Community Resilience to Sectarian Violence in Baghdad Peace Psychology Book Series

Peace Psychology Book Series Series Editor: Daniel J. Christie Ami C. Carpenter Community Resilience to Sectarian Violence in Baghdad Peace Psychology Book Series Series Editor Daniel J. Christie For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7298 Ami C. Carpenter Community Resilience to Sectarian Violence in Baghdad 1 3 Ami C. Carpenter Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies University of San Diego San Diego, CA USA ISBN 978-1-4614-8811-8 ISBN 978-1-4614-8812-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-8812-5 Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013946313 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 This work is subject to copyright. 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Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword The phrase “victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan” is often attributed to the Italian diplomat Count Caleazzo Ciano, but the insight is a common one. US News and World Report correspondent Chitra Ragavan, reflecting on the war in Iraq, noted “Success has many fathers. The mess in Baghdad has a lot more.”1 Iraq is a complex endeavor, on a historical scale and its parental attribution is simultaneously clear and contentious. Some claim parenthood and assert success; others assert fail- ure and seek to ensure that parenthood cannot be denied. These arguments are both necessary, and unlikely to be resolved any time soon. But an exclusive focus on the role of international, particularly American, deci- sions in the origins and conduct of the war unfortunately obscures the equally important understanding of the Iraqi role in the evolution of the conflict. While some attention is paid to “The Awakening”—the Sunni rejection of Al Qaeda— less attention is paid to other Iraqi actors in the conflict’s evolution, for example, Muqtada al Sadr. A variety of Iraqi actors played key roles in the evolution of the conflict. Their motivations and political agendas were diverse and often unclear— anti-occupation vocabularies frequently accompanied robust personal, criminal, and factional-political agendas—and historical work on these issues will take time to bring clarity. But at least these actors are visible. Professor Ami Carpenter’s book is unique, in that it highlights the efforts of ordinary Iraqis to resist the violence produced by the intersection of the American- led invasion and a diversity of local agendas. In Professor Carpenter’s book the experiences, the efforts, the voices, of ordinary Iraqis seeking to cope with the war and to shape events so as to maintain their ordinary lives and their neighborhoods, are front and center. Professor Carpenter’s work focuses on resiliency, “the ability of social systems to cope, adapt, and reorganize in response to dramatic challenges.” She develops, and through her research carefully examines, the four sets of factors shap- ing community resilience—social capital, economic development, information and communication resources, and community competence. Through well-developed 1 “Who Lost Iraq: Success has many fathers. The mess in Baghdad has a lot more.” US News and World Report. 11/19/2006. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061119/27iraq_10. htm accessed 23 June 2013. v vi Foreword theory and careful attention to the specific social context of individual neighborhoods in Baghdad she brings to light how these factors shape the evolution of conflict. In some communities, neighbors were able to maintain cross-cutting connections, employ the resources they had, and sustain an imperfect peace. In others, sectarian fear developed, communities polarized, and violence overtook these efforts. While the Iraq War, viewed from afar, may seem an event of grand scope and scale, and a blur of factions, sectarian tensions, and international and regional actors, it was in fact an intimate and local affair. Local dynamics shaped larger outcomes, all successes and failures, of any actor involved, were grounded in small-scale actions and events. At this scale, the actions of individuals and small groups matter, and Professor Carpenter carefully traces the interaction of these actions with wider social conditions and their impact on conflict within communities. Whether the Iraq War was a war for oil, or for freedom and democracy; whether it was sadly misconceived or boldly and courageously crafted, are questions for political contention and historical assessment. What is clear is that it was a war, into which the people of Iraq were plunged, as individual and as communities, and with which they had to cope. Though some sought to participate in the conflict, the vast majority of them sought, or at least wished for, peace. Professor Carpenter quotes Adel Abdul Mahdi, the former Vice President of Iraq, who, writing this spring, saw the Iraqi people as hostages: “We all have become hostages…. The Sunnis are hostages; they cannot support the policies of authorities that weaken them in their regions and threaten them in other regions. The Shias are also hostages. They stand helpless before daily killings and menacing threats while they find themselves unable to discuss failing policies related to their security, politics and services.”2 Professor Carpenter’s book reminds us, and shows us how, at least some ordinary Iraqis rejected the idea that they were hostages. The Iraqis whose efforts Professor Carpenter analyzes may not have fully succeeded in maintaining peace in their neighborhoods, but they refused to be hostages and struggled to build peace as they could. This is not a simple or heroic tale—it is social science, rather than a novel, after all—but the understanding Professor Carpenter develops can help all of us who seek to help develop a more peaceful and just world; the efforts of the ordinary Iraqis whose story she tells can inspire us. Dana P. Eyre 2 Mahdi [1]. Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance of Dana Eyre, Stefan Kabowski, S. S. Motlak, Ali Hassan, and Salman Salman. I am deeply, immeasurably grateful to all five of these extraordinary individuals. All helped me rewrite and de-jargonize my questionnaire to get the answers I really wanted. Dana and Stefan juggled insane travel schedules to participate in numer- ous conference calls about the project as it progressed, and to set me straight sev- eral times with seasoned advice on the methodology. Ali and Salman undertook the risky project of conducting interviews in the ten neighborhoods we chose to study. S. S. Motlak spent additional innumerable hours explaining the social and political intricacies of identity in Baghdad, regional tribal histories, and aiding my interpretation of our data. I am deeply grateful that my brilliant colleague, Dr. Topher McDougal, joined the project team. He broadened and bettered our methodology, reminded us not to overlook or undervalue the contribution of economic variables in our analysis, and taught me much about the impact of trade and social networks on urban resilience. I wish to thank Ibrahim al-Marashi for reviewing this manuscript before its publication, and for his supremely helpful inquiries, corrections, and encourage- ment. This book was certainly made better by his thoughtful critique and sug- gested revisions. Last but not least, I would like to thank James Kohn for supporting me through the final stages of this project, for no small amount of proofreading, and for his invaluable emotional support. vii Contents 1 Introduction ................................................ 1 Al-Nil Raises a Question ....................................... 2 A Subtle Difference ...................................... 4 Resilience and Conflict ........................................ 5 Methods .................................................... 7 Research Sites .........................................

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