NEW YORK - The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat assessment of the situation there, "the U.S. Embassy in Iraq painted a starkly different portrait of increasing danger and hardship faced by its Iraqi employees."
This cable outlines, the Post reported Sunday, "the daily-worsening conditions for those who live outside the heavily guarded international zone: harassment, threats and the employees' constant fears that their neighbors will discover they work for the U.S. government."
It's actually far worse than that, as the details published below indicate, which include references to abductions, threats to women's rights, and "ethnic cleansing."
A PDF copy of the cable shows that it was sent to the SecState in Washington, D.C. from "AMEmbassy Baghdad" on June 6. The typed name at the very bottom is Khalilzad -- the name of the U.S. Ambassador, though it is not known if this means he wrote the memo or merely approved it.
The subject of the memo is: "Snapshots from the Office -- Public Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social Discord."
As a footnote in one of the 23 sections, the embassy relates, "An Arab newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of ethnic cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi province, as political parties and their militiast are seemingly engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq."
Among the other troubling reports:
-- "Personal safety depends on good relations with the 'neighborhood' governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. The central government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias. People no longer trust most neighbors."
-- One embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. Another received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.
-- Iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in March and picking up in May, report "pervasive" harassment from Islamist and/or militia groups. Cuts in power and rising fuel prices "have diminished the quality of life." Conditions vary but even upscale neighborhoods "have visibly deteriorated" and one of them is now described as a "ghost town."
-- Two of the three female Iraqis in the public affairs office reported stepped-up harassment since mid-May... "some groups are pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative." One of the women is now wearing a full abaya after receiving direct threats.
-- It has also become "dangerous" for men to wear shorts in public and "they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts." People who wear jeans in public have also come under attack.
-- Embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover will be blown. Of nine staffers, only four have told their families where they work. They all plan for their possible abductions.
No one takes home their cell phones as this gives them away. One employee said criticism of the U.S. had grown so severe that most of her family believes the U.S. "is punishing populations as Saddam did."
***
Of course it is high treason to report how bad things suck in Baghdad, especially in light of the administration's, "optimism."
I have stated numerous times that I believe it would be immoral to pull our forces out of Iraq and leave them in a state of Civil War. But for once, I would like to have a discussion with the Right, where they did not call me a traitor and troop hater, for suggesting the obvious. Iraq is screwed.... And if the above reports are right, it is not going to get better any time soon... In my opinion one of two things are going to happen.
1. Americans will eventually grow so tired of this, that they will insist we pull out, regardless of the stability or lack thereof in Iraq.
2. We will have a MAJOR presence in Iraq for MANY years to come.
Neither option is very appealing...
And rather than being blunted by the killing of Zarqawi, Insurgent bands in Iraq
seem to be emboldened
No, it does not look good...
Posted by David A at June 18, 2006 08:45 PM
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Iraq | 723 Words
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Comments
Why all the secrecy Mr. Bush? Are you making some secret deals with the puppet IRAQUI government you don't want the American People to know about? We know the war is about you, your friends, and your business interests. Come on, bring our soldiers home. You are wrong in going there, being there, and going back in Secret. There is nothing in IRAQ except poor helpless people caught in the middle of the Oil War. Is Iran next on the list?
Posted by: AFJ at June 19, 2006 12:49 AM
That's odd- I have been reading your posts for quite a long time, and I am hard pressed to find people who are calling you a "traitor" or a "troop hater" or "unpatriotic." I know you didn't throw that last one in, but it's the most common one that the anti-war types and the left like to get all defensive about- even when nobody is calling them that. And if somebody is calling any of those things on a rare occasion, I think you're secure enough to handle it.
I do find it ironic that on this post, the first picture you use is a well staged, pulitzer prize winning propaganda photo by the insurgent's
personal AP photographer/stringer, Bilal Hussein (one of the many insurgents-in-action photos that he was able to amazingly get out to the press unscathed.)
">http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Bilal+Hussein%22&btnG=Google+Search
And I have no doubt things suck in Iraq, I've read the history of occupied Germany after World War Two as that nation (well- actually two nations after the Russians got embarrassed) was trying to pull it together. Add to that kind of atmosphere the type of religious and Anti- American extremists out fueled by those who wish they were still in power and the Bin Laden wannabees who will kill whoever they can to get a headline, and it is all one big shit sandwich.
But I'm glad you're not suggesting we leave which would be far worse. The Iraqi government seems to have begun the process of making their own decisions and began in earnest the day after the President left. I'd like to believe what I've believed all along- that as the Iraqi Army and interior forces continue to get stronger and take over operations you'll see that American forces play a supporting role and/or back off and out.
We're seeing that in the raids across Bagdad last week. The Iraqis were the overwhelming majority in the security operations in Bagdad ordered by the new government. Yeah, it is taking more time that a lot of us (carefully chosen word) want- but Rome wasn't built in a day. Nor was Berlin. Or Tokyo. Or Atlanta for that matter.
But I also you are seeing the effect of this on the rest of the middle east (Lebanon, Libya, rumblings of protests in Iran, etc.) I believe that when all is said and done, this is going to be exactly what the regime change doctrine of the late 90's and continued by this President intended. But then- I'm optimistic about Iraq. I know you are still torn on some of it and just downright "anti" the rest of it.
Posted by: Marty at June 19, 2006 09:08 PM
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