Imperial Life in the Emerald City (34 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the willingness of so many people who worked for the CPA and ORHA to speak with me, often repeatedly and at length, about life in the Green Zone and the inner workings of the occupation administration. I am deeply grateful for their time and trust. Unfortunately, many of them, including several who served in high-ranking CPA posts, did not want to be identified by name because of fears of retribution from the Bush administration. I am thankful as well for information provided by senior officials at the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon, most of whom also did not want to be named but did want me to develop a fuller, and more critical, understanding of the CPA.

I also could not have written this book without the generous support and encouragement of the editors and executives of
The Washington Post.
Their commitment to covering events in Iraq has been, I believe, without parallel in American journalism. In June 2003, on my first visit back to Washington after the liberation of Baghdad, Don Graham, the
Post
's chairman, pulled me aside and told me that the paper would do whatever was necessary to ensure my safety and that of my colleagues. And it did.

Executive Editor Len Downie and his managing editor while I was in Iraq, Steve Coll, are two of the very best in the news business. With the support of the
Post
's publisher, Bo Jones, they created a climate within the newspaper that encouraged my colleagues to produce excellent journalism about America's involvement in Iraq. Phil Bennett, who was the paper's assistant managing editor for foreign news and is now managing editor, deserves special gratitude. He is a brilliant editor, a mentor, and a friend. When others were focused on the bang-bang of military operations, he encouraged me to keep my sights on Bremer and the CPA.

Reporting from—and living in—Iraq is impossible without the help of Iraqis. The
Post
has been fortunate to have an amazing team of Iraqis working as interpreters, drivers, and guards. They put their lives on the line every day to help me understand what was really happening in their country. For that, and so much else, I am eternally grateful to Dhia Ahmed, Khalid Alsaffar, Omar Assad, Naseer Fadhil, Sabah Fadhil, Omar Fekeiki, Falah Hassan, Moyad Jabbar, Muna Jawad, Mohammed Mahdi, Rifaat Mohammed, Mohammed Munim, Jawad Munshid, Fawziya Naji, Saif Naseer, Ghazwan Noel, Naseer Nouri, Muhanned Salem, Saad Sarhan, Bassam Sebti, and Ahmed Younis.

I was privileged to work with some of the
Post
's very best correspondents and photographers in Baghdad, among them Andrea Bruce, Michel du Cille, Pam Constable, Steve Fainaru, Peter Finn, Bart Gellman, Theola Labbé, Molly Moore, Bill O'Leary, Lucian Perkins, Lois Raimondo, Michael Robinson-Chavez, Anthony Shadid, Jackie Spinner, Doug Struck, Kevin Sullivan, Karl Vick, Daniel Williams, and Scott Wilson. There is nobody better at covering the Arab world than Anthony Shadid, who became a wise guide and good friend.

I was also blessed to have many friends, some old, some new, among the pack of journalists in Baghdad. They included Hannah Allam, Jane Arraf, Christina Asquith, Anne Barnard, Rym Brahimi, Thanassis Cambanis, Jill Carroll, Jack Fairweather, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, Bill Glauber, Dan Harris, Caroline Hawley, James Hider, Larry Kaplow, Birgit Kaspar, Laura King, Jacki Lyden, Evan Osnos, Catherine Philp, Alissa Rubin, Somini Sengupta, Christine Spolar, and Nick Watt.

The conflict in Iraq has claimed the lives of too many good people, among them three friends: United Nations diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello,
Boston Globe
correspondent Elizabeth Neuffer, and aid worker Marla Ruzicka. I miss them dearly.

In Washington, I was grateful for the wisdom and assistance of several
Post
colleagues, particularly Karen DeYoung, Bradley Graham, Glenn Kessler, Dana Priest, Tom Ricks, Peter Slevin, Josh White, and Robin Wright. Foreign Editor David Hoffman helped me conceptualize stories and then deftly edited them. Others on the Foreign Desk were invaluable, including Nora Boustany, John Burgess, Ed Cody, Peter Eisner, Ginny Hamill, Tiffany Harness, Lou Ann McNeill, Emily Messner, Andy Mosher, Tony Reid, Keith Sinzinger, Dita Smith, and Robert Thomason. Many others at the
Post
have provided good counsel and friendship over the years, among them Glenn Frankel, Tracy Grant, Fred Hiatt, David Ignatius, and Keith Richburg.

Two institutions in Washington granted me fellowships that provided me a place to write the book and, more important, share ideas with smart people. The first was the International Reporting Project at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. Director John Schidlovsky and his staff—Jeff Barrus, Louise Lief, and Denise Melvin—gave me a welcome home upon my return from Baghdad. I also benefited greatly from my interactions with eight smart young journalists who were IRP fellows: Ryan Anson, Aryn Baker, Adam Graham-Silverman, Raffi Khatchadourian, Cathryn Poff, Fernanda Santos, Kelly Whalen, and Mary Wiltenburg.

The second was the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where I am grateful to Director Lee Hamilton as well as to Haleh Esfandiari, Steve Lagerfeld, Michael Van Dusen, and Sam Wells. My research assistant there, Tiffany Clarke, provided invaluable help in poring through reams of government documents.

The Wilson Center is where I met Sarah Courteau, a whip-smart editor at the
Wilson Quarterly.
Sarah spent countless hours reading and editing, and rereading and reediting, my manuscript. Without her sagacious suggestions, this book would be far less readable. I am eternally grateful for her help, and for her friendship.

This book would never have been printed had David Ignatius not introduced me to my agent, the indomitable Rafe Sagalyn, who patiently guided me through my first foray into book writing. Rafe's team, including Eben Gilfenbaum, Amy Rosenthal, and Bridget Wagner, provided valuable assistance along the way.

At Knopf, Jonathan Segal and Sonny Mehta helped to shape my sprawling reporting into a defined narrative about the Green Zone. It was a privilege to work with Jon, whose extraordinary intelligence and enthusiasm for a good story is matched only by his skill with an editor's pencil.

My friends provided support, encouragement, and endless good meals to help keep me sane during my months of writing. I am especially indebted to Mike Allen, Peter Baker, Katia Dunn, Susan Glasser, Mike Grunwald, Spencer Hsu, Dafna Linzer, Leef Smith, and Anne Marie Squeo. Nurith Aizenman and Theresa Everline not only helped read sections of the manuscript, but they spent hours on end helping me shape my outline. Elizabeth Terry, another dear friend, provided great advice throughout.

If not for her willingness to help dig out a photo of Michael Battles from
Fortune
magazine's archive, I never would have met the wonderful Julie Schlosser. Getting to know her was even more fun than finishing the book.

Above all else, I am thankful to have such a wonderful family. To my brother, Ravi, his wife, Jennie, and my parents, Uma and Kumar: much love and gratitude.

NOTES

This book is the result of nearly two years of reporting in Iraq for
The Washington Post,
beginning with my first trip to the country in September 2002. I lived in Baghdad almost continuously from November 2002 until the start of the American-led invasion in March 2003. I returned on April 10, 2003, the day after the statue of Saddam was felled in front of the Palestine Hotel, and I resided in Iraq full-time until September 30,2004. Although I had a few brief holidays, by my count I spent more days in Iraq during the fifteen-month occupation than almost any other American print reporter.

I continued reporting for this book upon my return to the United States, holding additional conversations with people I had first met in Iraq and conducting interviews with dozens of others whom I had been unable to speak with while they were resident in the Green Zone. I have also pored through thousands of pages of internal CPA e-mail messages and documents in an effort to develop a fuller understanding of the occupation.

Although some of the material in my narrative has appeared in different form in the
Post,
much of my account is based on more than one hundred original interviews conducted exclusively for this book. Because of concerns about retribution, several of my sources requested not to be identified by name; in those cases, I have tried to be as specific as possible about their role in the CPA or the U.S. government without compromising their identity.

I have benefited greatly from the reporting of my
Post
colleagues, in particular Thomas E. Ricks, Anthony Shadid, and Robin Wright, as well as from the outstanding research and interpretation services provided by Khalid Alsaffar, Omar Fekeiki, Naseer Nouri, and Bassam Sebti in the
Post
's Baghdad bureau.

Unless cited below, all statements quoted in the book are from interviews with me or public sources. Where conversation is recounted, it is on the basis of the memory of at least one person who could hear what was said. Although memories do slip, and recollections differ even among eyewitnesses, I have attempted to describe past events as accurately as possible.

2
A Deer in the Headlights

President George W. Bush:
Bob Woodward,
Plan of Attack
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004), p. 2.

Feith's office conducted its postwar planning:
In addition to my own reporting, I gleaned insights from James Fallows's article “Blind into Baghdad,”
The Atlantic,
January 2004.

As soon as Garner left:
Dan Morgan, “Deciding Who Builds Iraq Is Fraught with Infighting,”
The Washington Post,
May 4, 2003.

3
You're in Charge!

Among them was L. Paul Bremer III:
In his book
My Year in Iraq
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), Bremer writes that he was contacted about serving in Iraq by I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and by Paul Wolfowitz.

4
Control Freak

Bremer would later write:
Bremer,
My Year in Iraq,
p. 10.

Shortly after Bremer arrived:
This meeting was described to me by two people with direct knowledge of the conversation.

In a 2002 article:
L. Paul Bremer III, “Corporate Governance and Crisis Management,”
Directors & Boards,
January 1, 2002.

He was fifty then:
Bill Powell, “The CEO of Iraq,”
Fortune,
August 11, 2003.

When a visitor noted:
Patrick E. Tyler, “Overseer Adjusts Strategy as Turmoil Grows in Iraq,”
The New York Times,
July 13, 2003.

Even in his early years:
James T. Yenkel, “Couples: The Price of Success,”
The Washington Post,
May 11, 1982.

In 1994, the couple converted:
Mark Zimmerman, “Iraq Envoy Says Faith Gives Him Strength,”
Catholic Standard,
June 19, 2003.

He wrote a memo to Pentagon officials:
Michael R. Gordon, “Debate Lingering on Decision to Dissolve the Iraqi Military,”
The New York Times,
October 21, 2004.

When CPA officials complained:
In an op-ed piece in
The New York Times
on January 13, 2006, titled “In Iraq, Wrongs Make a Right,” Bremer acknowledged that it was a mistake to leave implementation to Iraqi politicians. “De-Baathification should have been administered by an independent judicial body,” he wrote.

5
Who Are These People?

Years earlier, when he was appointed:
Christopher Drew, “A Street Cop's Rise from High School Dropout to Cabinet Nominee,”
The New York Times,
December 3, 2004.

Kerik's first order of business:
Hamza Hendawi, “Adviser: Iraq Police Reform to Be Tough,” Associated Press, May 26, 2003; and NBC
Today
show transcript, May 27, 2003; and Romesh Ratnesar, “Can a New York Cop Tame Baghdad?,”
Time,
June 9, 2003, p. 41.

Steele, who served as Bremer's counselor:
In addition to my own reporting, I gleaned insights from Jon Lee Anderson, “The Uprising: Shia and Sunnis Put Aside Their Differences,”
The New Yorker,
May 3, 2004, p. 63.

One former CPA employee:
The e-mail was first published in the Web log of Daniel Drezner, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. It has been archived at http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/001326.htm.

Jay Hallen didn't much like his job:
Unless otherwise cited, all direct quotes from Hallen are from a transcript of an interview of Hallen conducted by Susan M. Klingaman of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, on October 1, 2004, for the United States Institute of Peace's Iraq Experience Project.

It wasn't just Hallen who was:
Yochi J. Dreazen, “How a 24-Year-Old Got a Job Rebuilding Iraq's Stock Market,”
The Wall Street Journal,
January 28, 2004, p. A1.

At Yale University:
Ann Ritter, “Rediscover Your Inner Child at ‘The Lorax,'”
Yale Herald,
January 23, 1998.

Five days after Hallen arrived:
Jay Hallen, “Greetings from Camp Arkansas,”
TCS Daily,
September 23, 2003. Available on the Web at http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=092303E.

7
Bring a Duffel Bag

Behind the podium:
Senor made the statement about Iraqis not wanting Coalition forces to leave at a May 24, 2004, CPA press briefing. A poll conducted for the CPA by the Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Security Studies from April 14 to 23, 2004, in six large Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul, reported that 55 percent of respondents said they would feel “more safe” if Coalition forces left immediately. Forty-one percent of respondents said they wanted Coalition forces to “leave immediately,” and 45 percent said they wanted Coalition forces to “leave after a permanent government is elected.” Only 7 percent of respondents said they had confidence in Coalition forces. A poll conducted for the CPA by the same organization from May 14 to 23, 2004, reported that 866 of 1,068 respondents wanted Coalition forces to leave Iraq.

Several days later:
Michael Furlong, SAIC's project manager in Baghdad, and Ahmed al-Rikaby, a senior Iraqi journalist with the IMN, said they were present at the meeting where Senor asked North why IMN didn't broadcast the tape. Both men told me they recalled North's comment to Senor. They also described Senor's questioning of Bremer as an interview. Senor insisted to me that he did not interview Bremer for IMN. Senor claimed that the incident in question involved one of Bremer's addresses to the Iraqi people, during which he prompted Bremer while the tape was rolling.

IMN staff worried that running:
Kathleen McCaul, “Troubles at Iraqi Media Network,”
Baghdad Bulletin,
July 21, 2003.

Michael Battles arrived in Baghdad:
Neil King, Jr., and Yochi J. Dreazen, “Amid Chaos in Iraq, Tiny Security Firm Found Opportunity,”
The Wall Street Journal,
August 13, 2004, p. A1.

We got that contract:
Ibid.

8
A Yearning for Old Times

Physical reconstruction was a means:
Most quotations and other material attributed to Agresto come from several interviews I conducted with him in Iraq and in the United States. A few quotes have been taken from an unpublished book manuscript he shared with me.

10
The Plan Unravels

I don't think it would be responsible:
Bremer,
My Year in Iraq,
p. 205.

198
Bremer landed at Andrews:
Ibid., p. 224.

203
Frankly, I'm disappointed:
Ibid., p. 231.

11
A Fool's Errand

Despite its selective admission of Iraqis:
“Iraqi Hospitals to Regain First-Class Status Quickly,” Agence France Presse, February 27,2004.

12
We Cannot Continue Like This

A few weeks after he arrived in Baghdad:
As with the earlier section, all direct quotes from Hallen, unless otherwise cited, are from the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training interview.

15
Crazy, If Not Suicidal

But back in Washington, the desire for revenge:
In addition to my own reporting, I gleaned insights from Alissa J. Rubin and Doyle McManus, “Why America Has Waged a Losing Battle on Fallouja,”
Los Angeles Times,
October 24, 2004, p. A1.