Talk:Coalition Provisional Authority

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Because of their length, the previous discussions on this page have been archived. If further archiving is needed, see How to archive a talk page.

Previous discussions:


 * Archive 1 (Dec 12 2005 to Nov 5 2005):
 * Archive 2 (Nov 5 2005 to Nov 9 2004):

Why a summary?
I deleted the summary because it is a POV quotation from GW Bush. In any case, a summary is the last thing this short entry needs.

Member nations
Can anyone prove that there were any Non-American employees of the CPA. From what I've read and seen all employees that weren't food prepares working for contractors were Americans, specifically politically-connected Americans, especially executives and their assistants. I see here a list of 'members of the cpa' I don't ever recall seeing in any article or documentary anything other than the CPA being a creation of the President of the United States, and administered by an American proconsul, namely L. Paul Bremer III, named by the president. I also see that said list is uncited, which adds to my point. It's as if someone arbitrarily decided that anyone named as a member of the 'coalition of the willing' :) was part of the CPA, when that is factually and demonstrably not the case.


 * The CPA had security personnel and administrative personnel from all the member nations present in Iraq. The list was originally compiled from info on the original CPA website.  Please remember to sign your discussion posts.  Brian1975 14:11, 14 November 2007 (UTC)


 * You seem to be interested in what is "facutally and demonstrably not the case," but seem unconcerned you have no references for your "facts," other than what you have "read and seen." What are your reading sources, and when did you do any direct observation? The contractor who provided laundry and dry cleaning services for the CPA had numerous East European employees.  Most non-military security guards in the Green Zone, not including diplomatic security, were not American. CPA members included individuals from many nations.  In the Ministry of Transportation, for example, the person responsibile for facilities as a Dane.  While political connections played a role for the selection of some senior personnel, the head of the railroad construction across the country was a stauch democrat.  He and many others were chosen purely on their expertise (he had a career in the rail industry) and desire to help the Iraqis reconstitute their economy, without reqard to their political views.   —Preceding unsigned comment added by Businessdr (talk • contribs) 17:54, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

___________

I think it would also be interesting to have a 2nd column listing the countries that were not member nations. Any one else agree or object? --Rebroad 12:05, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Sure. And while we are at it, why not a list of all the companies that did not have contracts in Iraq, all the people that did not serve as US Ambassador to Iraq, all the newspaper columists who did not write POV commentary on CPA, ... My mind boggles at the possibilities.

South Carolinians in Baghdad
'"9) Pair of S.C. natives at forefront of rebuilding Iraq By LAUREN MARKOE The State (South Carolina) May 31, 2003

George Wolfe, who usually spends his days in the gilded Washington offices of the Treasury Department, rode down Baghdad's equivalent of Wall Street last week in a convoy of Humvees protected by machine gunners.

"There were tanks at both ends of the street," the Columbia native said this week in a phone call from Baghdad. "We walked into the Central Bank. It was badly looted and burned before the conflict ended.

"It looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic world. There were burned and charred Iraqi dinars blowing around in the breeze."

From this, Wolfe and his team are charged with establishing a national banking system in which Iraqis can place their confidence.

As the deputy financial coordinator for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq, Wolfe also is charged with creating a tax system, establishing a currency that does not bear the face of Saddam Hussein and setting up the mechanism for turning Iraqi oil into capital to rebuild the country.

He has been in Iraq for less than three weeks and is due to return to Washington in September. Then he will resume his usual job - deputy counsel at the Treasury Department.

Christopher Harvin, another Columbia native, has been working in the same downtown Baghdad palace for about the same length of time. From his palace office, where the walls are pockmarked with bullet holes, he directs the press operation for the American authority.

He also sleeps in the palace - with a South Carolina flag hung proudly over his bed.

Before Iraq, Harvin traveled to more than 30 states, working for the Bush presidential campaign, and to more than 50 countries as a Pentagon press officer, often accompanying Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

But as much as he had seen in his travels, Harvin, like Wolfe, describes his life in Iraq as other-worldly - a series of scenes from a bizarre movie.

They live, after all, in a palace that catered to the taste of Saddam Hussein. Today, more than 1,000 Americans, Britons and others trying to rebuild the nation have made it their temporary home.

"Think Vegas in the 1950s," Harvin said. "Giant gold doors. Crystal chandeliers. There are four big Saddam busts on the roof, as big as town houses. Have you seen the movie 'Casino'? It's living like that."

And now - finally - the palace cafeteria serves a down-home favorite.

"This is sweet tea! This is South Carolina sweet tea!" he announced to his buddies when he discovered just what he was drinking. "No joke. This has the sugar boiled right into it."

Harvin found out the source of the tea was an American cook whose mother hails from Lake City.

Harvin has been in Baghdad for three weeks. He has "no clue" when he will return to Washington.

In the meantime, he said, his job is to serve the Iraqi people, the American cause here - and L. Paul Bremer, head of the American authority in Iraq.

"My role is to image Bremer, to make him look presidential, to give the media access to him."

Both Harvin and Wolfe are putting in up to 20-hour days under trying conditions. Electricity is not always reliable. Harvin sleeps under mosquito nets. Wolfe said everything he wears is sweaty and dusty.

They can't leave the palace - once called the Republican Guard Palace - without an armed escort. And they are chilled by the recent spike in American casualties. Five soldiers died this week; four more were wounded.

Wolfe, once a partner in the Columbia law firm Nelson, Mullins, Riley and Scarborough, wears a bulletproof vest and a helmet whenever he ventures outside the compound, three or four days a week.

He often returns with stories that astound him.

In the Southern city of Hillah, for example, Wolfe interviewed a group of local bankers to "take a sounding" of the industry in the region. He wanted to know about their deposits and withdrawals and whether they were making loans and collecting payments.

When he asked about security, one banker told him it could be better.

"Three weeks ago," Wolfe recalled, "two guys come into his bank with machine guns and grenades and said if he didn't give them change, they would blow up the bank."

Wolfe explained: The 10,000 Iraqi dinar note is in plentiful supply. But the 250-dinar note is far more useful and in very short supply. The armed men didn't want to steal anything; they just wanted change for their 10,000's.

The devalued Iraqi currency is now strengthening as reconstruction efforts proceed. Last week, the United Nations lifted economic sanctions that had been imposed on Iraq since the Gulf War.

But neither Wolfe nor Harvin will deny the nation is still a dangerous place and that some Iraqis - still lacking electricity and a sense of personal security - are angry with Americans.

Still, these South Carolinians are optimistic.

Of the Iraqi children he sees begging for candy in the streets of Baghdad, Harvin said: "These kids don't know how good they're going to have it if we can make this work."

Wolfe said Iraq will change, comparing it to Japan and Germany after World War II.

"It took five years in Japan," said Wolfe, adding quickly, "not that it will take that long here."'

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