Crime, instability are dangers in postwar Iraq
By Kris Osborn
CNN Headline News
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A U.S. Marine guards Iraqis suspected of looting at a checkpoint near Baghdad's airport.
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(CNN) -- Some U.S. military officials say establishing long-term order and economic prosperity could prove difficult in Iraq.
Speaking about the potential for billions of dollars to be stolen and wind up fueling an emerging black market, a military spokesman told CNN, "There is a ready-made mafia right there already in Iraq, with the Fedayeen. There are mountains and mountains of arms in Iraq. It is a scary situation."
When asked about these dangers in Iraq and the prospect of continued crime and looting, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens, with U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, told CNN conditions in Iraq are rapidly improving. "In the past few days, you have seen people striking back at the regime. Now that that weight of oppression has been lifted, people are hoping to simply live their lives," Owens said.
Owens said Iraqis are making strides toward improving conditions in their country. "People do not like chaos," Owens said. "The basics of police forces and fire departments are desired not only by the coalition but also by the Iraqis."
However, Owens emphasized that Central Command is still focused on the war. He told CNN, "We're still fighting pockets of resistance and snipers. Our mission is to set the conditions so that civil affairs can come in. Civil affairs can't operate when snipers are firing at them."
Setting those conditions could prove challenging, according to military officials. One military official compared the potential for corruption in Iraq to the violence and criminal activity that followed the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
The official said, "Saddam Hussein's influence has been very corrupt. Saddam spent a lot of time dealing in contraband, moving oil, weapons parts and nuclear material. Although Saddam is gone, that big network of people is still there and unemployed."
According to a military spokesman, the impact of Saddam Hussein will likely remain for years to come.
He told CNN, "People raised under Saddam Hussein saw that those in power got what they wanted through thuggery. Now there is no one looking over their shoulder."
Speaking to this danger, Owens said one of the best weapons against the Fedayeen or remaining criminal elements in Iraq is the local Iraqis.
"The local population knows who the bad guys are," Owens said. "So when the fear of retaliation is removed, the locals are taking coalition forces to weapons stockpiles and enemy locations. The Iraqi people don't want these people in their neighborhood, so it is not surprising that they are turning these guys in."
The key to stability in Iraq, according to several military sources, rests to a large degree with the economy.
One official told CNN, "It will be important to put a police force back together, but ultimately when it comes to the internal security of Iraq, the people will need to be employed. Iraq has a lot of infrastructure and a lot of wealth, which needs to get to everyone, including the Shi'ites and the Kurds et cetera, in some kind of equitable way. With Iraq, the solution is oil, and a productive, reliable system is not there yet."
