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September 12th,
2009 - In Anbar Province, New Leadership, but Old Problems Persist News article from the New York Times |
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In Anbar Province, New
Leadership, but Old Problems Persist By Sam Dagher New York Times September 12, 2009 Ramadi, Iraq - It has been
just more than seven months since a mainly tribal coalition came to power
here in Anbar Province, but already its leaders are being accused by many of
doing little for most citizens while seeking to enrich themselves through
sweetheart business deals. Among the new political
leaders coming under increased criticism is Anbar Province’s governor, Qasim
Abed al-Fahadawi. “The majority of them are
after personal gains,” said Sheik Ghazi Sami al-Abed, a prominent local
businessman recently. “Few are looking to rebuild the country.” The provincial elections at
the end of January were supposed to enfranchise people in this staunchly
Sunni Arab province, once a stronghold for insurgents and militants linked to
Al Qaeda. After almost all the Anbar Sunni tribes boycotted the previous elections
in 2005, this year’s voting was seen as a crucial way to bring them into
government and perhaps ease tensions with the Shiite-dominated national
government in Baghdad. But extensive interviews
with Anbar residents show that they see very little difference between their
new government and the previous provincial council. That council, widely
deemed illegitimate by many boycotting Sunnis, was accused so vehemently of
corrupt and dysfunctional rule that it created fears of renewed intertribal
warfare. “They are thugs; they became
politicians and now they have a lot of money,” said another Anbar businessman
about the province’s current political leaders. He spoke on the condition of
anonymity for fear of retribution. The discontent in Anbar is
coming at a critical time, as the United States has reduced its military
presence here significantly and completely stopped spending money on new
projects despite the province’s “enormous” infrastructure needs, said one
senior American official. It was American cash and contracts that spurred
most tribal leaders to renounce the insurgency and switch alliances to the
American side almost three years ago, in what is now known as the Sunni
Awakening - a model the United States is seeking to replicate with tribes in
Afghanistan. In the absence of American
patronage, the worrisome question in Anbar, which makes up roughly one-third
of Iraq’s territory, is whether public dissatisfaction coupled with political
and economic rivalries between the tribal leaders in power and those on the
outside could lead to large-scale violence. “The structure of modern
local governance including transparency and accountability are at variance
with the traditional expectations of tribal leaders,” said James Soriano, who
leads the State Department’s Provincial Reconstruction Team based on the
outskirts of the provincial capital, Ramadi. “There is a potential for a
recipe for trouble if the pie is shrinking.” Mr. Soriano spoke before his
expected departure from Ramadi this month. Anbar’s test also comes at a
time when insurgents appear to be regrouping. Almost no day goes by without
an attack or a bombing in Falluja, the province’s other main city. Several
pro-American tribal leaders have been killed, and there have been a number of
deadly bombings in Ramadi and other cities like Haditha and Qaim since July. The picture is further
complicated by a still uneasy relationship between this province, once among
the most loyal to Saddam Hussein, and the Shiite-led national government.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki appears to be pitting Sunni leaders
against one another and finding tribal allies here who can bolster his
standing as a national leader and help him in his bid for re-election in
January. In addition to money spent
by the Americans in Anbar, the previous provincial government received
hundreds of millions of dollars from the central government. Much of it is
believed to have been lost to corruption and mismanagement. Among the new political
leaders coming under increased criticism is the province’s governor, Qasim
Abed al-Fahadawi. In the absence of new
American development aid, dwindling as the United States has urged the
government in Baghdad to fill the breach, Mr. Fahadawi has followed the
Western model and turned to the private sector for investment and help. The
governor was even recognized for his efforts as “global personality of the
year” by the London-based magazine Foreign Direct Investment. But increasingly, the
governor’s business affiliations are sounding alarm bells inside the province
and elsewhere. In a recent interview, Mr.
Fahadawi made no secret of favoring a small clique of his tribal and business
friends over others when it comes to future investments and contracts in the
province. His relationship with Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha, who two years ago took
the lead role in the American-backed tribal Awakening movement, has caused
hard feelings here. Sheik Ahmed has turned the
Awakening movement into the dominant political party here, leading the
coalition that runs the Anbar provincial council. Many of the two men’s
opponents say that Mr. Fahadawi has basically served as Sheik Ahmed’s money
manager, with the two combining forces to use their political power to
control how business contracts in Anbar are distributed to outside companies. Both men insist that their
business dealings are completely aboveboard, and Mr. Fahadawi says he has
helped bring in investment and jobs that have helped revitalize local
industries. One of the biggest deals the
men have been involved in is an effort to bring in two companies from the
United Arab Emirates, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, to develop Anbar’s
giant Akkaz gas field. Sheik Ahmed has taken the lead in the negotiations, and
the two companies have committed to helping create as many as 100,000 jobs in
the province, Mr. Fahadawi said. But the men are
circumventing the Oil Ministry’s plan to put the contract up for general
bidding, instead appealing directly to Mr. Maliki for support. It was one of
the main topics Sheik Ahmed and Mr. Maliki discussed when the prime minister
visited Anbar this summer. Almost 175 sheep were slaughtered and the meat was
distributed in Mr. Maliki’s honor, according to local residents. Opposing tribal leaders in
Anbar see the deal as an attempt by Sheik Ahmed to use national backing to
cement his position as the province’s de facto chieftain and to freeze them
out of lucrative business interests. They say he already has a dangerous
amount of control over the local government and security forces. “There will be a bloody
struggle if he takes it all,” warned Sheik Ghazi, the prominent local
businessman. Another Anbar business
magnate, Sheik Tariq Khalaf al-Abdullah, who was instrumental in introducing American
forces to the local power structure at the beginning of the Awakening
movement, also is fighting the deal. Sheik Tariq is now based in Amman,
Jordan, but he has been trying to galvanize the opposition within Anbar. In an interview in his plush
office in Amman, he wondered why the Americans were not taking a bigger role
in monitoring Anbar’s affairs. “I am surprised how they could withdraw before
tying the loose ends,” he said. Sheik Tariq established a
tribal council and businesses for Anbar’s sheiks that benefited from American
money and largesse when it was more abundant in return for allegiance. Mr. Soriano, the leader of
the State Department reconstruction team, said that the United States would
continue to assist and advise Anbar’s government but that it would be up to
Iraqis to resolve their differences and determine their priorities. “A nice way to exit Iraq
would be for a tribal society to support the structure of local government
and local security forces to prevent a setback,” he said. External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/world/middleeast/13anbar.html |