During my numerous reporting trips to Anbar I noticed that these tribal leaders had a few things in common, including a passion for guns and arms of all sorts and armored S.U.V.’s.
RAMADI, Iraq – In September 2007 former President George W. Bush traveled to Anbar Province to meet the leaders of the American-backed and financed tribal Awakening movement that was instrumental in quelling the insurgency in this western Iraqi province. At the time he presented five of the sheiks he met with one white armored Toyota Land Cruiser sports utility vehicle each as a token of his appreciation.
Audio Listen to the Podcast (mp3)
‘The Brno’ Song by Hussam al-Rassam
“Translation: Mr. GMC driver take me to Ramadi, my beloved is in Ramadi.”
The estimated price tag for each armored S.U.V. is anywhere between $150,000 and $250,000.
In these rugged and intensely traditional lands such gifts are a source of pride for their recipients, especially when they come from an American commander in chief.
“”Hey brother hand me the Brno (Czech made rifle).
I want to fire some shots.
The eyes of my beloved have cast a spell on me.
I am on fire.
Her stare is more precise and lethal than the Brno.
Mr. GMC driver take me to Ramadi, my beloved is in Ramadi.
All men tumble to the wayside with a blink from her eyes.
When she stares at you it feels like being fired at with a machine gun.
You do not know where you are going to be hit.
She’s lethal.”
— Lyrics by Hussam al-Rassam
For these power hungry sheiks it was tantamount to an endorsement and recognition of their stature, real or perceived.
But right after the encounter with Mr. Bush at the Al-Assad airbase in the Anbar desert, things started to take a turn for the worse for a few of the sheiks. For one sheik this happened fairly quickly.
Almost 10 days after the meeting, Sheik Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, who was the chief of the Awakening in Anbar and its most visible symbol, was on his way to his stables to check on his favorite horse, a white mare called Mona. Sheik Sattar’s tribe the Abu Risha – a less powerful tribe before the American invasion that was derided in Anbar as being made up of highway bandits – had been catapulted to fame and fortune as a result of his leadership of the Awakening.
According to his brother Sheik Ahmed, who has taken over the leadership of the Awakening and transformed it into a political movement, Sheik Sattar was riding his new S.U.V. within the tribe’s tightly secured fief.
He stopped on the way to the stables and got out of his vehicle to speak to a shepherd. It was at that moment that a suicide car bomber, who had been smuggled into the estate by none other than Sheik Sattar’s most trusted companion and bodyguard, raced towards him and exploded. Now a giant billboard of the late Sheik Sattar stands at the entrance of Ramadi’s main checkpoint, where every vehicle and individual is thoroughly searched. “You have lived in honor and died a martyr,” reads the caption on the billboard.
Another S.U.V. gift recipient was Sheik Hatem al-Gaoud, 30, of the Abu Nimer, whose powerbase is in the town of Hit, west of Ramadi.
Last summer Marines suspended American-funded reconstruction projects in the town after charges that the mayor and police chief, both protégées and relatives of Sheik Hatem, were involved in a multimillion-dollar oil smuggling ring.
Shortly before that Sheik Hatem had fallen out of favor with the Americans and his armored S.U.V. gift from Mr. Bush was taken away from him and given to his rival for the tribal leadership, Sheik Faisal al-Gaoud. Sheik Faisal’s brother is now the police chief. Sheik Faisal’s son Ghazi is running in the upcoming provincial elections as part of a coalition assembled by Sheik Ahmed of the Abu Risha.
A cousin of Sheik Hatem, Salah al-Nimrawi, said the corruption charges against the mayor and former police chief were false and accused Sheik Ahmed of instigating discord within the Abu Nimer tribe that could potentially lead to violence.
Sheik Mish’hen al-Jumaili, head of the most powerful tribe in Garma near Falluja, was a third recipient of the S.U.V. gift. But last summer he was stripped of a monthly stipend he had been getting from the American military and the S.U.V. He was also denied any future contracts through the Americans.
Maj. Gen. Saadoun al-Jumaili, the head of an elite police unit based in Garma and the sheik’s cousin, said this happened because Sheik Mish’hen interfered in security arrangements at a meeting he was hosting in June that allowed a suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi soldier to slip in and blow himself up killing 26 Iraqis and three Marines.
Sheik Mish’hen has made millions from his association with the Americans and an alleged 15 percent commission he imposed on all contractors working in Garma, according to several sources in the town, which remains largely rundown and in ruins.
Sheik Mish’hen’s assistant Rasoul Mutlaq denied the charges. He said he personally bought bags of rice, sugar and tea for the Awakening fighters with American funds. He recounts how he used a $150,000 payment from the Americans one time to buy weapons in Baghdad including Russian-made PKC machine guns.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is also vying for the loyalty of tribes in Anbar and across Iraq. He is creating tribal support councils answerable directly to his office that are very similar to the Awakening councils created by the Americans but are now being phased out. Mr. Maliki has also showered tribal leaders with gifts, money and patronage. Many, especially his Shiite rivals and the Kurds, are upset about these councils and see them as entities that are operating outside the law and meant simply to bolster Mr. Maliki’s political base.
Col. Saad Abbas, a former intelligence officer during Saddam Hussein’s regime, heads a 3,000-strong tribal support council in Garma set up by Mr. Maliki last fall. The men get their monthly salaries from the government.
Col. Abbas, a soft spoken but intense looking man, said that in addition to its security function, his council “will supply Baghdad with intelligence information and form civilian committees that would oversee local institutions and submit reports to the central government.” These committees would be similar to the so-called popular committees prevalent during Mr. Hussein’s rule.
Not one but five portraits of Mr. Maliki hang in the office of Col. Abbas. He also rides around in an armored S.U.V. presented to him by Mr. Maliki’s office.
His elevated status has angered many powerful sheiks in Garma and Falluja including Sheik Mish’hen.
Last month Col. Abbas was driving from his home in Falluja to Garma in his armored S.U.V. and was accompanied by a convoy of guards. A pick up truck packed with explosives was detonated in their path, but Col. Abbas escaped unscathed.
This week another attempt was made on his life. This time he said his lunch was poisoned. He said American military medics saved him.
Iraqi women walk past new cars at automobile lot in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Business not bombs is booming at Baghdad car dealerships, as well-heeled Iraqis begin to take advantage of the relative calm in Iraq to indulge in a passion long out of reach - new, luxury cars.
(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraqis like many other people around the world are fond of big cars, especially S.U.V.’s. Some makes are given nicknames like Leila Elwi, after a buxom Egyptian movie star, or simply Monica, after Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern with whom former president Clinton was accused of having a sexual affair.
Iraqis also favor big GMC Suburban vehicles for long distance travel especially to Syria and Jordan, both of which share borders with Anbar. With the improvement in security these GMCs, which are operated by travel companies, can be seen again plying Anbar’s highways in greater numbers. Those headed from Baghdad to the Syrian border to the west pass by Ramadi.
In addition to big cars, no tribal leader feels whole without his guns. A song titled “The Brno” by Iraqi pop star Hussam al-Rassam, who has become an icon since the start of the war, epitomizes some of the classic stereotypical tribal traits: quick-tempered, passionate, chivalrous and loyal first to the tribe and nation and not to any religious sect. It was all the rage last year in Iraq especially in Ramadi.
The song is about grabbing your Brno (Czech made rifle), more of a tribal than an insurgent thing, and hopping into a GMC Suburban that would take you to Ramadi, a Sunni Arab city and then onward to the mainly Shiite cities of Basra in the extreme south and Hilla in the center. A call for reconciliation and unity of sorts for Iraqis worn out by wars and sectarian splits.
“Take me to Ramadi, my lover is in Ramadi,” sings Mr. Rassam, who is now believed to be living in America.
“All men tumble to the wayside with her blink. When she stares at you it feels like you are being fired at with a machine gun. You do not know where you are going to be hit…she’s lethal.”
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In Baghdad, a big craze for new cars
By SAMEER N. YACOUB
,
AP
posted: 16 HOURS 3 MINUTES AGO
BAGHDAD -Business, not bombs, is booming at Baghdad car dealerships, as well-heeled Iraqis are indulging in a passion long out of reach — spiffy, new cars.
BMWs, Nissans, Hyundais and even military-style Hummers are now weaving around the shabby, smoke-belching wrecks and donkey carts that have clogged the streets over two decades of sanctions and war.
That may make Baghdad one of the few cities worldwide where the auto industry is doing relatively well — at least compared to the worst of the war, when sales were stagnant. With its limited banking system, Iraq has largely avoided the global financial meltdown.
And unlike elsewhere in the world, gas prices — about $1.52 a gallon — aren't much of a deterrent to those Iraqis eager and able to catch up with the good life behind the wheel of a new car.
Not so long ago, cruising the capital in a new car was asking for trouble. Carjackers were seemingly everywhere — either envious militiamen or kidnappers on the lookout for victims with enough cash to pay fat ransoms.
Those bad days are not entirely over. But with violence ebbing, Iraqis who can afford it are eager to live large and bask in the status that only a nice new car can bring.
"Despite the high price, driving a new car gives me a great sense of happiness and comfort," said Muhannad Khazim as he cruised an upscale neighborhood with three friends in a 2007 Hyundai Elantra he'd bought two days earlier.
The city traffic department refused to say how many new cars were registered over the last year.
But showrooms are popping up in safer neighborhoods around town to meet the demand. They are offering selections from sleek sports cars to four-wheel-drive behemoths, most imported from Amman, Jordan, or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Imad Hassan said sales at his Aqaba Dealership in east Baghdad soared about 90 percent in 2008 over the previous year, when fighting in the city peaked.
Last year, he said he sold about three cars a day. So far this year he's selling only about three cars per week, a slump which he says has little to do with the global downturn.
Hassan expects sales to rebound now that the Iraqi government has finally approved a new budget after a drop in oil prices forced several revisions. Many of his customers for expensive cars are Iraqi businessmen with government contracts. They had to wait for the new budget to get their money.
Gasoline prices throughout the Middle East are lower than in the U.S. and Western Europe. Iraq lifted fuel subsidies in 2004 and hiked gasoline prices 19-fold. Since then, prices at the pump have been fairly stable. Security — not fuel prices or conservation — had kept motorists off the streets.
Hassan Saleh, who sells Japanese and South Korean four-wheel-drive vehicles and American-made Hummers at another east Baghdad dealership, attributes the boom to better security, which has given Iraqis the confidence to treat themselves to luxuries.
"Nowadays, most people are not afraid of driving fancy new cars in the streets. Two years ago, that meant imminent danger of being kidnapped for ransom," said Saleh, who sells about 10 cars a month from his dealership — up 50 percent over 2007.
That's not to say Iraqis don't face problems with a new car.
For one thing, there is no auto insurance offered in Iraq. Owners have to shell out in full for any repairs or maintenance.
And although the risks of violent trouble are less than they used to be, they haven't disappeared entirely.
Ali Habib, a businessman from east Baghdad, bought a new Hyundai last month to spruce up his image. But he's afraid to drive the car outside his neighborhood and won't give his younger brothers a lift for fear they may all get kidnapped or killed.
"The security situation is still fragile and gangs can hit anytime," he said. "When I want to go somewhere in Baghdad, I make sure that at least three friends of mine are with me in the car as a kind of protection against bandits."
But that's not enough to discourage Iraqis from shelling out $27,000 for a 2006 Mustang, $80,000 for a four-wheel-drive BMW or $55,000 for an Infiniti — some of the cars on offer during a recent tour of dealerships. Tastes range from sedans to SUVs. The compact Nissan Sunny model is also popular.
During Saddam Hussein's rule, the most popular brands were Toyota Coronas, which the government imported in early 1980s, followed by Brazilian-made Volkswagen Passats, which the regime bought as part of an arms deals between Iraq and Brazil.
But Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 brought international sanctions — and a cutoff in the flow of new cars. For the next 13 years until the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraqis were constantly repairing flimsy vehicles that aged fast in the fierce heat, dust and potholed streets.
"I'm fed up with old, broken cars," Muhannad Akram said as he inspected cars at a showroom in the Jadiriyah district. He had his eye on a 2007 gray Mitsubishi sedan and was bargaining over the price with the salesman.
"Despite the world economic crisis, Iraq is still the land of big opportunities and flourishing business," said Hassan, the dealer in east Baghdad. "And more and more people are getting rich."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
2009-04-09 19:37:39
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