War, Crimes, and Religion
What's going on in Iraq now?
IRAQ: Crime Becomes Another Occupation
By IPS Correspondents
Brian Conley and Isam Rashid
BAGHDAD, Feb 17 2006 (IPS) - Iraqis live amidst the excesses of the occupation, death squads, shooting and terrorist bombing – but that is not all. They have learnt to live increasingly with crime that often enters homes without anyone to check it.
It is widely accepted that Iraq's recent crime problems began with Saddam Hussein's general amnesty declaration in October 2002. It is also widely believed the crime wave reached a high in April 2003 with the collapse of Saddam’s seat of power in Baghdad.
...
Such crimes were unknown in Iraq under Saddam. Before the war, the only kidnapping Iraqis worried about were those carried out by Saddam’s secret police. Iraqis knew that if they did not challenge Saddam’s political mandate, they could expect to remain relatively secure.
"We lived in this country before the war and there was safety," Thaer said, "Nothing has changed except the occupation. It is the only new thing; that means the occupation bears a big responsibility for the crime in Iraq."
Drug trafficking too has risen after the war, says 35-year-old taxi driver Salem. "Iraq was a very clean country before the occupation," he told IPS. "Under Saddam's government if they caught anyone with drugs, the sentence was execution. After the war drugs became a very big problem for Iraqis."
The drugs problem is rarely discussed publicly. "As a taxi driver I meet many people using drugs in my car," said Salem. "I feel sad for them because most of them are young. It was easy for anyone to smuggle drugs because the Iraqi borders were open after the war."
4/21/2011
Iraq 2011 Crime and Safety Report: Baghdad
...
Crime Threats
There are no reliable crime statistics and/or crime reporting mechanisms in Iraq. Individuals associated with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad are required to travel with a protective detail, limiting potential criminal threats against embassy personnel. Kidnappings for political or monetary gain are common throughout Iraq. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad recommends that individuals travel with Personal Security Details (PSDs) to limit potential terrorist and criminal threats.
Police Response
Iraqi security forces maintain a large presence in most major urban areas to limit potential terrorist, insurgent, and militia activity. Iraqi checkpoints and security stations are manned at all times and Iraqi police and military units normally respond rapidly to all incidents. Iraqi Police and Army have permanent manned checkpoints and security stations, and also routinely set up temporary checkpoints lasting only a few hours. However, Iraqi police and military units are still undergoing training in techniques and procedures. These units are not as organized or capable as U.S. police and military units.
https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=10884
Afghanistan, Iraq Crime Increasing, According To New Report
AULINE JELINEK 10/30/11 07:32 PM ET
WASHINGTON — A Marine in Iraq sent home $43,000 in stolen cash by hiding it in a footlocker among American flags. A soldier shipped thousands more concealed in a toy stuffed animal. An embassy employee tricked the State Department into wiring $240,000 into his foreign bank account.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the number of people indicted and convicted by the U.S. for bribery, theft and other reconstruction-related crimes in both countries is rapidly rising, according to two government reports released Sunday.
...
The U.S. has committed $62 billion to rebuilding Iraq and $72 billion for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
The independent Commission on Wartime Contracting estimated in August that at least $31 billion has been lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan, adding that the total could be as high as $60 billion. It studied not just reconstruction spending, but $206 billion for the logistical support of coalition forces and the performance of security functions.
The commission found that from 10 to 20 percent of the $206 billion in spending was wasted, while fraud accounted for the loss of another 5 to 9 percent.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/30/afghanistan-iraq-crime_n_1065947.html
The War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan might be regraded as having an effect of preventing other major terror conducted on the American soil.
But, the War has not improved morals of Iraqis and Afghans as well as Americans. It introduced new types of crimes and multiplied old types of crimes.
So, we may have to wish that the deterioration of situations would intensify a need to rely on religion more than ever in each country.
After this era of the War on Terror, more pious people might appear in the US, Iraq, and Afghanistan. But, the War is not an effective way for improvement morals in society in those countries. It should have been avoided. The fact that the US could not find and execute a better way to solve the threat of terror and the problematic situations in Iraq and Afghanistan points at the limit of the American justice and the American faith in God.
Iraq in March 2003
*** *** *** ***
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: