Where There Is No Rule Of Law, There Is No Law And Order (Iraq in Chaos)

Where There Is No Rule Of Law, There Is No Law And Order (Iraq in Chaos)
by Marshall Adame
January 18, 2007

The US plan for Iraq did not, until very recently, put any great emphasis on establishing, or reinstating the Rule of Law in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussain, particularly in Baghdad, the capitol city of Iraq. For almost four years a sense of anarchy has reigned in Iraq. Bush administration policy, through Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provincial Authority in 2003, dissolved, without any forward planning, the very institutions in Iraq that could have represented a structural sense, or perception of Law and Order after the chaos initiated by the fall of Saddam.

The immediate aftermath of a government having been toppled is usually lawlessness, crime, mayhem and chaos. From the onset of the occupation of Iraq it was evident that little or no planning had been done regarding, post Saddam, civil order or civil welfare actions for the Iraqi citizens.

In 2003 the Bush administration, with advise and consul of the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield, and through Paul Bremer, began training and equipping the newly formed Iraqi Police (IP) and the, then still forming, new Iraqi Army (IA).

The plan was pretty basic. Provide all the guns, bullets, vehicles, logistics support, materials and food the police and Army could possibly need and train them to enforce law and order throughout Iraq. The reality of Iraq having no Rule of Law for the enforcers to use as the basis for enforcement, I guess, simply did not occur to the Bush Administration.

The looting of Baghdad and almost all of the other major cities in Iraq and the lawless, barbaric destruction and theft of property from national buildings, monuments and riches occurred unchecked by the US or British forces who had primary responsibilities for control over the country. (In fact, while in Basrah in 2003, I witnessed the British Army doing a little looting themselves. I reported it through an email to the British legal officer in Basrah at the time).

Having dissolved the existing Iraqi Army and displacing the thousands of Iraqi policemen, Paul Bremer started us all on this path to anarchy in Iraq. The Army and Police who had the institutional knowledge necessary to maintain any semblance of institutional and civil order, or stability were dismissed and disbanded by order Paul Bremer. In doing so, the Bush Administration unwittingly opened a Pandora’s box which, to this day, remains open and has filled Iraq with fear, death, poverty, hunger and strife. The hopes and dreams of a truly stable and free Iraq, where the Rule of Law would reign, were unwittingly dashed by the stroke of Paul Bremers pen in April of 2003.

The people of Iraq have never endured the day to day threats to their lives as they experience today. The danger represented by Saddam’s regime to the Iraqi people was serious and real. Nobody would ever question that fact. Today however, the dangers present in the day to day lives of the Iraqi population are just as deadly and even more sinister. Death comes from everywhere now. It lurks around every corner of the cities throughout the country. The US trained and equipped Iraqi police now represent the greatest perceived threat to the Iraqi population at large, second only to the criminals and militias. The elements of society which the Iraqis should look to for protection and order are the very same who are murdering and torturing Iraqi citizens every single day in Iraq. Trained and Equipped by the US Military, themselves unaware of the social, tribal and religious forces working in the lives of every single member of the Iraqi Police and Army.

The former Minister of Interior, Jabr, today the Iraq Minister of Finance who lived in Iran for over twenty years during Saddams rule, reportedly formed the Shia death squads, now famous for their murder and brutality against Iraqi citizens, Sunni and Shia alike, still not accountable for his alleged deeds. No government official willing to speak against him. Fears reigns in Iraq. It seems that today in Iraq, the only solution to just about any problem is death.

On 16 January 16, 2007, Kim Gamel, an Associated Press reporter, described the outcome of an explosion outside of Baghdad university, as students were heading home for the day, which killed at least 65 people. He also reported the daily death toll in Iraq that day to be 109. On the same day the United Nations reported that at least 34,452 Iraqis were killed and about 36,685 were wounded in 2006 through sectarian violence. Additionally, the U.N. reported that 30,842 people were detained in the country as of Dec. 31, 2006 including 14,534 in detention facilities run by U.S.-led multinational forces. Many of those being detained by US forces were not captured as the result of combat. Many were simply picked up by order of field commanders and sent to prisons having never actually been charged with any crime. There are many very bad guys in Iraq, but not every Iraqi between the age of 18 and 40 is a bad guy. At least not before they were jailed by the coalition.

By rounding up thousands of men and women without charging them, holding them for months and finally releasing them with a few dollars in their pocket, we have created new and willing recruits for the militias and insurgents. New recruits who now have a personal score to settle with America. Something I am sure that has not been lost to those groups and militias who would bring further hurt and pain to Iraq. Put yourself in the place of one of the innocent Iraqis now sitting in a coalition prison in Iraq. When finally released; what would you do?

Any rudimentary respect for the Rule of Law would have insured that no citizen could be detained for specific periods of time without charge or without cause. If arrested, some system should have been put in place to allow an expedient defense and some basic access to a legal system which could officially order a release, or further detention, based on some evidence which may have indicted the person charged. This is basic to American thinking. We did not come to Iraq to deny the Iraqis their liberty, but rather to assure it.

Cabinet ministers and legislators, many who are loyal followers of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, (Six Cabinet ministers and 30 legislators), sit in the “Green Zone” where they are cared for and protected by US forces and wherein a type of Rule of Law is respected, while the people they are supposed to represent languish in the hell that is their day to day lives in Iraq. While waiting for direction from their unelected leader, Al-Sadr, they fail to act on behalf of the Iraqi population and refuse any talk about accommodation to the elected Sunni colleagues or for the Sunni population throughout Iraq. They offer no hope for a peaceful future in Iraq. Even between them, no Rule of Law or culture exists.

The associated press report also painted a grim picture for other sectors of Iraqi society, saying “the violence has disrupted education by forcing schools and universities to close as well as sending professionals fleeing from the country. At least 470,094 people throughout Iraq have been forced to leave their homes since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra”.

Apparently the educated and those who can afford the trip are leaving Iraq. With no other alternative, leaving behind the homes of their fathers, the poor and uneducated, a corrupt government and a lawless society where those who came to rescue them did not come prepared to follow through after the military campaign which toppled the historical source of repression in their lives.

There is no Rule of Law in Iraq. Consequently there is no Law and Order. I agree that we can blame a lot of the problems in Iraq directly on the Iraqis themselves, but the absence of Rule of Law and Law and Order falls squarely on the US government and its failure to lead the way and provide a vision for the Iraqi people to share after the fall of Saddam.

Our military did their duty in a most splendid way and freed Iraq. They opened the door to vision and dreams of a great future. Apparently the President of the United States thought of this as a military campaign with no other consideration required. Our military did the work and carried out the mission.

In having vanquished an evil power, Saddam, our military brought a new day with endless possibilities in Iraq. The leadership of President Bush and his failure to entertain sound advise has dashed those possibilities has helped usher Iraq back into the dark ages when brutality and force ruled the day. Your leadership, Mr. President, failed our military, and the Iraqi people. Americas failure to bring Rule of Law back into the broken Iraqi society stole the hopes and dimmed whatever light or chance existed for the Iraqi people to ever be free. God save them. I am not sure we can.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall is a retired US Marine Vietnam veteran who became an aviation management/logistics consultant in 1992.

He worked in the Kuwait recovery of 1992-93 and was the senior aviation logistics manager for Kaman Aerospace in their Egypt US Government Aviation assistance programs from 1998 through 2002.

Marshall arrived in Iraq in 2003 where he was the Coalition Provincial Authority Airport Director for Basrah International Airport, later VP for Aviation development with an International commercial company. and later Department of State (DoS) US Advisor for logistics to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.

Marshall received a Diplomatic appointment by the Department of State (DoS) and was assigned as a US Advisor for logistics to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. He later was joined the DoS Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) where he served on staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in the Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. (Logistics, City planning, Governance Capacity Building, Government Liaison).

Marshall is currently serving as the Sr. Analyst for an Army Defense contractor in the Northeastern United states.

Marshall, 54, and his wife Becky (Formerly Becky Ortiz), a 3rd grade teacher, have been married for 37 years and have four children, Paul, Veronica, William and Benjamin, and eleven grandchildren.

Two of their sons, William and Benjamin, have served in Iraq in the US Army. William was wounded in action on July 2nd 2006.

Home: Jacksonville NC. Marshall and Becky reside in Jacksonville North Carolina. marshall_adame@yahoo.com

Marshall Adame is a very likely 2008 candidate for the North Carolina 3rd US Congressional District seat.

Marshall is a strong supporter of John Edwards for President of The United States in 2008.