By
Yasser Alaskary
October 6, 2003
- An
end to the security problem continues to be sought as Iraqi
police are sent to Jordan
for training. Security is proving to be the biggest
challenge post-Saddam since unlike most other sectors, such
as health or education, the security system needs to be
completely destroyed and rebuilt as its function during
Saddam's regime was to provide security for one man in opposition
to an entire nation, whereas now it must be geared to providing
security for the entire population.
- While
more police need to be trained so that the retraining process
is accelerated, it should not be an option to involve countries
such as Jordan who have a terrible human rights record,
and when training in Iraq could be done at a fraction of
the price. Only after there are significant numbers of new
Iraqi police can plans
like Chalabi's, which calls for the US to withdraw
to the outskirts of cities and hand over control to Iraqis,
be considered.
- Bush's
$87 billion has been Okayed
by a Senate committee, with $20 billion going
into the reconstruction of Iraq. However, a new study suggests
$55
billion will be required to complete the job.
Many US companies
are lobbying their government in a bid to win
contracts in Iraq, realising that there's money to be made.
The lack of involvement of the Governing Council in awarding
contracts for reconstruction has meant:
- Few
Iraqi companies are being considered for or winning
contracts although such a step would significantly reduce
costs, making better use of the money available, and
would also strengthen the Iraqi economy
- Several
contracts have been awarded to companies that have ties
to the former regime
- The
Governing Council took Iraq's seat
at the UN, confirming their legitimacy. In further
positive steps:
- Electricity
is getting
better nationwide as pre-war levels are topped,
however Baghdad is still below pre-war levels as four
US companies go in to try and find a solution.
- Schools
reopened for a new academic year without
Saddam but with a free school bag for each student,
after a massive rebuilding campaign that employed locals
to build hundreds of new desks, chairs and doors, clean
up the schools and fit new windows.
- After
the US agrees with Turkey on a plan to tackle
the PKK using only US troops, Turkey is set to
send
up to 10,000 troops to Iraq to aid the coalition
but sensitivities between Iraqi Kurds and the Turks must
be considered in any such deployment. This comes against
the backdrop of the UN, where wrangling
continues over a resolution.
You
can find this online at http://www.iprospect.org.uk/na6oct.html
