Not the only game in town…

We hailed a cab outside our hotel, and the driver waited expectantly as I fumbled through the numbers on my cell phone. ‘B’daqa’ I implored awkwardly as the phone rang, hoping call would go through. Sure enough, Inas, the PR Director of the University of Dohuk, answered as I passed my blackberry to the bewildered local who gave me a look of raised eyebrows as if to say, ‘I know foreigners are strange, but this is a first.’ All confusion disappeared however, when Inas explained to the man the purpose of this maladroit exchange: that we had a morning meeting with the Manager of the International Relations Office at the University of Dohuk.

Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the two-story concrete structure surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. It took some time to find the entrance to the main administrative building, but as we walked down the sidewalk past a parking lot and into the entrance of the main building, we were struck by how ‘real’ the school seemed. It had all the markings of a legitimate university.

Inas was an ambitious and well put together young public relations officer who smiled through introductory formalities before ushering us into the office of her boss, Dr. Rund Ali Hammoudi. An Arab from Baghdad, Hammoudi graduated with a PhD in Petroleum Geology and moved to Dohuk to teach biology at UoD (they did not have a geology department). In addition to teaching, Dr. Hammoudi organizes the relationships between UoD and universities abroad. Some of their programs include the Erasmus Mundus program and a student/faculty exchange with the UN University of Peace in Costa Rica. In addition, they have an excellent working relationship with the US Regional Reconstruction Team in Dohuk, which has provided UoD with books, a TOEFL prep and testing facility and their English language training apparatus.

After meeting with Dr. Rund, we undertook to go on a tour of the 12,000-student university founded just 18 years ago (1991 for those counting at home). We drove out of town in Inas’ Chevrolet Equinox toward the main campus. In the fifteen minute drive, we discussed Inas’ Fulbright application, her love of English and US soldiers, and her move from Mosul. She expressed her interest in working as a translator for the military because it is “a challenge.” When I asked if she meant the Iraqi Military, she scoffed at the suggestion: “US military, of course.”

Unfortunately we missed all the deans and professors at the “Arts College” because it was the weekend at UoD. Apparently, the weekend starts on Thursday here, and classes are held Saturday-Wednesay. I actually like that schedule better. Thursdays and Fridays were always my go-to days to go out anyway. That is, if I were to go out, those would be my go-to days to go out…

In any event, we took a short stroll down the street to the next stop on the tour: to meet the dean of the 600-student “College of Law and Politics.” Though the dean, who also happens to be Inas’ uncle, admits that the college teaches no politics courses, they have developed an extensive curriculum studying human rights. We spoke a bit about the University and its rapid development, but when I asked him how he felt Iraqi education as a whole has progressed, and where it is going, he responded with a 20-minute diatribe about his department. Characteristic of the arrogance of an Arab man in authority, he spoke at length in uninterrupted Arabic (even Inas did not feel the urgent need to translate) only addressing me, the least qualified person in the room to understand him. Still, he had good reasons to brag. Two in particular:

The first was the only university mock courtroom in all of Iraq. Though pictures will eventually show up on this post (inshallah), I will say that the wooden courthouse had that official air one would feel is required to make law students believe they are in a real courthouse. So it passed my test. Still, the university graduates about 10% of its class to actually become lawyers, and there are no mock trials in the mock courtroom, only lectures given by Iraqi judges. The university has such assets thanks to the powerful Barzani family, which controls the Dohuk and Erbil regions of Iraqi Kurdistan. KRG cabinet member Nechirvan Barzani, nephew of the region’s President Massoud, earned his political stripes as the governor of Dohuk and still considers it vital to his patronage network.

The second reason for our host’s overwhelming sense of self-importance was the University of Dohuk’s “American Corner,” housed in the College of Law and Politics. The library, though small, was an excellent collection of literature, history and politics, and reference books as well as many excellent video documentaries. They also had a prep book for just about every single test in the US. We were overwhelmed not just at the taste and organization, and not just that it was immaculately clean, but that a university that teaches almost entirely in Arabic or Kurdish would have a better English language library than our own.

There is a sense of isolationism here at AUI-S because we think we are the only game in town. But having an excellent curriculum taught in English and ‘America’ at the front of our name does not crown us Iraq’s best university. That the ‘American Corner’ at UoD is immaculate because no one uses it, or that no one plays tennis on the only court I’ve seen in Iraq thus far (yes I’m bitter), is beside the point. The best schools in the region are so because they not only have great academic programs, but also have the means to draw qualified students and faculty. A university cannot afford to be selective when few students apply, nor can they develop high-caliber programs from reticent benefactors. It is no surprise that the UoD can attract so many students and substantive relationships abroad; they are an attractive university. AUI-S is a start-up university, and though there are some great pieces, it has a lot of work to do.

Go Speed Racer Go! Our Drive to Dohuk

“Nice to meet you,” our driver said, “but I won’t be taking you to Dohuk. This is Serkio, and you will go with him.”  Infused with the excitement of leaving work on a sunny Wednesday afternoon in boots, jeans and a t-shirt, and with the anticipation of touring Dohuk’s sights, I paid the plan change little heed.  The immediate thought of road tripping through most of Iraqi Kurdistan effectively dulled my sensitivity to traveler’s instincts.  I did not know what to expect.

Nor was I familiar in any way with the route.  Five minutes into the trip, I turned to the back and asked Christine if she had a map in her Charles Tripp book on Iraq.  It looked something like this:   

Now, those who know me are aware of my obsession with maps as well as my urgent need to know where the hell I am going.  So things got interesting when, on the way to Erbil, we decided to take what seemed like a random left off the main road.  Literally, Christine said aloud, “well this is interesting…”

And that was when we started driving fast.  The thing about riding in a car that only measures km/hr is you never know exactly how fast you are going.  That compounds the taxi cab paradox best described in Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up as a lackadaisical attitude toward the driver’s recklessness, “Well I would never try that in my car,” the passenger chuckles, unaware of his impending doom.  Despite this state of ignorance, I feared going to sleep. When the sun eventually fell below the horizon, the trip became a blur of windy roads and small villages whose names registered little more to me than landmarks which went dutifully recorded in my notebook.  I would relay them here, but because they were written in the dark while careening over pothole-filled roads, that page looks more like an abstract painting.

Sometime after Shaqlawa the highway cut through a small town.  While passing a car perusing the wares of this town’s highway souq, our driver hit the leaves of a harvested plant hanging out of the back of a truck with the front of the driver’s side wheel.  Almost instantly, the car smelled like a freshly cut lawn.  The aroma, transcending time and place, brought me back to the suburban sidewalks of Connecticut on a Sunday afternoon.  It was as if I was no longer in a car hurtling through Kurdistan at exhausting speeds.  Then the driver opened the window, and the smell was gone as soon as it came.

We arrived unexpectedly in front of the Sulav Hotel at 7:30pm.  Serkio the Speed Racer finished the trip that normally takes five and a half hours in a harrowing four.  Thoroughly strung out by such an extended trip at high speeds, our nerves took very quickly to the bottle of red wine that beckoned from the bottom of Christine’s bag.  After leaving our effects in the rooms, we found a taxi driver to take us to the Dilshad Palace Hotel restaurant, one of the few places that offered what used to exist among Christine’s belongings.  The attentive waiter informed us that the hotel could not offer wine in a carafe, which, unbeknownst to him, was fine with us.  With it, we ate a dinner of mediocre Lebanese food in a near-empty ballroom, simultaneously thanking the powers for granting us safe passage to Dohuk and attempting to forget the incident altogether.

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer
He’s a demon on wheels
He’s a demon and he’s gonna be chasing after someone
He’s gaining on you so you better look alive
He’s busy revving up the powerful Mach Five
And when the odds are against him and there’s daaangerous work to do
You bet your life Speed Racer’s gonna see it through

 

 Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer go

He’s off and flying as he guns the car around the track
He’s jamming down the pedal like he’s never coming back
Adventure’s waiting just aheeeeeeeeaaaaad

Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer Go!

 

A Revolution Looks at 30

Was it inevitable that a country so vehemently independent – politically, ethnically, culturally – would reject subjugation under a foreign backed power?  Once it was written, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

30 years ago, a massive unexpected uprising took place in Iran.  Supported by the merchant middle class, religious figures and thousands of politically active university students, Iranians rose up to overthrow their US-backed ruler, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.  However, each party to the revolution had their own plans for a new government.  In the end, the trade-based democratic inclinations of the extensive Iranian middle class were hijacked by a charismatic religious figure returning from exile in France.  In a region dominated by the politics of individualism, this figure, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, took over the Iranian Revolution and made his mark on world history.

But despite the oppressive theocratic nature of the Iranian government today, democratic inclinations remain in Iran’s middle class.  The protests over President Ahmadinejad’s illegitimate election months ago illuminated how active and numerous they are.  In addition, just today protests against the Iranian regime erupted in the face of the annual state-sponsored rally commemorating the takeover of the US Embassy.

In 1979, Iranians overthrew what was inarguably an “absolute Despotism.”  That this ‘Despot’ was originally King George III and the authors originally the founding fathers of the United States only goes to shows how rare it is when those that “throw off such Government,” and “provide new Guards for their future security” actually succeed in creating a healthy, functioning and prosperous government.  Yet despite 30 years of drowning in theocracy, those who seek proper governance remain.  Perhaps one day they will get another chance.

Went to Dohuk Last Weekend

And all I got was an awesome Iraqi National Team jersey.

Actually, the trip was way sweeter than that.  

Dohuk is a little enigma of a town.  It used to be a quiant little village best known for its colorful houses and then became the bustling, diesel-smelling hub for gas smugglings into Syria/Turkey in the 90s during the fascinatingly destructive oil-for-food programme (UN spelling).  Now it is rolling in that Turkey-Iraq trade money.  It is among the highest in per capita income for all of Iraq’s provinces and also has one of the lowest literacy rates. Despite that, it was really well managed, unlike Suli.

Also, visited the University of Dohuk and had tea with the Yazidi sheikh in charge of the temple at Lalish.  Working on a few stories to post this week.

Stay tuned.

Amazing Website Recommendation

For anyone interested in rugs, tea and Ottoman history (I mean, who isn’t?!?), I highly recommend this excellent website: http://tea-and-carpets.blogspot.com/.

On the site, expect mind-blowingly detailed articles like, “Ottoman Court Prayer Carpets: The Mystery Of The Ballard Rug,” “The Floral Medallion Revolution and Ottoman Court Carpets,” and “Konya, The Seljuks, And The First Great Anatolian Carpets.”

“A: You can never go too far. B: If I’m gonna get busted, it is *not* gonna be by a guy like *that*.”

Weekend Reading – Syria Edition

Though I am in Iraq, and this journal was designed as an inside look into life in this great and troubled country, I can’t pass up giving a shoutout to our neighbor Syria.

Poster of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus with words: "I believe in Syria."

For those who know me, the inclination to write about everyone’s favorite Ba’athist state is not a surprise.  Still, I came across a fantastic article by Mohammed Bazzi, former Newsday Middle East desk chief and current NYU professor, in the newest edition of The National magazine. If you have a passing interest in the Middle East, I highly recommend this article.  It tells you all you need to know about how Syria operates within the complexities of Middle Eastern politics.  Not to mention it’s really well written. Check it out over your weekend coffee.  Here’s the first paragraph…a small taste of the excellent analysis that awaits you:

It seemed like nothing more than a perfunctory state visit: two Arab leaders sitting awkwardly in ornate armchairs, making small talk and smiling for the cameras. The next day, photos of the pair were dutifully published on the front pages of government-owned newspapers in both their countries. But this meeting in October between King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, of Saudi Arabia and Syrian President Bashar Assad was no mere photo-op. It was a signal that, after years of isolation imposed by the Bush administration and its Arab allies, Syria is trying to force itself back into the Arab political order.

I completely agree with his take on Syria, and curious to hear your thoughts if you checked out the article.

Ladies and Gentlemen Your 2003-2008 US Government:

In the most shocking news of this young US government fiscal year, we wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on our Iraq Embassy construction project.  Wasted money in Iraq? Why, the same place where we have spent so frugally and well over these past few years?

The main builder of the massive new US Embassy in Baghdad “made so many design and construction errors” that the State Department is seeking to recover $132 million — about one-quarter of the value of the $470 million contract — to make necessary repairs, said the State Department’s inspector general, according to a report released Thursday.

The sprawling 21-bulding compound was originally budgeted to cost $600 million, but that price soon exploded to $736 million. The inspector general’s 58-page report, sent to Congress on Wednesday, is the first to confirm that problems persisted after the embassy was opened in April 2008.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2003-2008 US Government!

PS – Why can’t AUI-S get some of those wasted millions? or is it billions?

PPS – I’m not crying, it’s just raining on my face…

A Bazaar Day in Suli

And we went to the market too!  Some highlights to look forward to in the next installment:

• Nate gets his first haircut in Kurdistan from an Iranian Kurd who moved to Iraq during the war because he was agitating against the theocratic dictatorship in Tehran.
• Haggling over Kurdish-English and Farsi-English dictionaries in the kitabkhana (book market).
• Finding out that the only English books in the Suli Bazaar were ones more likely read by my father than anyone else.
• Searching Doctor Street for the best Kabob in the city.
• Learning that Iraq’s English curriculum basically consists of excerpts from The Merchant of Venice and Oliver Twist.
• A tour of the bullet-ridden Red Museum, formerly the Ba’athist intelligence office in Suli, where countless Kurds were imprisoned and tortured during Saddam’s regime (this one will get its own post, as it should).

Also in the works is some research on the politics of the Kurdistan region under the Ottoman Empire…an essential chapter to the story of Kurdish Nationalism.

Things are picking up considerably now that the students are around.  I’ve been doing my best to get to know students since my administrative position allows for little interaction with them.  Two exciting (and more importantly: student-related) projects in the works: starting a women’s varsity soccer team and the AUI-S Debate Society.

So I haven’t exactly gotten in the groove for writing here, per se, but it’s an experiment that is quickly coming to an end.  The café has been selected, the books are being acquired, and potential stories are starting to take shape.  Get ready for some sweet Suli reporting!

Iraq’s Latest Political Fad

From Wednesday’s New York Times (“Unity is Rallying Cry Ahead of Iraqi Elections”):

DHULUIYA, Iraq —Iraqi politics has a new catchphrase, the “yes, we can” of the country’s coming parliamentary elections. It is “national unity,” and while skepticism abounds, it could well signal the decline of the religious and sectarian parties that have fractured Iraq since 2003.

The Times seems to be caught up in the latest trend of possible good news coming out from Iraq’s political system.  Do you think they would have written this article with such optimism before Obama’s presidency? Iraqi politics haven’t been fractured in Iraq “since 2003,” or, in other words, since that dastardly Bush administration disturbed the otherwise peaceful country.  They’ve been fractured in Iraq since the country’s creation!  But here’s the real kicker:

Across the political spectrum — Sunni and Shiite, secular and Islamic — party leaders have jettisoned explicit appeals to their traditional followers and are now scrambling to reach across ethnic or sectarian lines. In some cases, the shift is nothing less than extraordinary.

“Nothing less than extraordinary?” Really? The Times seems to be sipping Kool-aid mixed and served by Iraqi politicians, who, six years on, have become experts at telling Americans what they want to hear.  This poor journalist fell for a cup of the delicious sugary drink, and his prose is a sad mix of astonishment and naïveté.

To put it bluntly: these secular and nonsectarian parties are not for real.  Luckily, the Times had the good sense to talk to Joost Hiltermann, deputy program director for the Middle East and North Africa for the excellent International Crisis Group.  He is a little more delicate with his phrasing:

“The provincial elections have shown that the Iraqi public is fed up with religiously garbed parties, so these parties are now scrambling to profile themselves as secular and nonsectarian,” said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, who met with several party leaders while in Baghdad this week. “But does the leopard change its spots?”

This article is one of those pieces of journalism that reports on a current fad in politics (in Iraq, in this case), one that has plenty of Iraqis willing to promote themselves in international newspapers, but is based on superficial truths that won’t actually play out come election time.  I’m not saying the article is bad, it just isn’t percipient: it reflects a current trend that won’t play out in the long term.

So what impact does this have on Iraqi Kurds?  This push toward unity parties doesn’t really have an effect on Kurdish unity unless Kurdish parties start to ally with political groups in the rest of Iraq.  The article doesn’t mention anything like that, and to my knowledge it hasn’t happened.  In national politics, it’s easy to look at it this way: Iraq is 15-20% Kurdish, and that’s how much of a say Kurds will have in Baghdad.  The issue at question isn’t whether the Kurds will have a state, it is how much of Iraq will be considered within the Kurdish governate.  That remains to be seen.

Things have been insanely busy this week because school just started, so I apologize for the lack of updated content.  Now that it’s the weekend here, you can expect one more article on the journal in the next couple of days.

Have an opinion on this article? Let’s discuss it in the comments section.

A Violent Country

Last night I had a conversation with Karim, one of the guards of our housing compound. I could only understand part of what he was saying because we were talking in Arabic, but from what I pieced together, he was caught in a crossfire where he saw an American from Los Angeles shot in the stomach.  The man was trying to get from the street when terrorists caught him and beheaded him.  They jumped into a truck and drove off right in front of Karim.  He moved to Suli four years ago because the violence there became intolerable, but he could not afford to move his entire family here, so he is saving up his salary to buy a house for himself and his wife.  He’s 22.

 

These stories are kind of hard to bear.  Suli is so safe that the security sometimes numbs my awareness of the fact that I am in Iraq.  But one encounters stories of death and violence almost daily here.  A few days ago I met some US special forces.  One had fought in Fallujah.  Another was on his fifth tour of duty in six years.  Last week, I went to Halabja, site of the greatest chemical weapons attack on civilians in human history.  There was a university student walking through the memorial with me, pointing out his relatives in pictures of the dead.  A couple of weeks ago, the cousin of an AUI-S senior staff member died in the Baghdad bombings.

Cousins, Aunts and Uncles

Right now, it’s Eid, which is a three day holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan.  Suli is totally packed because thousands of people have come up here from Baghdad to celebrate without fear of being killed.  It’s easy to get lost here in daily life because it’s so normal, but underneath that comforting veneer lies a sobering reality: that this is and has been a violent country.

Sign in front of a graveyard in Halabja