CPTnet
May 12, 2003
IRAQ: Questions and Answers
[Note: This piece has been edited for length. People wishing to receive
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www.cpt.org/iraq/iraq.php ]
On April 27th CPTer Stewart Vriesinga, presented the following questions to
low-level U.S. officers serving with the occupation in Baghdad, the only
ones to whom CPT has thus far had access. One day later he received replies,
which, along with the questions, can be
found, without comment below.
Is the interim government being set up by the United States planning to
undertake the provision of essential services provided by the previous
regime?
Answer: I don't have enough information to answer that.
If not, to whom should Iraqis look to provide and administer essential
services?
Answer: A combination of U.S. and coalition forces, NGOs, IOs (International
Organizations), will provide essential services. Troops are assessing the
needs, and the information is being passed up and down the chain of command.
About seventy percent of the population of Iraq relies heavily on a food
distribution program which was, up until last month (March), administered
by the previous regime. This month's supplies were due to be distributed on
April 12, but were not. Given that this food distribution was a governmental
program, and an essential service on which the majority of Iraqis continue
to rely, does the U.S. interim government accept responsibility for the
resumption of this food distribution program?
Answer: I cannot answer that question.
If there are no immediate plans to resume the food distribution program,
where and to whom can Iraqis turn now to avoid increasing incidents of
malnutrition and diarrhea?
Answer: Iraqis can turn to the Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC) to
have their immediate
food needs met.
Who will pay the salaries of Iraqi civil servants, private sector employees,
and provide income to small businessmen
who cannot return to work and provide their families with the basic
necessities of life?
Answer: We are accepting job applications. We accepted applications
for two days last week, and will do so for three days this week. We can
process about 450 applications/day. We have already hired many translators.
Who is now, and will be controlling Iraqi oil and allocating the profits
from Iraqi oil until an Iraqi government is set up?
Answer: Currently the Ministry of Oil is doing that function. We have set up
a task force that we're working with to get the ministry up and running. I
don't know how profits will be allocated.
Public Health is in crisis because of
shortages of material and human resources, security issues, shortages of
medicines and supplies, damage to
and looting of facilities, a high number of war-related injuries and
illnesses, lack of salaries, access to potable water and inadequate diets.
As the interim government of Iraq, what steps has the U.S. taken to address
this crisis?
Answer: Our Public Health Team is doing an assessment right now. [The
military's civil wing: ed.] The Organization for Reconstruction and
Humanitarian
Assistance (ORHA) together with the NGOs will provide what is needed.
All elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools remain closed. Some
have been severely damaged, and others are currently occupied by U.S.
military personal. What steps have already been taken towards reopening
the schools?
Answer: There is an on-going assessment of the condition of the schools and
the availability of teachers. Some clean-up has already begun.
Who will pay the teachers' and professors' salaries?
Answer: I can't answer that question.
Will there be changes in the curriculum at Iraqi schools? Will it be Iraqis
who determine the curriculum of Iraqi children?
Answer: It would have to be Iraqis who determine changes. I cannot predict
the sort of changes that Iraqis might choose to make.
The vast majority of Iraqis agree that the previous regime was very
undemocratic, and used extreme measures to suppress freedom of speech.
Iraqis are paying a very
high price for regaining their freedom of speech and the overthrow of a
brutal regime. Iraqis paid dearly
in terms of high numbers of civilian casualties, the destruction of
property. What mechanisms have
been put into place to ensure that Iraqis' newly acquired freedom of speech
is accompanied by real
democracy and real input into the present and on-going decision-
making?
Answer: We brought together Iraqis who, together with our people will work
together to get the country up
and running again, and will work to overcome short comings, and make
improvements toward a more democratic society.
How does the current U.S. interim government identify and incorporate the
emerging leadership of popular
religious, social and political organizations?
Answer: I'm not sure what the process is. Check with
ORHA.
For those Iraqis who need assurance that the current (U.S.) regime is more
democratic and more willing to
give a real voice to the Iraqi people than he previous regime, what examples
would you cite?
Answer: I don't know.
Insofar as it is Iraqi national wealth and Iraqi oil revenues that will pay
for the reconstruction of Iraq, can Iraqis safely assume that it will be
Iraqis, and
not someone else, who determines which firms get the lucrative
reconstruction contracts?
Answer: I don't know. Check with ORHA.
What is the maximum length of time that Iraqis will have to wait before they
are permitted self-determination and self-governance?
Answer: I don't know. Check with ORHA
With so many questions unanswered, Vriesinga updated the entire list and was
able on Thursday May 1, to submit it to a Major who promised and failed to
reply by May 8, 2003.
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