Soldiers plant seeds of first municipal election in Iraq
by Spc. Jacob BoyerABU GHARIB, Iraq (Army News Service, May 2, 2003) -- After the first municipal election in Iraq, the new city council of this Baghdad suburb met with Air Defense soldiers April 23 to discuss restoring services and order to the town.
Abu Gharib, which has between 750,000 and 1.5 million citizens and lies on the outskirts of Baghdad, elected a city council last week in the first free elections in recent Iraqi history, said Lt. Col. Mark Garrell, commander, 1-3 ADA. Soldiers from 5th Special Forces Group who have been working with the townspeople for months helped them with the elections.
"This is a very historic day," Garrell said. "This was the first election like this in the history of Iraq."
The battalion assumed control of Abu Gharib April 13, and went to work immediately trying to contact officials in charge of the hospital, the police, fire departments and public utilities, Garrell said. As this process went on, Garrell became aware that Special Forces were working to establish an elected government.
Special Forces had been in the area before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, said Capt. Mike, the Special Forces team leader, who preferred not to be identified by full name. The troops spent time developing a rapport with the townspeople before being accepted by the town's elders. As the relationship between the Iraqis and the Americans developed, the Special Forces team helped them set up an election without American influence.
"We were sent here to help win the hearts and minds of the people," Mike said. "We were sincere, and they responded to us. As time passed, they realized we were here to help."
Mike said that at first, the heads of the families wanted the soldiers to lead them, but that was not his team's goal.
"We told them if they led, we would support them," he said. "It's all about them, not us. After 36 years under Baath Party leadership, they're scared, and they don't really know how democracy works. But for the first time, they have an assembly elected through a democratic process."
When the battalion and the Special Forces team realized they were working toward the same goal with different groups, they decided to tie their efforts together.
"There are two theories to this kind of work," Mike said. "You can get things going with the civil leaders or the elected government. We went with the leadership aspect, and 3rd ID did the nuts and bolts. Having both sides working made it a lot more seamless."
Garrell said it helped both groups "legitimize" each other, since those running the services were not selected by the people, and those chosen by the people did not fully understand all of the issues confronting the people of Abu Gharib.
The main concerns voiced by the council were security and water for the hospital and pay for the policemen, who had not been paid in more than two months. Garrell told the council he would work fast to address the issues he could and take the issues he could not fix up his chain of command.
Garrell told them that the Army could not solve all of their problems, though, and that they would need the Iraqis' help with every task.
"In order for us to help you, you must help yourselves," he told them. "We don't want to lead you, we want you to lead yourselves. The peace starts here, and the peace here will spread to other areas within the city." Mike echoed Garrell's comments, saying that the Army needs to support this government, because if it is seen as a success, others will follow.
"We hope that this is a template, but we have to follow through by working with them," he said. "It's got to be a government of the people, for the people and by the people. We can always endorse that, but we can't do it for them. If things go well, it will be a model for how governments can be built in other cities here."
(Editor's note: Spc. Jacob Boyer is a journalist for the 3ID (M) public affairs team.)
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