FLASHREPORT

CA GOP OFFICIAL REPORTS FROM BAGHDAD

An exclusive column penned for the FlashReport by Ron Nehring, Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party.

(BAGHDAD) – If you thought the California legislature had some interesting sessions, try the new Iraq Council of Representatives.

Meeting just inside the Green Zone (now known as the International Zone, or IZ), Iraq’s new, permanent 275 member parliament is in session, forging ahead to transition this country of 26 million people away from the war and dictatorship that have plagued it for 30 years.

Having no need for a legislature – and therefore a legislative chamber – under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the new Iraqi parliament meets at the Baghdad convention center which has been fortified with armed guards, checkpoints, barbed wire and blast walls. 

What outside has the appearance of an armed camp, inside takes on a look and feel not that different from a typical legislature back home.  Legislators – some in suits, others in traditional Arab attire – congregate in the cafeteria discussing policy and politics.  Some go off into side rooms and hold more formal sessions.  Those I met with are good people, genuinely interested in building a new country for a new generation.  It’s very different than what we see on television, which typically highlights divisions and difficulties that make for better ratings than less alarmist progress and diligence.

The new legislators, their supporters and staffs are pioneers in their own way, building the institutions of democracy that we take for granted.  There are no farm teams of local elected officials ready to move up to the parliament, no cadre of veteran campaign managers and media advisors, no experienced corps of legislative staff members trained in policy, communications or constituent services.  These new leaders are building it all from scratch.

Driving around the city visiting the sites so often featured on television quickly provides the new visitor with a picture of how manipulative and maniacal Saddam Hussein was.  Here’s a guy so full of himself that everything new and big built during his reign he decided to name after…himself, of course.  There’s Saddam International Airport (now Baghdad International), and of course the Saddam mosque, etc.  You get the point.  One government building I toured had Saddam’s initials carved into the exterior walls about every 10 feet.  (This is the equivalent of President Bush insisting a big “W” appear all over the place on everything built by the feds since 2001). 

With Saddam now in a jail cell awaiting his execution following his conviction for crimes against humanity, there is a certain irony in the present situation.  I wonder how the great leader feels about the fact that one of his former palaces now serves as the U.S. embassy (the new, permanent US embassy is now under construction; it will be the largest such embassy in the world, on a plot of land just slightly smaller than Vatican City)…or that British troops use the parade grounds Saddam had constructed (to provide distraction from his horrible record as a military leader) to practice drills.  The list goes on.

When America chose to take down Saddam Hussein, we took on the responsibility for helping the country up from its knees, one that had suffered under UN-imposed sanctions for 12 years, plus an unbelievably brutal despot.  There are good people here, anxious to build a new country.  If the international community – good people, and good countries – continue to step forward to help, it can be done.