Iraq 101, Lesson 1

Just returned from watching USA tie England in the World Cup. Some folks from the Embassy here arranged a big projection screen showing outside -- I'm guessing about 60 folks out in the heat cheering on our team. Nice diversion. Hers's a pic, though not the best.

It cooled off quite a bit this past week, down to the high 90s and low 100s from the 120-ish days the week before. Apparently what it takes to lower the temperature is good sun block. And what could possibly block the sun better than about a billion tons of dirt in the air! Sure, it makes breathing a touch difficult and leaves some rather unpleasant accumulations to be mined from your eyes and nose, but it is cooler. I provided a picture to give a sense of the problem. Unfortunately, I've been told the same thing about the dust that I was told about the heat: it will get worse. Something to look forward to, I guess.

I put off talking about politics in my last writing because my little Good CHUkeeping (or maybe Southern So-Called Living?) food article took up sufficient space. My prattling so far tonight falls short, so I guess I'll plunge into some basics of how this place works.

There is much to try to keep straight in your mind while here -- the people and relationships are more complicated than Chinese calculus. The country is somewhat like three countries pasted together with little in common but national identity. It divides along ethno-sectarian lines: the Shia predominate in the south, the Kurds in the north, and the Sunni in central Iraq/Baghdad. The Shia and Sunni are Arab, distinct ethnicity from the Kurds. The Shia are a minority in the Muslim world but the majority in Iraq, representative of the fact that Iraq is central to the global Shia community.

While they represent the majority population, the Shia have been ruled for decades by the Sunni minority, most notably under the thumb of Saddam Hussein. The Sunni have long been the ruling elite and, from a sectarian viewpoint, are more closely aligned with Arab neighbors. The Kurds are ethnically aligned with tribes in Turkey and Iran. They are a proud people who, for the most part, distanced themselves from Turkey and Iran in an attempt to have their own "home." Some of them don't play well with others, witnessed here on a regular basis in news items describing Kurdish rebels making attacks into Iran and Turkey and those countries, in turn, trying to bomb the Kurds out of existence.

That is enough of a lesson for today. It is far from scholarly so, like everything you read on the Internet, accept it in the spirit it is offered. I'll now spend a few days trying to sort out the added levels of complexity involving tribes and families, then roll it all into the current unfolding drama of Iraq's elected government.