By Michael Rubin, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and senior lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School. The views expressed are his own.
Almost a year after the last American troops departed Iraq, Baghdad is changing. It is still tired and worn down after decades of dictatorship, sanctions and war. But outside the checkpoints and the blast walls that demarcate the International Zone where the American embassy sits, and most Americans and Iraqi politicians live, Iraqis are reclaiming their city.
U.S. efforts to reconstruct and develop Iraq have in many instances failed. Almost a decade after the initial shock and awe, Iraqis still lack steady electricity and drink tap water at their own risk, while poor drainage still leaves sewage running down streets when winter rains come. Still, not all was for naught: two successful projects – keeping the oil industry running and issuance of a new currency – have enabled Iraq to meet its payroll and jump start the economy.
Baghdad may lag behind the rest of Iraq – security and foreign investment have fueled an economic boom not only in Iraqi Kurdistan, but also across southern Iraq – but even the capital city’s moribund economy is sparking to life. Korean and Japanese car dealerships dot Karrada and Baghdad’s other central neighborhoods. Students lounge around and gossip at the University of Baghdad – a virtual ghost town at the height of the insurgency. Traffic lights are again working, even if Iraqis consider red lights strictly optional. Across the city, Baghdadis of all religious practices have started to return to restaurants. And new restaurants have sprung up to cater to them. Shiites, Sunnis, and Christians, all gather at the Lebanese Club, a two-year-old restaurant that brings live music to the banks of the Tigris. Old standbys like the Latakia Restaurant have recently expanded. As in the 1970s, families have once again returned to outdoor restaurants on Abu Nawas Street for carp barbequed in the traditional Iraqi fashion. Beer and whiskey are available, albeit from surreptitious vendors who say the police raids they face have less to do with imposing religious values and more to do with disputes over who should receive their bribes.
The first major Iraqi government projects will soon come online. A Tigris River water intake and purification plant should supply most of the city with clean drinking water within months. Crews are also actively landscaping, tree planting, and laying garden paths alongside the 25-kilometer Army Canal. The result will be a park that transforms Baghdad's social and cultural landscape.
Accusations Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has become a dictator are exaggerated. Certainly, he has sought to consolidate power in order to govern, but his authority still pales beside that of other Middle Eastern leaders, and adheres more to rule of law than his neighbors in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Syria and even Turkey. It certainly is a healthy sign that Maliki’s portrait remains conspicuously absent from public space. Unlike Masoud Barzani, his counterpart in Iraqi Kurdistan, Maliki understands Iraqis fought to bring Saddam's portrait down, not simply to replace it with another personality cult. Regardless, rather than second guess Maliki’s rule, a better strategy would be to promote free elections in 2014. Returning the “independent” to the now-partisan Independent High Electoral Commission would be a good place to start.
Other problems abound. Oil prices subsidize a bloated state sector. Employees sit idle; most ministries could function with a fraction of their staff. Banking is rudimentary and corruption is endemic. Iraqis tell a joke about Maliki at the White House. “How much money does the average American make per year?” Maliki enquires. “$48,000” responds Obama, “but it only costs $11,000 to live.” “What do they do with the extra $37,000?” Maliki asks. “Well, we're a democracy so I don't ask,” Obama says. Obama then turns the tables on Maliki. “We make on average $3,900 per year,” Maliki says,” but it costs $5,000 to live.” “Where do Iraqis get the extra $1,100?” Obama asks. “I don't ask,” Maliki explains, “because we’re a democracy!”
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It is unfair to label Maliki an Iranian puppet. Iraqis do embrace their Shiism openly, and billboards of grand ayatollahs abound. When it comes to the relationship between Arabs and Persians, nationalism trumps sectarian solidarity. During the Iran-Iraq War, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiite conscripts fought their Iranian co-religionists; they did not defect to the Iranian side. Many Iraqis cheer the collapse of the Iranian currency not only for the blow it strikes to Iranian arrogance, but also for the opportunities it provides to buy low in Tehran and sell high in Baghdad.
Nor does Maliki's arrest and trial of Tariq al-Hashemi make Maliki a dictator or Iranian stooge. Iraqis – including from competitor Ayad Allawi’s own Iraqiya list – acknowledge Hashemi’s likely guilt; the justices who passed sentence came from a variety of political backgrounds. Rather than rally around a politician with blood on his hands, many Iraqis sought consistency: Iraqis accuse Muqtada al-Sadr and Masrour Barzani, among others, of the same crimes and hope that they will also stand trial.
Maliki is a realist, however: With U.S. forces gone, he can no longer play Tehran and Washington off each other to preserve his own independent freedom of action. Iraqi negotiators said that no matter what they offered, the Obama administration would not take yes for an answer when it came to maintaining residual American presence.
Iraq is too important to ignore or forget. Constant American pressure has kept Hezbollah operative Ali Mussa Daqduq under house arrest, even after Iraqi courts ordered him released from prison. American pressure too has helped Maliki stand up to Iran and force down Syria-bound Iranian planes for inspection to ensure they are not carrying sanctions-busting arms to Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime.
Fear of the future looms in Baghdad, but so does excitement at the possibility that Iraq could emerge from the morass in which it now sits. Russians and Chinese are already pouring in to be a part of the future, but Americans are falling behind. Too many Americans appear willing to sacrifice Iraq’s future upon the altar of their own antagonism toward George W. Bush. That would not only be tragic for Iraqis, but also for American national security.
You can follow Rubin on Twitter @mrubin1971.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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What's this Michael Rubin trying to do, glorify the U.S. invasion of Iraq? It seems like right-wingers like him never give up! We've been trying to take over Iraq since 1991 with the C.I.A. orchestrated uprising by the Shiites and the Kurds right after the truce was signed on March 1, but later failed so we finally invaded in 2003 along with the British. All for Iraqi oil, too!
Well said, Joseph. I wish to add that today the Iraqis have the advantage of not having their economy sabotaged by the C.I.A. as was the case under Saddam Hussein before the 2003 invasion.
NO.
NO.
Well, let's see... We have Prime Minister Maliki who appointed his relatives to the security and defense ministries. He now wields power over the Ministry of the Interior and the intelligence and security agencies, and the command of the army was granted to his son. Then you have the president of the autonomous Kurdish region Massoud Barzani and president of Iraq Jalal Talabani, united against Maliki quite possibly creating a potential for a civil war. And last but not least you have the runaway former vice president of Iraq Tariq al-Hashemi who defected to Turkey and accused the government of Iraq of plotting to kill him. I'd say we have a soup for disaster.
NO.
YES!!!
Now this is the biggest fallacy of an article, I have ever read in my entire life. First of all on September 12, 2012, Al-Qaeda in Iraq clamied victory in this dumb fake war. When George W. Bush invaded Iraq, he sent 600,000 troops and occupied that country from 2003-2011. The first enemy our troops fought was the Iraqi army. It was 300,000 strong and it had weapons that did not work. They disbanded after a couple of weeks of fighting. After that our military fought Sunni Insurgents led by Al-Sadr who are 70,000 strong. They are Arab men who do not wear a uniform, meaing they blend in with the average Iraqi. Since our miltiary wears a uniform, they were sitting ducks to be picked off one by one by Al-Sadar who is actually Sunni. So, George W. Bush deciedes to do a tactic on the advice of General King David Petreaus and Paula Broadwell the first women to be a counter terrorism expert and counter insurgent tactican called hopefully the last do this thing called the surge. It comes from Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu. It is counterinsurgency. This tactic is manufacutred Israeli Propganda like the book Time Immorial by Joan Peters. You cannot counter an insurgent. A foregin Army cannot counterinsurgent, you would have to commit genocide to counter an inurgent, and that is what our miltiary did. It is estimated that 600,000-1,000,000, Iraqi civilians died because of the surge. Bibi, however, I think marketed this book to protect Israel. The United States and Israel are not allies. On the issue of the Iraq War, the book Aftermath by Nir Rosen tells what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only that Dick Chaney, Karl Rove, and Mitt Romney have all said publicly that we lost the War on Terror. Not only that, New York is now experiencing a hurricane not far from where 9/11 happened. Our miltiary is the worst military around, they failed not only to shoot down the planes that attacked the World Trade Center, but they lost the wars in Iraq and Afgahnistan. They failed to protect our country. Plus, the actual footage of the war was covered up by our government and the military.
NO.
You sir, COL T, are un-American.
No genocide took place. The surge is better characterized as the "clear, hold, and build" strategy. It is called a "surge" because holding areas and maintaining security takes more forces than going after terrorists. However, increasing security and having a long term positive impact on the community changes hearts and minds. That is why the surge worked to the extent that it did.
Mr. Rubin, what you imply to be facts is either the total hogwash that your country's mission to Iraq is feeding the rest of you or being a right wing American you painfully suffer from some terrible political myopia that is common to your kind(God bless free speech and democracy).For your own sake,get your facts right.
NO.
Nuri al-Maliki is 62 years old and got into state politics only in 2006. A former rebel and with a degree in Arabic literature he is running a country after years of war.
He tries to be a strong and unifying leader, despite the sectarian divide. Time will tell, how long he can hold the fragile coaltion together.
NO.
thought all "scholars" at aei were sent to the boiling pots of uzbekistan for cleaning and the aei building was reduced to rubble rubbish then sent to china for reconstructioin.
NO.
I know that the brokers who invested money for Corporate American profiteers won't forget about Iraq. or the sizes of their commission checks. The Military Industrial Complex, their contractors, and privately owned Central Banks can hardly wait for someone to lead the charge into the next money-making war.
It's hard to believe America produced a generation and a half of such naive Citizens.
Where are the descendents of our Forefathers?
NO.
After you've cleaned out all the players at a poker game, what is the sense in hanging around?
You all know we've been taken by our own corrupt government and their financially supportive Elite few. I think we should identify our true enemy first, and take care of that problem. Vengeance cannot be wrought upon bureaucracy; its representatives must be brought to account.
NO.
HI GUYS!!!! IM BACK
hi
hey
yolo
Swag
Faded
Merica
hihihihihihihihihihihihhihihihi
You aint gonna tie me down
YOU POSTING COMMENTS TO QUICKLY. YOU SLOW DOWN
AM I RIGHT?
I KNOW I AM
I'LL FORGET ABOUT IRAQ IF I WANT
AM I RIGHT??
OHH OHH OHHH OH OH OH OHHHHHH OH OH OH OHHHH OH MY GOD
CAEN I CRIE NWO?
GOOBY FOR PRESIDENT
GOOBY PLS
I LIEK TO CRI AUL DA TIEM
ACTUALY, ITZZ DOLAN
MORKEY MOUZE
PROEV IT
LOEV ME
DO YUO KNWO THE MUFIN MAN
I KNWO HIM
IRAQ WHAT R U DOIN?
IRAQ WHAT R U..
IRAQ....
STAHP
DOLAN
LIL WAYNE, WHY YOU PICKIN UP THAT GUITAR?
LIL WAYNE WHAT ARE YOU...
LIL WAYNE...
STAHP
DO I TALK TO MUCH
WELL TO BAD
get a life
I HAVE TAKEN OVER THIS ARTICLE
ZACHARY NEY THE SOCIAL STUDIES GUY
J BOM
SHHHPPPAAANNNIISSSSHHHHH
NO UNDERSTANDE YOUR BIG WORDS. SHORTEN IT UP A BIT. K?
GOOBY 2012
FLIPPEN TERRORIST
TENGO EN GATO GRANDE EN MIS PANTELONES
YO TENGO HAMBRE
LEIK DIS IFE YUO CRIE ERRY TIEM
YOU WANT THE RIGHT KING FOR CONGRESS
OBAMA GANG OR DIE
YOU GUYS ARE ALL STUPID. IM SMARTER THAN YOU. NA NA NA BO BO STICK YOUR HEAD IN DO DO.
JOEL CAMPELL IS SWOLL
NA NA NA BO BO IM BETTER THAN YOU STICK YOUR HEAD IN DO DO
I haven't forgotten Iraq. Hussein wrote checks with his mouth that his butt couldn't cash, we terminated his account and tried to bring KFÇ to Baghdad. The people wanted nothing to do with us and demanded we leave. We're out, let them take care of themselves now.
FK IRAQ FK IRAN FK THE SHIIA IN SYRIA AND THOSE EVIL COUNTRIES , FK HIZBOALLAH./////THOSE IDIOTS THUGS SHIIA WHO MARRIED THERE COUSINS AND MAKE MOTAA WITH FEMALE CHILDREN ARE EVIL. USA SHOULD BE A SHAMED SITTING SILENT AGANIST 70.000 CEVILAINS THAT WERE KILLED BY THOSE SHIIA......USA AND NATO SHOULD GET RED OF THE SHIIA ASAD SYRIAN EVIL GOVERNMENT WHO IS HELPED BY IRAN AND IRAQ WITH RUSSIAN WEAPONS AND MONEY FROM OIL...WHY IS THIS SILENT ATTACK IRAN NOW. ISRAEL CAN HANDEL HIZBOALLAH TURKEY SHOULD GO AFTER SYRIA AND U SA AFTER IRAN GET RED OF EVIL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
thousands of iraqis are detained in jails and secret prisons on false charges,some been for years, interrogation by torture,confessions obtained by force,corruption deep, wide &spread at all levels . administration& government departments run by ignorant people their only qualifications allegiance to Militias &Islamic parties,basic service still to be provided,billions are looted ,Ministries run as if family&tribe property , Minorities are suppressed threat of death& assassination for any body dare to criticizes ruling Militias or their parties.Prices rocketing,unemployed raising &billons weekly transferred abroad .places mentioned in the article for the nouveau riche .
cause we shoudl fosu on evil iran and syria , focus on evil hizboallah and iraqi shiia thugs and killers usa must start clean up those idiots from the region destroy iran now before it is too late, get red of bashar al asad and hizboallah
We are broke and need to worry about The US of A for a change.Forget Iraq-they managed for centuries.
yes i agree let us focus on the FK iraninas and Hezbollah and bashar al kalb in Syria those evil SHIIA must be destroyed...
we must help iraqi moderates sunni to take over and get red of those killrs shiia in iraq iran and syria
wow -_-
Mr Rubin make the point that
"Iraqi negotiators said that no matter what they offered, the Obama administration would not take yes for an answer when it came to maintaining residual American presence"
What he fails to mention is that Obama did indeed want to keep up to 20,000 US troops in Iraq after the 2008 Bush negotiated SOFA expired, but Iraq did not agree with the US Soliders immunity segments. That is the real reason there are no US troops in Iraq now, not becasue Obama got us out, but becasue Iraq did not let us stay.
PUT THESE VOTING FINGERS IN YOUR A SS IRAGIS WAKI STUPID NATION SHIIA ARE THUGS IN IRAQ, IRAN, SYIRA AND BAHRAIN ALL THEY KNOW TO KILL PEOPLE AND DESTROYING THE PEACE FK THE SHIIA
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