Mosul coast

Music

00:00

Mosul shots

HUTCHEON: Mid-summer in post-war Mosul, Iraq's most ethnically diverse city in the far north.

00-20

It is home to Arabs, a sizeable Kurdish minority, as well as Assyrians, Turkomen, Shebak, to name a few.

00:33

Most Iraqis here are happy Saddam is gone, yet the present seems tangled in bitterness and hardship.

00:47

Men drink tea

So they focus on today's cup of tea, a small respite from life's uncertainties.

01:00

Bomb site

Though there are still signs of the war, Mosul is one of the most peaceful cities in Iraq. While the US civil administration struggles to find a shape for the future Iraqi National Government and sees its troops facing increasing hostilities on the ground, Mosul has brought together its complex ethnic mix to form something close to a democracy.

01:19

Council meeting

Two months before the Americans selected an interim national government in Baghdad, in Mosul US forces had already engineered the formation of a multi-ethnic, multi party city council.

01:48

Joe

Super:  Colonel Joe Anderson

101^st Airborne Division, U.S. Army

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: Each of these obviously council members all have a connection with a particular ethnic, religious, some kind of a group. There are actually Imams in there, there are actually tribal sheikhs in there, who all represent their group.

02:03

Ghanim al Boso at meeting

HUTCHEON: Reflecting the city's ethnic mix, an Arab and former general Ghanim al Boso is mayor. His deputy Khasro Goran is a Kurd. Voted in by the 24 council members and vetted by the US Army, Ghanim al Boso is naturally optimistic.

02:17

Al Boso

GHANIM AL BOSO: The democratic process which has been held in Mosul is a modern process we've never practised before under the Saddam regime.

02:40

U.S. Soldiers on street

Music

HUTCHEON: But in Iraqi politics, nothing is simple. More than three months after the war normal life seems a distant memory. The US Army rules the streets, while throughout the country new parties and power bases are springing up.

03:11

Palace

On the banks of the Tigris River, this was once a luxurious palace belonging to Saddam Hussein's notorious right-hand man, Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali" for his gassing campaign against Iraqi Kurds.

03:42

Today it's the home of Mosul's most influential entrepreneur named Misham Al Jabouri. Though he's not a member of the city council, undeniably Misham Al Jabouri is a power broker. Scores of people from his tribe, or more than one million members, come seeking advice or favours every day.

04:05

Militia in training

Outside his private militia, well trained, funded and armed. Misham Al Jabouri is founder of the Iraqi Homeland Party. Before the he lived in exile for fourteen years after being implicated in an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein.

04:41

Mosul

The Iraqi strongman retaliated by killing almost one hundred members of Mr Al Jabouri's family including his brother and brother-in-law. In April, together with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Misham Al Jabouri entered Mosul with his militia from Northern Iraq. After decades of ethnic cleansing by Saddam Hussein, the coalition feared age-old ethnic tensions between Arabs and Kurds could turn the battle for Mosul into a bloodbath, but to everyone's amazement Mosul fell with little bloodshed.

05:13

HUTCHEON: So you took Mosul?

05:54

MISHAM AL JABOURI: Yes.

HUTCHEON: You declared Mosul free?

Al Jabouri

MISHAM AL JABOURI: Yes. I take Mosul free and I do everything.  I have control -- and I don't put anyone in the gaol. I don't kill anyone. We killed just the three people who assaulted men -- not because of political reasons.

06:01

Mosul taxis

HUTCHEON: But not everyone agrees with Mr Al Jabouri's claim he was instrumental in toppling Saddam's forces though the Americans concede he still wields considerable power.

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: I think he got caught up in the fall of Mosul.

06:15

Joe

He got stoned by the mob. His car got destroyed in front of city hall as he came out on the steps to proclaim himself as the new governor.

06:33

Al Jabouri on phone

It's the largest tribe in the area. He is very influential. He is very articulate. He's very educated. He is well financed, well backed and, you know, popular within his own group.

06:42

Jeeps roll out of base

HUTCHEON: Colonel Joe Anderson of the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army is in charge of the city and its 2.3 million people.

07:05

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: Ordinarily I have three infantry battalions working for me. I've got an extra one for this operation because I own the whole city so I have four infantry battalions.

07:16

HUTCHEON: Unlike Baghdad, where on average an American solider is killed every few days, Mosul in comparison is a picture of peace.

07:32

Joe talking to troops

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: You guys eating kind of large. You're going to gain weight over here do you think? [Talking to Iraqi children] English eh? You studying English?

07:43

Joe walks street

HUTCHEON: Here Colonel Anderson and his soldiers mingle freely with local Iraqis.

07:54

IRAQI CHILDREN: I love you. I love you.

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: See how popular we are? Hello [to Iraqi man]. How are you doing?

Joe buys ice cream

HUTCHEON: He even knows where to find the best ice cream in town.

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: [Taking ice cream] Thank you. That's for Mitchell and you.

HUTCHEON: And it's his shout.

08:13

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: Thank you [to Iraqi man].

IRAQI CHILD: Good America. Good America.

Pensioners queuing

HUTCHEON: But this is the every day reality for the Iraqi people. It's late morning and the temperature already 45 degrees centigrade. These are pensioners queuing for single emergency payments of forty US dollars. There are thousands waiting in line.

08:23

Mahmoud

HUTCHEON: So how long have you been here?

MAHMOUD SULEIMAN: For more than three hours, since the morning.

08:47

HUTCHEON: And what do people say here? Are people very frustrated about this wait?

08:53

MAHMOUD SULEIMAN: Of course they are annoyed. They are tired. They speak too much with each other. They are angry indeed.

08:57

Pensioners enter bank

HUTCHEON: And if the payments aren't processed today, Mahmoud Suleiman must try again tomorrow. Inside, soldiers help besieged bank staff keep the peace but the American dominance is partly why Iraqis feel intense frustration with the Coalition occupation of their country.

09:05

Iraqi Soldiers in training

The U.S. Army is also training up an entirely new Iraqi military. This is a camp in the country's far north turning Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Iraqi recruits. But while the new army takes shape, more than 400,000 former soldiers have been disbanded. At first the U.S. Administration refused to pay them because of their past allegiance to Saddam, but in Mosul and around Iraq that attitude produced protests that turned violent, causing death and injuries. Mosul's entrepreneur power broker Misham Al Jabouri says it was a mistake to ignore the former soldiers.

09:38

MISHAM AL JABOURI: There are a lot of Iraqi people who are members of the Ba'ath Party or who are members of Iraqi Intelligence against Saddam.

10:36

Al Jabouri

There is a big difference between who is a member of the Ba'ath Party and who is Saddamian people. This is my idea -- or my opinion. There's a big difference.

10:45

Joe Anderson

COLONEL JOE ANDERSON: Obviously, as we crossed the border they were our enemy. The problem is though now as we look at the people of Iraq, they are a huge percentage of the population because Saddam Hussein had a huge army and a very rank heavy army who are now unemployed.

10:56

Music

Jalal enters house

HUTCHEON: Jalal Salem Kamel hasn't received a salary in more than three months. He was a member of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard for seventeen years. He has a wife and five children to feed and little prospect of finding new work. The U.S. Army calls him the enemy because he's still loyal to Saddam Hussein.

11:24

Jalal

JALAL SALEM KAMEL:  I loved Saddam Hussein because he was one of us -- but he didn't give us what we needed. He distributed cars and houses to his close relatives but left us to live in this old house. But to this day, I love Saddam Hussein and I'm ready to sacrifice myself for him.

12:00

Former soldiers gather on street

HUTCHEON: We found these former soldiers outside a government building clearly unhappy about US policy. Though the Administration reversed its decision, agreeing to pay about half the former army, 150,000 men won't receive a cent. It's hard to say whether these men would ever act upon their loyalty to Saddam Hussein or whether others will prey on it but many, including city councillor, Huain Al Qaddo, believe demoting Ba'ath Party members or former soldiers isn't the way to reform Iraqi society.

12:25

Al Qaddo

Super:  Hunain al Qaddo

Mosul City Council

HUNAIN AL QADDO: They are still loyalists to Saddam Hussein. I mean these people, their interests have been damaged, or influenced by the change of the government, but also they have got other people who are not happy with the presence of the American on the Iraqi soil and this is really a problem by itself, so we have got a fundamentalist and I think that the American presence is not acceptable to them.

13:05

Joe Anderson with Mosul councillors

HUTCHEON: Hunain Al Qaddo has become increasingly disillusioned with Mosul City Council which has the power to advise but not to make independent decisions.

13:37

Al Qaddo

HUNAIN AL QADDO: We are not allowed to contact different government departments directly to solve the problems. I mean there are a lot of problems that cannot wait really for a solution. They have to be solved very quickly. People are frustrated.

13:51

Council meeting

HUTCHEON: Is the Mayor a puppet of the American forces?

14:04

HUNAIN AL QADDO: I wouldn't say that he's a puppet. I mean he hasn't got much leverage really, hasn't got much choice to take decisions. I mean if all money is coming from the Americans and controlled by the Americans, every decision has got to do with money, a financial aspect so this is a problem really.

Mosul shots

Music

HUTCHEON: Daily life in Mosul grinds on through a typically long, wearying summer. Though this city isn't fraught with the danger that lurks on Baghdad streets, here too rebuilding wont be as easy as winning the war. Dictatorship to democracy can't happen in a week and there's no perfect model on which to build success and for war weary Iraqis, the dream of a normal life seems as distant as ever.

14:35

Credits

MOSUL DEMOCRACY

Reporter:                       Jane Hutcheon

Camera/Sound:  Louie Eroglu

Editor:                Simon Brynjolffssen