From the St. Cloud Times:
Mehdi: Iraq is in bad state
By Kirsti Marohn, kmarohn@stcloudtimes.com
Published: December 01. 2007 12:30AM - Last updated: December 01. 2007 12:45AMMINNEAPOLIS — A St. Cloud State University professor who recently returned from his native Iraq painted a grim picture Friday of the situation in that country and a bleak prediction for its future.
Abbas Mehdi, who teaches sociology and anthropology, spoke at a forum at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute.
Mehdi left Iraq in 1977 after he was placed under a death sentence for his opposition to Saddam Hussein. He returned last year for the first time in almost 28 years. He worked as an adviser to a group helping to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, and he later took a cabinet position in the government.
Mehdi described a country in complete turmoil where corruption is rampant, conditions are worse than during Saddam Hussein's rule and people lack basic services such as water and electricity.
"Iraq was living a nightmare during Saddam, and now they are living another, a different nightmare," Mehdi said.
The United States had far-reaching goals for Iraq — rebuilding the society, establishing a democracy and triggering waves of democratic reform across the Middle East, Mehdi said.
"Unfortunately, as you know, none of this happened. ... Everything went wrong and continued to go wrong in Iraq," he said.
The systems needed to maintain order, deliver services and keep the economy moving don't exist, Mehdi said. He described staying in a luxury hotel in Baghdad's Green Zone and not having electricity or water for three days. Relatives complained to him that the outages sometimes last a month.
Mehdi said he went to a hospital for a minor medical problem and was dismissed by the doctor.
"He said, 'I have nothing for you, sir. I have people who have bullets in their body, are dying,' " Mehdi said.
Much of the middle class — about 4 million well-educated people — have fled Iraq, he said.
Mehdi noted recent reports that violence in Iraq has declined, and he agreed that security has improved. But Mehdi attributed that to the U.S. arming Sunni militias, a strategy to combat al-Qaida that he says was strongly opposed by the Iraqi government and will lead to civil war.
Mehdi had hoped to visit his elderly parents and other relatives who live about 60 miles outside of Baghdad. But the dangerous conditions prevented him from going.
"My mother died, and I couldn't go to her funeral," he said. "That shows you."
Corruption was inherent during Saddam Hussein's rule but may be even more pervasive now, Mehdi said, with some estimating it accounts for 50 cents of every dollar spent.
He told about meeting shortly after he was appointed with a man who wanted approval for a $320 million project. When Mehdi told the man he'd study it, the man offered him 4 percent.
"I looked at him and said, 'You know you are insulting me.' He said, 'No, I want to take care of you,' " Mehdi said. "This is the level of corruption in Iraq."
Mehdi predicted that the United States will never leave Iraq completely, but will keep permanent bases because of its vital interests there.
The Iraqi people have lost trust in the United States, Mehdi said, and now most think that U.S. politics — not Iraq's best interests — are guiding decisions there. They are skeptical of a plan to distribute oil revenue, viewing it as a boon for U.S. oil companies, he said.
Mehdi said he believes the only way to fix the situation in Iraq is to get rid of the officials in power and replace them with a "caretaker" government of competent people regardless of their ethnic background. After a year or two, free elections could be held, he said.
Mehdi said he decided to take a break from the frustrating, dangerous conditions of Iraq. He described trying to work when phone lines and computers often didn't function for days at a time.
"Life is tough there, very tough. ... It's tremendous pressure on you as a human," he said.
Mehdi plans to resume teaching at St. Cloud State in January. He said he hopes eventually to return to Iraq.
"I'm glad I did go, because the experience I had, the things I saw is unbelievable," Mehdi said.
