Journalist gives firsthand experience of Iraq

After eight days of imprisonment in the outskirts of Baghdad, Newsday journalist and author Matthew McAllester had gotten closer to the war in Iraq than he ever imagined.

"Unpleasant as it was, my experience didn't even scratch the surface of the suffering of the Iraqi people," McAllester said to both undergraduate and graduate students gathered in the ASEAN Auditorium at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy last night.

McAllester read an excerpt from his latest book, "Blinded by the Sunlight," which described the horrific nature of the beatings he and his cameramen from Newsday witnessed while in the jail.

Iraq is one of the few countries in the world that is known to openly attack foreign journalists, McAllester said.

After the reading, McAllester changed the subject of the lecture to discuss the various practices of law in Iraq.

The current law system of Iraq "is actually very comprehensive and focused, but its application by Saddam made it the terrible thing it was," McAllester said.

The two most important forms of law to emerge in post-Hussein Iraq -- Islamic law and tribal law -- are also of concern to the United States and other Western nations.

"These two law systems are meant to retard the spread of democracy and the ability of the Iraqi people to be socially mobile," he said.

"Under [Islamic law], when the Grand Ayatollah Sistani says 'jump,' everyone does," McAllester said.

Sistani, the leading Iraqi Shi'a cleric, recently added to the constitution a provision that women may represent up to 25 percent of the government. However, this is a greater percentage than any Western government.

Tribal law uses a court process and is typically a means to settle violence and conflict between members of the various tribes. When members of one tribe have been murdered or injured by members of another tribe, a tribal court is often called, where a monetary transaction is made for crimes committed.

McAllester listed many faults of the tribal court system. It refuses to represent women, who make up 60 percent of the Iraqi population. It also "rewards age over education, so a 35-year-old educated man is inferior to a 70-year-old carpenter," he said.

Although tribal law is not directly mentioned in the Quran, "it is echoed throughout," McAllester said.

International law and Kurdish law have more minor roles in Iraq, and McAllester described these laws as "a little haphazard."

McAllester cautioned that even though there is an ongoing battle to help the Iraqi people establish a democratic government and justice system, "[some Iraqis] will say to me, 'You know, I miss the law and order,'" from when Saddam was around.

He said that there is still hope, though. "In spite of all this, and despite today's carnage, [the situation in Iraq post-Saddam] has bolstered my enthusiasm because the majority of the Iraqi people seem to grasp the concept of democracy."

According to McAllester, "It's not a complex ideology, and they really get the concept of voting for someone and then being able to vote them out if they don't like them."

Though violence is still rampant in and around Baghdad, with two severe bombings on Monday, McAllester said the people remain dedicated to improving the safety of their city.

He told a story of how he witnessed civilians beaten by Iraqi police one day, but after talking to the beaten men, he learned that they really wanted to become police officers themselves.

"They told me that they wanted to help the safety of their country -- it gives a lot of hope, and I think it comes from experiencing 35 years of hell," McAllester said. "When there are more Iraqi police around, the overall representative government is much greater than in the rural areas."

According to McAllester, "Very few Iraqis would say that they preferred when Saddam was there. You can't even grasp the awful nature of this, and I've been in some terrible places. This was just off the charts."

McAllester said there is a growing acceptance among the Iraqi public that the American troops are not leaving soon. "The Iraqis understand, however, that the United States is here to stay, but it's no longer an issue if you're for or against the war. Everyone in the world has been sucked into this conflict."

The audience reacted approvingly to McAllester's speech. "I thought it was remarkable because this was the first time I've heard of anyone from the West speak about being in Iraq." Fletcher student Dipali Mukhopadhyay said. "He seems to have a great connection to Iraq, with his knowledge of society and his friends in Iraq. He was just so articulate."