Throw Out Your American Experience part 2
This is the second part of my interview with Brigadier General Edward Cardon, Deputy Commanding General (Support) Multi-National Division-Center(MND-C), one-on-one. We last talked in a Bloggers’ Roundtable on January 24.
The General explained the governmental structure. The national ministries still set priorities for the nation. That control is exercised in ways as minor as how much gasoline is delivered to the local fuel station or how much fertilizer a farmer receives. The provincial governments do not control the process. Instead, director generals are appointed by the national government in each province to act as the representatives of Baghdad.
At the local level, the councils have little official power. Instead, they earn their authority by how well they are able to exercise influence on the director general and the provincial government. Regional and provincial governments have similar characteristics.
Provincial governments receive funding from Baghdad but do not directly control the disbursements from the ministries. They can, and do, use their relationships with the ministries and the directors to influence funding and programs.
Centralization has had a limiting effect on the economic recovery. The industrial base is owned by the government and reopening factories is a decision that the various ministries can make. Because of the centralization, though, the General has seen seemingly simple decisions sent up to very high levels in the government.
He used concrete as an example. There are several concrete plants, sitting empty. Iraq imports concrete. The process of obtaining permission and funding to open these plants is complex.
Cardon cited the work of Paul Brinkley, from Taskforce BSO. He’s trying to get various factories up and running, to allow the Iraqi government a better opportunity to spin-off the plants to private ownership. The General made the point that working factories were far more attractive to a potential investor than closed operations.
The Iskandariyah complex south of Baghdad is another industrial complex that the MND-C is targeting for reopening. Prior to the Liberation, there were four factories there, employing 36,000. Two of the plants, that made weapons and munitions, were bombed flat by Coalition forces. There remains an automotive plant and a plant building mechanical items. The goal is to reopen these facilities.
I asked about the ability of foreigner companies to invest, given the desire to have some of these factories move to private control. General Cardon described the Iraqi laws in this respect as “convoluted”. Foreign investment is very difficult and there is an Iraqi mindset that must be overcome.
He continued to extol the growth in Najaf and Karbala. The provincial governor told the General that growth in Najaf is limited by the lack of qualified engineers and construction companies capable of doing work to western quality standards.
I asked about an Iraqi technocrat class. It exists, but the violence in the past caused many of them to leave the country. As safety improves, some of them are returning. The Ministry of Electricity was one of the most affected by these personnel losses.
I brought up a Washington Times story from January 30 that described the Iraqi funds that have not been spent and remain in Federal Reserve Bank of New York rather than being spent on reconstruction.
Cardon described an Iraqi government that lacks capability in planning, purchasing and contracts. The Babil government, as an example, had only disbursed $61 million out of a budget of $127 million for 2007. He points out that one reason for those numbers was that the government received 40% of its budget on the last day of the fiscal year.
In the last interview, the General had talked about Arab Jabour, the trouble spot in the area of operations (AO) of Task Force Marne. There have been several successes by the CLCs this week, so I closed the interview with a question:
If I am a melon farmer in rural Arab Jabour, can I load up my truck and drive into Baghdad to sell my melons? General Cardon was that six months ago it would have been dangerous but now it was very doable.
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Table of contents for Cardon interview
- Throw Out Your American Experience part 1
- Throw Out Your American Experience part 2
- Throw Out Your American Experience part 3
- Redevelopment and Reconciliation
- Surge Brigade’s Tour Winds Down
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