CPTnet
July 3, 2003
IRAQ REFLECTION: Changing currency
by Anne Montgomery
It should be simple: work; get paid; buy food, water, medicine, fuel *..
But nothing is simple in Baghdad. Passing a bank in the Karrada district on
Wednesday, we saw a long line of women, some sitting in weariness, others
held back by soldiers guarding the door. Why? The Coalition Provisional
Authority had paid teachers in 10,000 Iraqi Dinar (I.D.) notes, always
suspect as counterfeit by money changers who give in return only 7,000 I.D.
in the 250 I.D. normal currency (otherwise known as "Saddams" since his
picture is on them.) This bank was giving full value two days a week.
Sunday we returned to shorter, angrier lines. Why? Bank closed; out of
bills; go to another somewhere. The young soldiers could neither accurately
remember the names of available banks nor explain in Arabic, only shout and
threaten to arrest if the crowd did not move elsewhere. We moved back to
draw the confusion and complaints to us and listened as level after level
of frustration surfaced: inability to get basic needs, invasions of homes
and stolen jewelry, etc. etc.
In another taxi to find a bank in the Mansour district we listened to the
driver comment on the traffic -- "liberated" into unpoliced chaos -- and go
on to question the real goals of an occupation which has left the people in
a worse state than before the war. He concluded that Sunni and Shia will
act together if the situation does not change; so far their leaders have
asked for patience. His last words were: "God bless you."
At the second bank there were fewer people but the same story: no more
bills. An employee explained that some banks are changing money only for
people with accounts. What happens to those too poor to have one? "Why are
we being punished?" And why was this problem created in the first place?
In the last six weeks we have heard the same questions and needs expressed
repeatedly, the same determination that Iraqis can and must form their own
government and the army leave. Now, increasingly, the voices of anger and
frustration warn that they will fight if necessary to gain their rights.
The answer to the surface needs should be simple for an occupying power
that can stage a high tech war but make water, electricity, and phone
surface for the general population a low priority. It is increasingly
perceived as a pressure tactic.
The answer to anger and frustration will take longer. An elderly Carmelite
priest said that he could not think about the depleted uranium now seeded
throughout this region, because he would become too angry. But he showed us
icons of a Sufi martyr, of Elijah, and of Mary as symbols of the essential
unity of humanity and its religions. He is convinced of a simple but
difficult answer: love and unity. This is a currency that, made available
in practice, can change an unloveable situation into one where more and
more Iraqis can say: "God bless you."
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