BAGHDAD, IRAQ – The line sometimes stretches a mile long.
Former soldiers and employees of the Iraqi Army, 400,000 in all, are paid a $50- per-month “pension” by the occupying forces.
The only catch is, they have to stand in line to get the money.
The lines in Baghdad are the worst. There is only one pay center for the entire city, so every day thousands of former soldiers, and widows of former soldiers, queue up for their cash in temperatures that often exceed 120 degrees.
There is precious little shade, and sitting down is not much of an option. The line moves slowly, but the movement is regular enough that sitting down would cause an obstruction.
The tempers in the queue were almost as hot as the midday sun when I arrived one day last week. American soldiers, desperately understaffed, regularly barked orders and hurled profanity at the Iraqis, who looked back at them with blank, weary eyes.
Abu Tabarik told me when I visited that he had queued up with his sister, a former army employee, for three days straight. Every morning they would arrive at 6 o’clock, only to be turned back twelve hours later when the Americans closed up shop for the day.
Sleeping on the sidewalk to assure a good place in line, like Americans do for hot concert tickets, is out of the question. Coalition soldiers strictly enforce an 11 p.m. curfew. Anyone out after that hour risks being arrested, or shot.
A crowd gathered around me as I spoke with Abu Tabarik. When I asked what they thought of the American presence, their answers were uniform.
“There are no jobs, not enough medicine, no security,” they said, as if in one voice.
Of course, $50 per month would be laughable in the U.S., but even in inexpensive Baghdad $50 is far below what Iraqis need to support their families. But they are so desperate for money, any money, they are willing to stand for hours in the heat.
In southern Iraq, former soldiers and widows don’t have to stand in line.
The British, who control the region and are mostly lauded for their sensitive
treatment of the Iraqis under their control, distribute the pensions through
former Iraqi generals whom they trust.
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2003.
