Iraq 101, Lesson 2

It's been a week since my last posting and I'm feeling negligent in this task.First, the good news. I was informed today that I am to be the recipient of a much-coveted wet CHU! I'll hold off from singing the full praises of this move until the transition is complete and I can provide the visual tour via some pics.

Meanwhile, I owe some deeper understanding of the Iraqi people and some insights into the craziness that is their current political challenge.

A story or two back I talked about the ethno-sectarian make-up of the country and how it is one of the defining country attributes. While all are fiercely proud to be Iraqi, their spiritual beliefs and ethnic backgrounds allow for some pretty deep obstacles to progress. And it isn't even as simple as that.

Two additional relationships define much of the populous: tribe and family. Tribal alliances date back hundreds of years to nomadic tribes roaming the area during the Ottoman Empire era. Because Ottoman influence was relatively weak in this geographic area, the various tribes became de-facto mini-states with their own laws, armies, and economic structures.

Over time the Ottoman rulers upped their influence in Iraq and established settlement and land reform policies that gradually eroded the power and influence of tribal sheikhs. The end of World War I sent the Ottoman Empire packing and, amongst all of the other geographic nightmares that emerged in its wake was Iraq, formed from three very diverse former Ottoman provinces. This became the domain of the British for most of the next 40 years and they went to some length to encourage the tribal ties and relationships in order to improve local controls across the monarchy.

This same policy served Saddam Hussein well during his reign, catering to the tribal leaders in exchange for their support of the regime greatly reduced the number of folks he felt compelled to exterminate.

And so here we are, still with strong tribal affiliations that exert a fair amount of control, in a fairly positive manner, across the country. In the absence of a well-established national system of security and rule-of-law, the sheikhs fill the void to ensure some level of responsibility of their tribe.

Strongest of all Iraqi bonds is that of family. It transcends tribe as well as sect and is the central and defining social base for most Iraqis. While extended family arrangements are not common, they do tend to remain geographically close and form a close-knit, highly social community that manages its security and subsistence affairs while defining its own values and reputation.

The family relationships are very, very strongly paternal, so all of you single Gloria Steinem types will probably want to skip the personals pages originating here.

And so, while there is plenty of evidence to show the population can be incited to rather heinous acts of ethno-sectarian violence, more recent behavior shows the willingness to revert to more traditional roles of protection and responsibility and take a longer view of bettering their lives.

With all of this admittedly non-expert assessment complete, I can move on in future installments to get at what is going on over here in terms of politics, typical Iraqi quality of life, and the vast gulf between the two.