Local Iraqi councils struggle for relevance
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"This is one of our biggest problems: The police refuse to take an active role,'' says Mr. Rahim. He tells Meredith that the police have ignored the council request to reopen the bridge, and that a woman and her child were killed crossing the street the week before. "They could station cops with weapons on the bridge if they're worried about their own safety," says Rahim. "But they've been ignoring us."
Mr. Rahim points out the council has no power to compel compliance from the police, who answer to the US and the Ministry of Interior, which is led by a man appointed by the US and the Iraqi Governing Council. Meredith promises he'll have a word with the police commander.
Later, Rahim explains why the Somer council has been a star, arranging garbage pickup, organizing vaccination clinics, and lobbying the US-led coalition for help.
"Other councils don't know how to talk to the coalition - to be proactive and specific about their needs,'' a process that has been helped by Somer's relatively high levels of income and education. But he concedes that success remains contingent on a form of benevolent patronage, and worries about life after June 30. "Who knows what happens once we lose this link?"
Meredith says the US is well aware of the challenge. "The ministries need to start listening to the people,'' he says.
In Sheikh Maruf, the challenges are starker. A council meeting in this poorer, largely Shiite neighborhood in early May, its first in two weeks, is filled with complaints about their lack of authority, and grumbling from some members that the risks of membership are beginning to outweigh any benefits to the community.
The council sits in a two-room building just outside the heavily fortified police compound. One of the key complaints to Capt. Scott Holden, in charge of relations with Sheikh Maruf, is that the council doesn't have sufficient oversight and control of contracting. Councilman Rubaie and others complain that groups appointed by the CPA to renovate schools are doing a poor job. Sheikh Hussein, the chairman, says security guards appointed by the council to protect government buildings have stopped receiving payments since control of the funds was passed from the US military to the Iraqi interior ministry.
Hussein says no payments were made in March or April to the 100 or so armed guards, that he doesn't trust the Iraqis now in charge of the money, and he wants the US military to take back control.
"The money is now supposed to be in the ministries' hands,'' explains Captain Holden, saying the CPA wanted to reduce the US role in day-to-day governance. "I know this doesn't put food on those families' tables,'' says a slightly frustrated Holden. "We'll see what we can do."
Shakar Jaffar, a local mechanic, complains that he hasn't been able to get a weapons permit from the coalition. "Who's going to protect us?'' he asks. "There are a lot of people who claim we're spies for the Americans because we're on the council. Other people are angry because we can't seem to get anything done."
Councilor Abdul Sattar al-Rubaie points to a garbage problem, likely to turn from an eyesore to a public-health issue as summer arrives, as an example of the bind they're in. He says pickup is infrequent; in April, 25 days elapsed without a visit. "We went to the municipal government and they told us to talk to the driver for our route. We went to him, and he basically told us to get lost,'' says Rubaie. "We're becoming an embarrassment."
Mr. Rubaie, a high school teacher, says his experience has convinced him that the councils "are in a crisis" and that their failure to provide security, jobs, and services like garbage pickup has cost them public support. "The ministries treat us like we're obstacles, the Americans haven't given us real power, and people are whispering that we're spies. I don't know why I'm involved anymore."
• Second in an occasional series. The first ran Jan. 30, 2004.
