Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Alhamdhulillaah! I have completed this book 'Imperial Life in the Emerald City'. It is well written book. It took 11days to finish 332pages. Average 30pages a day.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Today is 07 November 2010

Day 10

Page No. 259 (some of the excerpts from the book)

THE GREEN ZONE, SCENE X

American military personnel stationed in the Republican Palace rarely had a kind work to say about the CPA. The soldiers, many of whom were majors and colonels, had been in uniform for more than two decades and resented being ordered around by CPA staffers in their twenties. Some of the soldiers had done tours in Kosovo, Haiti, and Somalia, and a few had even served in Vietnam. They knew a thing or two about post-conflict nation building. But to the CPA's young turks, the soldiers were drivers, guards, and errant boys. The civilians made policy; the soldiers implemented it.

Since the soldiers weren't supposed to drink, they didn't hang out at the bars or the al-Rasheed's disco. They kept to themselves, smoking in rear portico, exercising in the gym, and playing cards in their trailers. They maintained that things would be a whole lot better if they were in charge. The acronym CPA, they joked, stood for Can't Produce Anything.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Today is 05 November 2010

Excerpt from "Imperial Life in the Emerald City"

Page 218

...To some Iraqis, who placed national identity over religious or ethnic affiliation, it looked like the Americans were adopting a version of the troubled political system in Lebanon that divided government posts among several religious groups. "We never saw each other as Sunnis or Shiites first. We were Iraqis first." said Saad Jawad, a professor of political science at Baghdad University. "But the Americans changed all that. They made a point of categorizing people as Sunni or Shiite or Kurd."

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

It has two parts.

Part I: Building the bubble (188 pages).

Part II: Shattered Dreams (148 pages).

Part I shows that America did not want to really rebuild Iraq. Whatever the passage I have posted earlier are very few examples. You won't believe it. They never wants to rebuild Iraq. US never planned before invasion. Ok. US invaded and occupied. Guess what. 99% of Americans who come over to Iraq to rebuild, they never had an experience in post war re construction. Only qualifications needed to go to get paid several thousand dollar is as follows:

1. Republican

2. Support President Bush decision to invade Iraq

3. or, Candidate shall be from Recruiter's home town

Very alarming.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Today is 03 Nov 2010. (day 6)

Page 178:

"We started with a number and built down," he recalled. "It wasn't the way I had ever assembled a budget before. It was, 'You have $5.7billion. Now fill in the blanks.' It wasn't a very smart approach." There wasn't much time for Browning to consult with his Iraqi counterparts or international experts. Oliver needed the plan in a week.

Andrew Bearpark, a veteran British post-conflict reconstruction specialist who was the CPA's director of operations, has a bad feeling about the supplemental. "The planning process was done with such secrecy and such speed that it was never going to be a particularly rational process in terms of creating projects you really needed," he said/ "We were predestined for failure. There is a rate at which you can plan these things. If you do something in five minutes that you should spend five months on, you'll cock it up"

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Page no. 146

"I Said, 'Yeah, isn't there something we can be doing? Planning? I mean, in my experience it takes years to plan programming and structure for a new TV and radio station

"'No. No. we got a few people that will be buying equipment. We're not quite sure what we'll find when we get to Baghdad, but don't worry about it.'"

When North arrived in Kuwait, he took stock of the equipment that SAIC had purchased. There were thirteen tripods, but all lacked a base plate upon which a camera could sit. The receiver for satellite transmissions did not have a power cord. Nothing had instruction booklets. "It was like they bought everything from a flea market in London," North said.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Page No: 140...

A week after arriving, Foley told a contractor from BearingPoint that he intended to privatize all of Iraq's state-owned enterprices within thirty days.

"Tom, there are a couple of problems with that," the contractor said. "The first is an international law that prevents the sale of assets by an occupation government."

"I don't give a s_ _t about international law. I made a commitment to the president (Bush) that I'd privatize Iraq's business."

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

I am reading this book started from 29-10-2010...let us see when i will finish this