News – Garner in Baghdad. The True Test (1/2)

Garner is in Baghdad now. He had a look around, gave a few pep talks and the like. Some Iraqis are worried, others don’t yet believe his words. The man who stepped up as governor wasn’t recognized by Garner(or anyone in the US group there), which I think was a bad idea. Garner, at least, should have paid the man a visit and recognized what he’s done. Maybe take stock of him as potential leadership material. At the very least, it would have been a show of attention to matters as they’ve developed. I wonder how he’ll deal with the small power bases that have risen already from the chaos? What he does with them will be a telling thing for many Iraqis, I think. I anticipate he’ll probably ignore them too.

Iraqis are also getting annoyed with the TV signals beamed in by the US. Those who have the power to turn on radio and TV find themselves with few balanced outlooks on what is going on in the world. Also, with telephone systems down, Iraqis who own satellite phones are in place to make money by charging others for use of the phone.

Shi’ite Iraqis were able to make a pilgrimage walk to Kerbala for the first time in years. Saddam, a secular Sunni, kept a tight control on who them before, which barred most men from perfuming the rites of their faith. Iraqi Christians(Yes, there are Christians there too), were in church for Easter services, for some the first time they’ve been in church since the war started.

The bodies of two UK MIAs were found in shallow graves near Brasa. They were feared executed, but cause of death is currently being investigated.

The Iraqi National Congress(Chabali’s crew), reportedly persuaded Jamal Mustafa Sultan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s son in law, to leave Syria and come to them. The Syrian foreign minister says that Syria’s borders are closed. He said, she said, who do you believe? Mean while Bush says Syria is ‘getting the message’.

Analysts are trying to predict what will happen in the wake of a rebuilding of Iraq. Most seem to think success could spawn good change in the Middle East, while failure could spawn bad change. Personally, I don’t think that, win or lose, we can predict how others will react. There will be events during reconstruction that, apart from its success or failure, will have an effect. We won’t know the outcome until it comes.

There is a report of five Palestinians killed and around 70 injured(The Guardian says 6 killed, 48 wounded) in a 40 vehicle raid on the Rafah refugee camp by Israel. One military photographer and three soldiers(The Guarding says three armed Palestinians, so perhaps those were the three, rather than Israelis) are also reported killed in an ‘intense’ gun battle with militants in the crowd. Two tunnels, reportedly used for smuggling arms from Egypt, were blown up along with eight houses. Retribution is sure to follow. The cycle continues with peace by the wayside.

The Guardian has an interesting article, looking forward at Bush’s need for ‘another hit’ to keep his popularity hot in the wake of war, for his next spate of reelection in a year.