Good news from Iraq

[ceo_esq]

George Ward (http://www.usip.org/specialists/bios/2002/ward.html), one of the former coordinators of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq, wrote an op-ed piece in Monday’s International Herald Tribune entitled “The US in Iraq: So far, so good (http://www.iht.com/articles/99513.html)".

Ward has a surprisingly sanguine, if cautious, outlook regarding the situation in Iraq:Before the war, those of us planning for post-conflict Iraq worried about these possibilities: up to a million refugees, widespread food shortages, epidemics, acute homelessness, a shutdown of the oil industry and general lawlessness. In the end, only the last became reality.

…

Still, Iraq is in most respects further along the road to recovery than we could have expected before the war. All major public hospitals in Baghdad are again operating. Sixty percent of Iraq’s schools are open. Nationwide distribution of food supplies has resumed. Despite some damage to the oil wells, petroleum production exceeds domestic needs, and exports should begin again soon.

More Iraqis are receiving electric power than before the war.(I found that last bit particularly astonishing.)

[aerocontrols]

Originally posted by ceo_esq
(I found that last bit particularly astonishing.)

The reason it's surprising is because the people in Baghdad don't have power as regularly as before the war - this is because before the war, Baghdad was pulling power from outlying suburbs. Smaller towns were going without in order to provide Baghdad with relatively continuous power.

The US has put a stop to that - which is appreciated more in the outlying towns (where many reporters are not) than in Baghdad (where many reporters are)

[ZeeGerman]

Sixty percent of Iraq’s schools are open

I wonder what the kids are taught there. I mean besides reading writing and calculating. These kids are the future of Iraq after all.

Has anybody some info on that?

Zee

[Segnosaur]

I have a general question: In one part of the article it states:

We knew that Iraq’s police forces were corrupt, politically tainted, despised by the population and ill-trained, and thus should not have expected them to play a helpful role.

Now, the US has gotten a lot of flack for the looting and general lawlessness. My question is, how was Iraqi policing BEFORE the war? Did the police actually bother enforcing laws against stealing, theft, etc, or was their main purpose to enforce Saddam's rule?

[ceo_esq]

Originally posted by Segnosaur
Now, the US has gotten a lot of flack for the looting and general lawlessness. My question is, how was Iraqi policing BEFORE the war? Did the police actually bother enforcing laws against stealing, theft, etc, or was their main purpose to enforce Saddam's rule?
I'm sure pre-war Iraqi law enforcement was corrupt, brutal and discriminatory, and did not respect basic civil liberties or legal process. However, it would not surprise me if it was effective at suppressing the kind of "law-and-order" infractions we've recently witnessed.

Severe totalitarian regimes like Saddam's have a minimal tolerance for breaches of public order, and they tend to have a low incidence of crimes like looting and vandalism simply because the threat of being shot on sight, having your hands cut off or your family abused acts as an effective deterrent.