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Yesterday I had an interview with a French TV channel , the subject was about the checkpoints and it’s effectiveness specially after the two bloody days with the “quality explosions” as the media say…well, I though it’s a good subject to discuss specially that many of people who haven’t been in Iraq doesn’t really know much about this subject.
Checkpoints are everywhere, and I mean literally everywhere, if you want to drive for let’s say a Kilometer you’ll probably pass through a checkpoint if not two! You can’t go anywhere without passing through a bunch of checkpoints…few days ago I had some work in Karkh (which is the other side of Baghdad) while I live in Risafa…the distance according to google earth is about 9 Km, and I passed through 28 checkpoints!!! And it took me 4 hours!! Can you believe that traveling 9Km will take 4 hours despite that it wasn’t in the rush hours.
OK, I’ll tell you what are the checkpoints…it’s either for the police or the army and both of them are pretty similar in everything except the uniform, you’ll see a long queue of cars waiting to pass through the narrow opening through the checkpoint, the street is 4 lanes for example and it is reduced into 1…you’ll wait for only god knows how long till you reach them and then there will be a bunch of soldiers, one of them is carrying a device that looks somehow like a gun with an antenna at the head and he will walk by your car, if the device’s antenna points at you then it means you have something suspicious and among the things that the device points at are (Perfumes, deodorants, hand gel, brake fluid and even amalgam teeth fillings sometimes) and then he either looks at you and say “Go” or he might search the car and most of the time the search is just a question “do you carry any weapon?” and of course whether you carry a weapon or not you will say no and then he will tell you “Go” and in few cases they will open the trunk and the hood and see if there is anything suspicious.
I’m not criticizing the soldiers or the policemen in this post, No, not at all because many are good men and they are trying to do their job as they have been told and of course there are some really bad members but this isn’t what I want to talk about, I’m trying to give you a clear idea of what is really going on in the checkpoints and how stupid the people with power who placed those checkpoints and gave them that stupid device.
Yes, the device is totally stupid, inefficient and old, it came to the streets through a dirty deal by corrupted members of the government….the sole purpose of the importing this device is to make the rich richer….a friend of mine who was an army engineer told me that if you rap a gun or explosives well by a plastic bag it will not be detected by this device, in addition to that as I said it only detects silly things.
And sometimes would pass through what we call “cooperative checkpoint” where the soldiers are even looking at the cars that passes by him, they are either busy making a phone call (like the one in the photo) or they are playing games in their mobile or they are having a chat and sometimes they are just sitting down resting.
And I wand to add some information about the explosion of the justice ministry…there is a kindergarten in the first floor of the ministry for the employees kids, after the explosion they weren’t able to find any dead body for any kid, they though they have disappeared specially they were the closest to the explosion…yesterday, I heard a rumor that the kids were found in the sewers of the ministry!!! May god forbids, imagine that happens to you and your kids…may god forbids how would you feel if your son was exploded to pieces and they were found in the sewers.As I said many soldiers are brave men and they are trying to do their best but also there are many corrupted and bad members…as I see it the checkpoints are completely useless and causes more harm than good…they cause terrible road jams, if a man wants to move his furniture from his old home to his new one he must pay a large amount of money to the checkpoints on his way as bribes because they will really give him a hard time and so is the case with trucks carrying merchandise and so on, and if they were doing any good why did we witnessed such terrible explosions in very sensitive areas? The areas where the bloody Wednesday and Sunday explosions took place are literally filled with checkpoints.
If those checkpoints want to be really efficient they should check every inch of every car that passes through them and that means the end of life, because no body will be able to reach anywhere…so what is the solution? In my opinion, I think they should reduce the number of checkpoints dramatically, I say they should remove more than 50% of them, they should only keep checkpoints between major districts, and depend on intelligence to fight terrorism, all the world whether Iraqi or Chinese are ruled very well with the stick and carrot method, there should be great prizes for the ones who tells about a terrorist act and sever punishment for the ones who does it or helps it, and providing good cash rewards for the ones who gives any intel. About terrorism and that way would be much cheaper and much more efficient that the checkpoints, in addition to that they can re-employ the former members of the intelligence and keeps them under supervision to get the advantage from their experience because there is nothing in the world like experience…I know the former intelligence were criminals; most of them but there are some members who have little blood on their hands and can be used under supervision, don’t tell me they have crimes against humanity, because most of the government and the parliament are criminals also.
Just yesterday there war another evident of how good the checkpoints are…it was an explosive pack placed near the Adhamiya mall…just think how hurt are we that we were thankful for the one who did the explosion because he did it in the morning and there was no one!!! Because if he did it at night or noon there would be terrible number of casualties…there was another explosive pack near the exploded ones but some brave citizen noticed it and called the army and some really brave army men came and destroyed it away from where it was placed and there was zero harm, thank you brave and good soldiers.
Here is a photo for the site of explosion that lead to zero casualties.
I wish the authorities would sense the inefficiency of their ways before we witness explosions in HD quality!!! As many people fear will happen as the elections are getting closer and the struggles of dirty politicians will start again.
19 comments:
Defeating determined terrorists is incredibly difficult. But perhaps with fewer checkpoints there would be even more explosions?
As for corrupt politicians - most are corrupt, and always have ben, from the days of Ancient Rome onward. But dictators are worse.
The big feature of the US constitution is that it was written to work inspite of the politicians. That is why there are checks and balances, and not much power for the President. Too many countries have constitutions that assume the politicians are honest and patriotic and only want to do good for the country.
That's awful awful awful about the children. I can hardly imagine anything more hellish for their parents.
* * *
This is the "freedom" you Americans have brought Iraq. I have started reading "Imperial Life in the Emerald City", about the first couple of years of the occupation after the invasion of Iraq. It is exceptionally well written but I can only read a bit at a time because the jaw-dropping incompetence, complete ignorance and unbounded arrogance of the US makes me so angry.
"This is the "freedom" you Americans have brought Iraq."
The terrorists are trying to destroy the freedom that the Americans and their allies brought to Iraq. These attacks are by people who are strongly against any kind of democracy, free press or free speech.
I am not denying that the invasion, which was meant to be a quick surgical operation to replace Saddam's dictatorship with an elected government, was badly mismanaged in many ways.
The checkpoints do sound like a hassle. I hope they deter people who would do harm. Then they are worth it.
When the Oklahoma City bombing happened to the U.S. Federal Building, there was a childcare center on the first floor. The bombers don't think in terms of who the people are they murder. They just go for the kill for whatever reason motivates them to do it. It's a tragedy everytime it happens, wherever it happens.
There was an article in the paper the other day about the device you described that is being used at the checkpoints by Iraqi security. Our military and other experts in explosives detection have said they have no confidence that the device works. Its rate of detection is no more than you would find with random chance. So, if all they are going to do is wave that thing around, you may be right in that they should lower the number of checkpoints. Because they're not really serving their purpose.
Rachel,
This is the "freedom" you Americans have brought Iraq.
Freedom doesn't necessarily mean those who are free will be competent. They have a chance to succeed or fail, just like everyone else.
Oh, and I've read that book. It was good.
Britain had a hand in what happened in Iraq. If there were no "dodgy dossier," maybe there wouldn't have been a war in Iraq. Tony Blair was joined at the hip with George Bush when it came to the War in Iraq. Wasn't there a joke in England about BP standing for "Blair Petroleum?" Oh wait, didn't Britain create the mess that became Iraq in the first place? Churchill, Lawrence and what's her name didn't exactly do Iraq any favors. However, it did make it possible for England to get oil from that region for a very long time. The Chalabi family also gained in prominence during those early oil years.
Interesting post Mohammed. Here's an article describing that devise you mention:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/middleeast/04sensors.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
It seems to me that you are right. Iraqi politicians were bribed to buy the thingies and now they have to claim that they work and make the police use them. Disgusting!
Indigo, Lynnette, I too read "Imperial Life in the Emerald City".
It baffles me how some people (Hi Don Cox, hi Lynnette) can brush aside as "mistakes" the criminal negligence and the disregard for the consequences of their actions of people like Bremer, and on a higher level Wolfovitz.
In my opinion the're the equivalent of all other insane ideologues who meant good but in their insanity wreaked havoc on populations. Mao? Pol Pot, even? They too had some sort plan to break up and re-construct a whole country to make a better world.
Bremer, the never-fought wuss who donned combat boots with his suit to look tough and impress his Neocon masters, and then destroyed a civilisation, he should rot in a prison cell in the Hague!
//Marcus
Hi Marcus
One of my favourite parts of "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" is where the Americans decided to consult the Germans about privatising state-owned organisations and businesses. The Germans meet the Americans and ask how large a team the US has to devote to this task of privatising Iraqi businesses; the Americans reply, "the three of us" (ie the three at the meeting), and the Germans laugh and ask again, No, really, how many people do you have? When the Germans realise that the Americans really do have only three on the team to privatise all the state-owned Iraqi businesses, they tell the Americans to forget it. At German unification, they had had eight thousand people working on privatising organisations previously owned by the East German state.
The incompetence of the US is just indescribable.
Hey mohammed, I'm back. It's been a year since i last looked at your blogged and I've grown a little older and a little more mature. I see indigo is still biased against americans and refuses to respond to anyone who debates her but those she can counter-argue. I hope your doing okay. how is your wife? I will start monitoring your blog again to get some modern info again. I'm become more of a moderate nowadays and I find it sad that Iraqi is now the Afghanistan of the war and gets very little coverage in the news. It seems all the news agencies want to do is insult the powers at be. you have my prayers.
~Andrew
"The incompetence of the US is just indescribable."
Yeah, the US is "incompetent" but the UK is doing something noble, right? Its hard to spin that one when the Iraqi Army, not the UK Army, dislodged JAM in southern Iraq because the Brits lacked the will.
Rachel,
The incompetence of the US is just indescribable.
That would depend on what was or was not accomplished. We removed Saddam, which is what we set out to do. However, our after invasion planning, including how to handle a power vacuum, was poorly done. But we did adjust our strategy after our errors became apparent. So, I would say not completely incompetent on the scale implied by you.
Marcus,
Bremer, the never-fought wuss who donned combat boots with his suit to look tough and impress his Neocon masters, and then destroyed a civilisation, he should rot in a prison cell in the Hague!
Iraqi civilization is far from destroyed, Marcus. On the contrary, it is a far more resilient and adaptable entity then you seem to give it credit for. The Iraqis will make mistakes, just as we have done, but if they can learn from them, they will come out a stronger and more prosperous country than they ever could have been under a dictatorship.
Hi Dr. Mohammed...sorry I haven't been online much, I just got back from 3 months of traveling.
I'm very sorry to hear that just being able to move around in your home city is so difficult. Its one thing for people to read about it, its quite another when you actually have to do it.
Not that this compares to your situation, but I spent a week in Colombo, Sri Lanka earlier this month and there are checkpoints all over the place...at least three of them around the hotel I stayed at. Not to mention, there are men with AK's standing on just about every corner...what's worse, is that the government declared the civil war over back in May. Anyway, trying to ride an auto rickshaw through the city was very difficult, as the driver was stopped by at least half a dozen soldiers asking for his ID.
The world we live in, right? Its sad.
Hi C.H., nice to see you are back safe and sound from your travels. :)
@Lynnette,
We removed Saddam, which is what we set out to do.
No, you are rewriting history. The US invaded Iraq in order - they said - to prevent Saddam launching weapons of mass destruction upon the West within 45 minutes. That was a lie. There were no WMD. Saddam had absolutely nothing to do with either 9/11 or Osama bin Laden/Al-Qaeda.
In the UK, a number of politicians and invasion-apologists tried your argument - "we went into Iraq to remove bad man Saddam" - but whenever they said this in public they were actually howled down by their entire audience. No one tries that argument now in the UK.
Regime-change is illegal. Pre-emptive invasion of another sovereign country is illegal. Attempting to sell the assets of the occupied country is illegal. Saddam was not only no threat whatsoever to any Western country, he was only one of many despots ruling countries around the world - why doesn't the US go in and remove the others, too? Because the others don't rule over a country that has the world's largest oil reserves beneath the ground.
The US didn't achieve its real goal, either. It doesn't control Iraq's oil. And Iraq's oil did not "pay for the war".
@Lynnette,
Iraqi civilization is far from destroyed, Marcus
Civilisation cannot exist without security. Under Saddam, car bombs were unknown. Today, after six years of US occupation, there is no security in Iraq for ordinary citizens. The banned weapons that the US deployed in Fallujah are producing heart-breaking birth defects.
The Iraqis will make mistakes, just as we have done, but if they can learn from them, they will come out a stronger and more prosperous country than they ever could have been under a dictatorship.
Tell that to the five million displaced by violence and the US complete failure to honour its obligations under the Geneva Conventions (such as protecting civilians). Tell that to the farmers whose citrus and date groves American soldiers bulldozed. Tell that to the thousands of Iraqis detained for years without trial by the US.
@CH
Iraqi Army, not the UK Army, dislodged JAM in southern Iraq because the Brits lacked the will.
I know that the US military were constantly riled by the UK military not following all the US rules but - hey - a lot of us believe that the US military relies far too much on brute force and industrial scale killing of civilians. I seem to remember that the whole idea of the UK being in the south of Iraq was that they could train up the Iraqis to do their own law-enforcement and peace-keeping - unlike the Americans, we didn't need to employ the trigger-happy, supremicist Blackwater murderers.
Rachel,
[Lynnette] We removed Saddam, which is what we set out to do.
[Rachel] No, you are rewriting history. The US invaded Iraq in order - they said - to prevent Saddam launching weapons of mass destruction upon the West within 45 minutes.
The removal of Saddam would prevent any chance of that occurring, if he did have WMD. The removal of Saddam would also prevent his reconstituting any of his weapons programs.
In the UK, a number of politicians and invasion-apologists tried your argument - "we went into Iraq to remove bad man Saddam" - but whenever they said this in public they were actually howled down by their entire audience.
Far be it from me to say that the British have an odd sense of humor.
Regime-change is illegal. Pre-emptive invasion of another sovereign country is illegal.
And did you happen to mention that to Saddam when he invaded Kuwait?
Saddam was not only no threat whatsoever to any Western country, he was only one of many despots ruling countries around the world - why doesn't the US go in and remove the others, too?
Because despite the label "Superpower", we are only one country and can only do so much. Which is why sanctions are tried.
Because the others don't rule over a country that has the world's largest oil reserves beneath the ground.
When did they strike oil in Afghanistan?
The US didn't achieve its real goal, either. It doesn't control Iraq's oil.
That was never our goal.
And Iraq's oil did not "pay for the war".
Iraq's oil was, and is, to be used by the country of Iraq for reconstruction, modernizing of infrastructure and whatever other expenses the Iraqis may have. That they can't seem to decide how to do that is their problem, not ours.
Civilisation cannot exist without security.
If that is true, then there must be more security in Iraq than you give it credit for, Rachel, because Iraqi civilization does indeed exist.
Under Saddam, car bombs were unknown.
They are usually unkown in a prison.
Today, after six years of US occupation, there is no security in Iraq for ordinary citizens.
If that were true, then there would be no one working, going to school, shopping, or enjoying a meal in a nice restaurant etc.
[Lynnette] The Iraqis will make mistakes, just as we have done, but if they can learn from them, they will come out a stronger and more prosperous country than they ever could have been under a dictatorship.
[Rachel] Tell that to the five million displaced by violence and the US complete failure to honour its obligations under the Geneva Conventions (such as protecting civilians). Tell that to the farmers whose citrus and date groves American soldiers bulldozed. Tell that to the thousands of Iraqis detained for years without trial by the US.
Certainly. To those who participated in the violence against US forces and Iraqi civilians(encouraged by the anti-American propagandists), because of a misguided idea that the US was intent on colonizing Iraq or steaing its oil, it is not too late to rectify that mistake. And to the innocent people who were swept up in that violence, I know it will live with you forever. But that doesn't mean that you can't try to make a new life. To do so is to triumph against the horrible events that were visited upon you.
...a lot of us believe that the US military relies far too much on brute force and industrial scale killing of civilians.
And a lot of you would be wrong.
James Randi has some information on the detector scam here.
I think the sellers of this device should be prosecuted for manslaughter, if they can be found.
I saw a suggestion that they might be based in Jordan (the British web site being a front). Maybe they are actually exiled Iraqis?
Don Cox,
I found the comments attached to your article interesting.
This was posted when they started talking about sniffer dogs:
Bears might be a good idea.
written by rwpikul, November 04, 2009
Think of the deterrence factor:
"Just what do you feed him?"
"Would-be suicide bombers."
lol!
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