Iraqis sample democracy in U.S.-sponsored councils
By DAVID R. BAKER, San Francisco Chronicle | Posted: Thursday, September 04, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- In a Baghdad art gallery, Iraq's new grass-roots democracy struggles through a noisy birth.
About 25 men and women debate in a sweltering room, hands and arms knifing the air for emphasis. The chairman, in a blue blazer and tie, slaps his hand on the table for order. It's their eighth meeting, and he doesn't have a gavel.
This animated group is one of Baghdad's nine new district councils, part of an effort to rebuild Iraq's civil society and give its citizens a taste of democracy.
Working with a North Carolina nonprofit organization, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority governing Iraq has set up neighborhood, district and town councils throughout the country. The councils have no real power now, just the ability to tell the coalition what their communities need.
If the experiment succeeds, however, the councils will evolve into legislative bodies with a hand in setting municipal budgets and policy.
"That's a revolutionary thing in Iraq," said Charles Costello, one of the project organizers with the North Carolina group, known as the Research Triangle Institute. In the past, he added, "Citizens had no chance to take part in the matters that affected their daily lives."
Participation carries risk. Some Iraqis opposed to the occupation view council members as enemy collaborators, so meetings often take place behind a shield of coalition troops.
Council members accept the risks in return for the promise of helping their neighborhoods. While the councils lack the ability to tell government officials what to do, they have a direct line of communication with the coalition authority. If a neighborhood's water main breaks, for example, the area's representatives can get coalition help to fix it.
Participation also holds a larger promise -- that council members will have a role in rebuilding their own society.
"We believe the coalition forces did best in eliminating a dictator," said Baghdad City Council member Saieb Siddiq Abdel Aziz Al Gailani, 46. "But creating a government? The people should share in this."
For now, the councils concentrate on more immediate concerns. Inside the Orfali Art Gallery in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, district council members talk through the frustrations that have consumed Iraqis since the war: electricity shortages, looted or understocked schools, security.
The council members want a protective wall built around the gallery, and they agree to ask the Research Triangle Institute for a grant to do it. During a discussion on the licensing of handguns, one man says he and the rest of the group need weapons, since some of their neighbors consider them traitors.
"Some people don't want this experience to succeed," the man, Thabit Tahr, said later, speaking through an interpreter.
He insists, however, that he isn't worried. If anyone challenges him about his membership, he said, "I'd explain that my real job here is in favor of the neighborhood. It's in their favor."
The Research Triangle Institute devised the council system together with the U.S. Agency for International Development and Baghdad city officials. The institute has years of experience consulting with local governments in such countries as El Salvador and Indonesia. This spring, it won a USAID contract worth up to $167.9 million to help create democratic institutions in Iraq.
Prewar Iraq's local governments had little in common with democracy. Baghdad had a council made up of national government officials, city executives and district representatives handpicked by the ruling Baath Party. Other cities didn't even have district or neighborhood representatives, said Ronald Johnson, the Research Triangle Institute's senior vice president.
Much of the legwork needed to create the new councils fell to the U.S. military. Civil affairs officers fanned out through the capital's neighborhoods, handing out fliers and calling for volunteers from loudspeakers mounted on Humvees.
The officers picked neighborhood council members who were nominated by people in their communities, screening the candidates to weed out committed Baathists. The neighborhood councils then selected representatives to the district councils, who in turn chose members for the City Council.
Military officers remain a presence at council meetings, although a quiet one. At the Mansour district council meeting, U.S. Army Maj. Paul Daniels sat with an interpreter at the front of the room. He joined the conversation only when people asked him specific questions about coalition policy and procedures.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
AP-NY-09-04-03 1101EDT
About 25 men and women debate in a sweltering room, hands and arms knifing the air for emphasis. The chairman, in a blue blazer and tie, slaps his hand on the table for order. It's their eighth meeting, and he doesn't have a gavel.
This animated group is one of Baghdad's nine new district councils, part of an effort to rebuild Iraq's civil society and give its citizens a taste of democracy.
Working with a North Carolina nonprofit organization, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority governing Iraq has set up neighborhood, district and town councils throughout the country. The councils have no real power now, just the ability to tell the coalition what their communities need.
If the experiment succeeds, however, the councils will evolve into legislative bodies with a hand in setting municipal budgets and policy.
"That's a revolutionary thing in Iraq," said Charles Costello, one of the project organizers with the North Carolina group, known as the Research Triangle Institute. In the past, he added, "Citizens had no chance to take part in the matters that affected their daily lives."
Participation carries risk. Some Iraqis opposed to the occupation view council members as enemy collaborators, so meetings often take place behind a shield of coalition troops.
Council members accept the risks in return for the promise of helping their neighborhoods. While the councils lack the ability to tell government officials what to do, they have a direct line of communication with the coalition authority. If a neighborhood's water main breaks, for example, the area's representatives can get coalition help to fix it.
Participation also holds a larger promise -- that council members will have a role in rebuilding their own society.
"We believe the coalition forces did best in eliminating a dictator," said Baghdad City Council member Saieb Siddiq Abdel Aziz Al Gailani, 46. "But creating a government? The people should share in this."
For now, the councils concentrate on more immediate concerns. Inside the Orfali Art Gallery in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, district council members talk through the frustrations that have consumed Iraqis since the war: electricity shortages, looted or understocked schools, security.
The council members want a protective wall built around the gallery, and they agree to ask the Research Triangle Institute for a grant to do it. During a discussion on the licensing of handguns, one man says he and the rest of the group need weapons, since some of their neighbors consider them traitors.
"Some people don't want this experience to succeed," the man, Thabit Tahr, said later, speaking through an interpreter.
He insists, however, that he isn't worried. If anyone challenges him about his membership, he said, "I'd explain that my real job here is in favor of the neighborhood. It's in their favor."
The Research Triangle Institute devised the council system together with the U.S. Agency for International Development and Baghdad city officials. The institute has years of experience consulting with local governments in such countries as El Salvador and Indonesia. This spring, it won a USAID contract worth up to $167.9 million to help create democratic institutions in Iraq.
Prewar Iraq's local governments had little in common with democracy. Baghdad had a council made up of national government officials, city executives and district representatives handpicked by the ruling Baath Party. Other cities didn't even have district or neighborhood representatives, said Ronald Johnson, the Research Triangle Institute's senior vice president.
Much of the legwork needed to create the new councils fell to the U.S. military. Civil affairs officers fanned out through the capital's neighborhoods, handing out fliers and calling for volunteers from loudspeakers mounted on Humvees.
The officers picked neighborhood council members who were nominated by people in their communities, screening the candidates to weed out committed Baathists. The neighborhood councils then selected representatives to the district councils, who in turn chose members for the City Council.
Military officers remain a presence at council meetings, although a quiet one. At the Mansour district council meeting, U.S. Army Maj. Paul Daniels sat with an interpreter at the front of the room. He joined the conversation only when people asked him specific questions about coalition policy and procedures.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
AP-NY-09-04-03 1101EDT
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 0 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
