbers of Iraqis are flocking.

Few of the emigrants can afford airfares, so they risk traveling overland by buses and taxis, passing through lawless areas where insurgents and criminals operate freely.

A travel agent who did not want to give his name said those who ferry Iraqis abroad keep in close contact to warn each other of danger spots. He estimated that currently between 3-4,000 people were leaving the country each day.

Many families hope to return as soon as the situation improves and security has been restored. Majid Hamid, 50, who has a print shop, said he asked a relative to live in his house until he comes back.

“I will wait patiently until things become more stable,” he said. “ The important thing is to be far from car bombs, explosions and daily assassinations."

Among those leaving the country are some of its most able people, such as lawyers, doctors and scientists and academics. Last year, the government sought to stem the brain drain by offering to double the salaries of skilled emigrants.

The flight of the country’s best minds exacerbates a skills-shortage problem that emerged in Saddam’s time when hundreds of thousands of able people left the country.

Husam Jamal, a law college professor, is preparing to leave Iraq for Syria. He fears that the exodus of professionals will deal a real blow to all sectors, especially education.

Education appears to have been singled out by the insurgents, with 89 university professors killed since the overthrow of Saddam, according to the higher education ministry. Some have suggested that the militants’ intimidation of teachers, doctor and other professionals is intended to paralyse basic services.

Many Iraqis believe neighbouring countries sponsor the extremists in order to keep Iraq unstable. “There are hidden hands behind the exodus,” said Jamal.

Meanwhile, people wait in long queues outside the passport offices. It takes up to twenty days to get new papers, which is why many resort to the black market - although they have to pay 15 times more than the official 40 US dollar charge.

Mohammed Abdul-Qadir, 45, is queuing for a new passport. He says he doesn’t feel safe in his neighbourhood anymore. “It’s deserted. Everyone has left for a safe haven,” he said.

Yasin al-Ruba’i is an IWPR contributor in Baghdad.
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