August 28, 2003
Make this your daily read to get an honest and articulate perspective of a young woman's current life in Baghdad. This is just a taste of what's there today:
Buildings cannot just be made functionary. They have to have artistic touches- a carved pillar, an intricately designed dome, something unique… not necessarily classy or subtle, but different. You can see it all over Baghdad- fashionable homes with plate glass windows, next to classic old ‘Baghdadi’ buildings, gaudy restaurants standing next to classy little cafes… mosques with domes so colorful and detailed they look like glamorous Faberge eggs… all done by Iraqis.
My favorite reconstruction project was the Mu’alaq Bridge over the Tigris. It is a suspended bridge that was designed and built by a British company. In 1991 it was bombed and everyone just about gave up on ever being able to cross it again. By 1994, it was up again, exactly as it was- without British companies, with Iraqi expertise. One of the art schools decided that although it wasn’t the most sophisticated bridge in the world, it was going to be the most glamorous. On the day it was opened to the public, it was covered with hundreds of painted flowers in the most outrageous colors- all over the pillars, the bridge itself, the walkways along the sides of the bridge. People came from all over Baghdad just to stand upon it and look down into the Tigris.
So instead of bringing in thousands of foreign companies that are going to want billions of dollars, why aren’t the Iraqi engineers, electricians and laborers being taken advantage of? Thousands of people who have no work would love to be able to rebuild Iraq… no one is being given a chance.
The reconstruction of Iraq is held above our heads like a promise and a threat. People roll their eyes at reconstruction because they know (Iraqis are wily) that these dubious reconstruction projects are going to plunge the country into a national debt only comparable to that of America. A few already rich contractors are going to get richer, Iraqi workers are going to be given a pittance and the unemployed Iraqi public can stand on the sidelines and look at the glamorous buildings being built by foreign companies.
I always say this war is about oil. It is. But it is also about huge corporations that are going to make billions off of reconstructing what was damaged during this war. Can you say Haliburton? (Which, by the way, got the very first contracts to replace the damaged oil infrastructure and put out ‘oil fires’ way back in April).
Well, of course it’s going to take uncountable billions to rebuild Iraq, Mr. Bremer, if the contracts are all given to foreign companies! Or perhaps the numbers are this frightening because Ahmad Al-Chalabi is the one doing the books- he *is* the math expert, after all.
Her current post was triggered by the fact that "the New Diyala Bridge contract was given to an American company. This particular company estimated the cost of rebuilding the bridge would be around- brace yourselves- $50,000,000 !! "
She reports that her cousin, an experienced and successful Iraqi engineer, estmated that Iraqis could rebuild the bridge for less than $500,000.
Why aren't all we Americans up in arms that it's our tax money that's going to go into the pockets of the greedy and unscrupulous American corporate monopolist friends of Dumbya on the pretext that they're rebuilding Iraq. I'd rather send my check directly to an Iraqi bridge construction company.
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Old Comments (6)
Gerry on 28 Aug 2003
Thanks, Elaine.
I don't read that much political stuff, but the riverbend stuff you have posted is great. Keep it up.
I sure hope this can be turned around eventually, but it doesn't look possible until we have regime change at home.
Shelley on 28 Aug 2003
There is a possibility -- a chance, a slight one -- that this person isn't really in Iraq. I've tracked three postings that just so happened to match a news report with the exact same information, at the same time.
Info's interesting though, and good for people to hear.
Elaine on 29 Aug 2003
Shelley, I've wondered how to check if a blog like this is legit. With something like this, I sure want to believe it is.
Gerry on 29 Aug 2003
It would have more impact if it were real, but it doesn't detract from the message. Assuming the sources of the original article are authentic, I don't have a problem with turning it into a first person story without an explicite disclaimer. Interesting and good for people to hear, as Shelley said.
ARJ on 01 Sep 2003
I linked to Riverbend on Blogsisters because Salam Pax of "Dear Raed" seems to believe she's legit (or otherwise has a reason to perpetuate the belief that she's legit). I figure he'd be more likely to spot a faker than me, but hey, I don't know. None of us ever ultimately knows if any of us are fakes, right? ;-)
Quoted from here:
http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2003_08_01_dear_raed_archive.html#10599175679170814
"People, I have the most amazing surprise for you, well for those who have been reading the blog before the war. do you remember [Riverbend]? she's in Mosul now she is OK but she had to quit her job because some shia fundi took over wher she used to work and made life miserable. and she sent me something to put on the blog.
and she is *NOT* my female alter ego as some poeple have suggested, actually there were stranger suggestions that [salam pax] is actually [riverbend] but she decided to diguise her self as a man. whatever."
Ted on 17 Sep 2003
About bridge-building...note that Saddam repaired (with UN oil-for-food money)that infrastructure that supported his tanks being able to cross the Tigris or Euphrates, while people starved and hospitals had to smuggle in pen-v-k. Did you know that bridges are highly complex structures, yet even the strongest ones can be brought down by the weight of troops marching in-step. The most critical part of any bridge is actually the abutments at either end. The mathematics of the forces involved are known only to highly trained engineers, none? of whom are women, in the Arab world. Arabs who learn such trades, leave for the U.S or far East to get good pay. (OBL is an engineer, but what did he use his skills for? 9-11). The logistics of repairing/replacing such structures are daunting, to say the least. Only a few international companies are capable of doing so. Keep in mind that Halliburton and others(French, Germans) are the only ones in that part of the world with the expertise and equipment to do the job. They are constantly working for all of the oil producing nations of the area, not just in Iraq. Seek the truth, ma'am. It will set you free. Free, like the women in Iraq who can now teach and attend engineering schools, thanks to W, and my son.