CPTnet
28 September 2005
IRAQ REFLECTION: Back to the future
by Tom Fox
In the days of Saddam Hussein, religious and ethnic persecution was
commonplace. The Sunni-led police and military subjected Shiites to
detention, harassment, injury and death.
Back to the future--in September 2005, Shiite organizations such as the Al
Dawa Party and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq have
allegedly created arrest lists containing 97% Sunni individuals. Human
rights groups have alleged that many Sunnis found murdered execution-style
were on this list.
In the days of Saddam Hussein, periodic shortages of fuel led to a rationing
system that involved driving one's car on alternate days, depending on the
last digit of the license plate. Homes were without electricity for four to
six hours a day.
Back to the future--in September 2005, driving on alternate days has
returned to a country with 23% of the world's know n petroleum reserves.
Homes might lack electricity for up to fourteen hours every day.
In the days of Saddam Hussein, secret police organizations would detain,
torture and sometimes kill Iraqis seen as posing a threat to the continued
authority of Saddam Hussein and his cronies.
Back to future--in September 2005 the secret police organizations have
returned, including one called the Wolf Brigade. The Wolf Brigade made a
raid on a Palestinian complex after the car bombing of a bus station and
arrested four men. A neighbor said he overheard one brigade member say,
"Are four Palestinians enough?" They were tortured and then shown on
television the next day, confessing to the car bombing. A lawyer hired by
their families visited them several weeks later (after paying a bribe to
prison officials.) He found them in the clothing they had worn at the time
of their arrests, with burn and bruise marks over much of their bodies.
In the days of Saddam Hussein, the government comprised an astounding number
of ministries and bureaucracies.
Back to the future-- in September 2005 the Christian Peacemaker Team must
renew its official NGO status every three months. The new Ministry of Civil
Society (MoCS) now handles NGO issues. The team went to the MoCS with its
quarterly report but was told by the MoSC that foreign NGOs must now get a
letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) that recognizes them as a
legitimate foreign NGO. When the team went to the MoFA to get such a
letter, the team officials at the MoFA told them that first they needed to
get a letter from the MoCS authorizing the MoFA to write the letter
requested by the MoCS.
A friend the team summed up the "new" Iraq by saying, "We've seen all this
before."
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