Taking advantage of Paul Bremer's order, which effectively dissolved all of the civil institutions and Iraq, the contractors seized buildings and property formally owned by the Iraqi government and even civilian and business property.
The area around Saddam's Palace where, in 2003, the Coalition Provincial Authority had set up their headquarters, (Now the U.S. Embassy), was the prime real estate for contractors, military command units, government agencies and coalition senior officer quarters. The Green Zone was the place to be. All the money was coming through there, and there was lots of money. If one could establish his foothold there, as a civilian contractor, the chances of getting contracts were greater than being located outside of the Green Zone.
The action was in the palace. In 2003 and 2004 the spacious lobbies of the Palace were like the floor of the stock exchange. Deals were being cut and money was changing hands seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It was the wild west.
Everyone was carrying a gun and had several bodyguards in-tow. There seemed to be no rules, just business. The air was electric with business deals and making friends. The plight of the Iraqi people, whom we had just put in the dark by blowing up their sources of electricity and who were made desperate by the loss of fresh running water and even immediate access to it, seemed unimportant to what was transpiring in the Green Zone. No one seemed to be addressing the needs of the Iraqi population. Outside of the green zone, where the Iraqi population lived (known as the Red Zone), things were bleak, but no significant violence was occurring between the Iraqis themselves then.
In the palace (CPA Headquarters), very little, or no conversation about the Iraqi population and their desperate existence was heard. Meetings that were taking place regarding strategy and aid were being held between Bremer, his staff, generals and big American contractors like Halliburton, Parsons, Bechtel and the Corps of Engineers. While talking to people on his staff in 2003, I was told the U.S. State Department and even the CIA were not welcome in Bremer's circles.
No Iraqis were involved in the planning phase meant to assist their own people. The Iraqi political figureheads we brought in like Ahmed Chalabi , were not planners or strategist. They were there for the political face and to make as much money as they could, and they made plenty. Ultimately there were discovered as nothing more than con men and dismissed, but only after having bilking the US taxpayer for millions.
Bremer and the Military staff made sure everyone knew not to trust the Iraqis. It was almost comical however, how we choose which Iraqis to trust. If an Iraqi, almost regardless of who he was, could speak English, he had immediate credibility with the coalition members, particularly the senior military American guys who always needed interpreters.
It was like the main population of Iraq, living outside of the green zone, did not exist at all. If there was conversation about the Iraqi plight and how we could help, I never heard it. Building bridges, water facilities, making concrete barriers, managing the oil and establishing the electric grid was all the rage. (Those were also the places all the money was going).
Employment for Iraqis, inoculations for the population, clean water supplies, civil organizations like city councils, schools, hospitals, social assistance institutions etc, were seemingly all left out of the equation, and when the existing institutional structures were all looted, it seemed to have no effect whatever in the green zone. Those we supposedly came to liberate were apparently all but forgotten by Paul Bremer and his guys.
Not all American contractors who came to Iraq were callous or seemingly uncaring about the Iraqi population at large.
There were those very special Americans who came to Iraq to do every good thing they could to help the recovery of Iraq. Many of those Americans had left Iraq as children, or young men and women who had been terrorized by Saddam Hussein and his regime. Successful in their own right in America, they returned to Iraq to do what ever they could to help rebuild their former country, the place of their birth. Iraqi -American construction workers, engineers, lawyers, doctors and businessmen and women came from America. I actually worked for one such Iraqi-American who became my friend. Dr. Rubar Sandi.
Rubar Sandi, a Kurdish American, who was forced to flee Iraq after Saddam killed members of Rubar's family, was one of the first back into Iraq after the invasion took place. In the thirty years, or so since Rubar came to America, he became a U.S. citizen and seized the American dream. Rubar became very successful through his own hard work, ingenuity, faith and willingness to stand on certain principles of personal integrity, honesty, loyalty to his friends and sheer determination. Rubar has experienced the American dream we all seek, but he never forgot his Kurdish home in Iraq, or the friends and family he left behind in the Northern area of Iraq known as Kurdistan.
When my mission with the CPA as the Airport Director in Basrah was over, I really did not want to leave Iraq just then. My Diplomatic appointment had not yet happened because the CPA was still in power. The State Department were bystanders back then.
In February of 2004 I received a call from The Sandi Group in Washington DC. I was asked if I would accept a Vice President position with the Sandi Group division located in Baghdad. I flew to Washington DC for a short briefing and was on a plane right back to Baghdad. I met Rubar in Baghdad. His office, surprisingly, was not in the Green Zone, but rather in down town Baghdad (The Red Zone). Rubar greeted me like a brother meets a brother. He asked me what I was doing there. I told him I had been the Airport Director in Basrah and that I wanted t do more to assist the Iraqis who we (America) had placed in a very dangerous position. Rubar smiled and told me that he felt, when I walked into his office, that we would work together and that he was sure I was the man he needed in Iraq. "You can stay" he said.
Rubar employed over 4,000 Iraqis. By the time I arrived to his offices in Baghdad, he had already begun, or was negotiating dozens of projects geared to, not only making money, but to employing Iraqis. I knew the company didn't really need the numbers of employees it had, so I asked Rubar why he employed over 4,000 Iraqis and was surprised by his reply. He said "Go pick the one that I should fire". "Go and tell me which man's family should not eat next week Marshall". "These people are depending on the Sandi Group for their life. How can I trim down to the 3,000 I actually need? These people are like family now".
Rubar hired two Iraqi secretaries to assist me. Dalia and Halla. Both spoke English, both were computer literate, both understood the principle of business and accompanied me to just about every meeting I went to, from the University of Baghdad, where Rubar was trying to establish telecommunications and electric power independence for the University, to the home of the Minister of Oil and Transportation where I was negotiating airport contracts with the Ministers. The business sence of these professionals was uncanny. Almost all of my business associates in Baghdad, while working for Rubar Sandi, were Iraqi. I learned to respect them and felt so very fortunate to have been selected by Rubar to work in the Baghdad office.
The bodyguards Rubar assigned to me were Kurdish from the Northern parts of Iraq. Whenever a shot was heard, or a bomb exploded nearby, I would find myself being covered by my bodyguards who would always place their bodies in the way of any harm that may come to me. These guys were dedicated and faithful to the man who had provided them their sustenance, Rubar Sandi. He told them to keep me safe. They did.
I admire Rubar and I continue to call him friend. I also became very close friends with his brother Bayar. I consider these men as my own family members right to this day.
Even after everything seemed to be going wrong in Iraq, Rubar Sandi has kept his presence known in Iraq and continues to employ as many Iraqis as he effectively can and assist in the development of business opportunities and even programs to address women's issues. He is a great American and humanitarian who greatly loves the place he was born and the people who live there.
Rubar Sandi's efforts, however unnoticed by the greater American, or Iraqi population, will not be unrewarded in the end of it all. No good work is ever for nothing.
There are other Iraqi-Americans like Rubar and Bayar Sandi in Iraq still. They are hoping to make it work for the sake of all Iraqis and the entire Middle East. They have my profound respect.
Not everybody in Iraq, who came after the invasion, had the only goal of making a buck. Many of the Americans there actually came to help, and actually did just that.
Rubar Sandi and Bayar Sandi are two of those people.
About the Author
Marshall Adame is a 2008 Democratic Candidate for Congress in North Carolina's 3rd District.
http://marshalladame...