The American Spectator

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SINCE MY ARRIVAL IN BAGHDAD I have been mystified by how hot the "cold water" faucets run. Except in the middle of the night when the cold water might be charitably described as merely scalding, the normal flow of water is untouchable.

Leaving your hands under the "cold water" would result in serious burns and would be an ideal opportunity for some American ambulance chaser to come over here and start a class action lawsuit. If a cup of hot coffee dropped in your lap at McDonalds can get you a million dollar award, the potential here is much greater. Since there seemed no solution to our hot "cold water," I became convinced that someone, either inadvertently, or intentionally, had switched or reversed the source of the water.

A few days ago I learned the real reason for the problem. It is that our "cold water tank" sits on the roof of the house in the blistering daytime sun. The temperature at lunchtime these days runs around 125 degrees. Our operations manager says he should have put a roof over the tank more than a year ago, but hasn't gotten to it yet. "I'll do it in the next few days," he told me. Sure.

I WENT TO A LUNCH hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce. It was at the Al Rasheed hotel and attended by 120 Iraqi and American/British businessmen and women. The last one attracted 80, so the trend is improving.

The featured speaker, an Iraqi businessman, was quite good. He raised several issues that, frankly, I'd never thought of. He said one of the major injuries to Iraq from the embargo was that it put the country about 15 years behind the rest of the world in "computerization." And, he emphasized that we need to think of that word in its most expansive set of definitions. Until the U.S. came along, Iraq was simply in a different century when it came to the Internet, CADD, microprocessors, software, programming and all the rest of the things we have grown accustomed to. He estimates it will take another six to eight years for Iraq to catch up in this area.

He warned, however, that even that estimate maybe wildly optimistic unless the country is able to rid itself of the rotten-to-the-core corruption and bribery that permeates all aspects of life here. There is no transaction in Iraq too small to be free of corruption. People bribe everyone from the policeman on the beat, to cabinet ministers, to the local shoeshine man. It is the national sport! It is such a way of life here (and in the rest of the Middle East) that anytime you try to engage an Iraqi in a conversation about this, he will tell you not to waste time -- his and yours.

The speaker also emphasized the desperate need for privatization in Iraq. Too much in this country is owned or controlled by the government and the government has played a major historic role in the redistribution of wealth.

I illustrate this with an example from our own company. Last month one of our surveyors left us to go work for one of the government ministries at one quarter the salary we were paying him. His job, and it is indeed a fairly junior position, involves the gift to him from the government of a piece of land, a housing allowance, a home building allowance and an endless list of other favors and handouts this guy has so far done nothing to deserve. That is a pretty standard "compensation package." This has been the way the country and its many tribes have functioned for about a half century.

In this respect, Iraq has a long way to go to fix any of these problems -- pretty much as East Germany did and it's not out of the woods yet.

AS I LOOK DOWN THE ROAD and try to imagine what a future Iraq will look like, I am puzzled that some of the big U.S. real estate investors have not yet dropped anchor here. Foreigners can't own land here today, but they should be getting prepared for the future. Iraq is probably the most secular of the Middle East countries and the one most likely to embrace a U.S.-style investment climate, with U.S.-style investments such as gambling casinos and vacation resorts.

Iraq today is like Las Vegas in 1950 when Bugsy Siegel arrived. There is a huge opportunity to be the first on the scene with a big idea and a big vision. Maybe Donald Trump is overly preoccupied with his television career right now. Trump seems too wrapped up in stuff that might tickle his ego rather than filling his wallet even though, from what I read, his wallet is in need of a refill.

Except for a couple of months a year, when even superb air-conditioning may not be sufficient, Baghdad and the surrounding area could be a fantastic gambling casino/vacation resort. Steve Wynn, are you out there?

topics:
Television, Business, Law, Iraq