Iraq, Sweet Iraq
August 2003 – 36’47”
REPORTER : Olivia Rousset
These men are celebrating as they enter Baghdad for the first time after decades in exile. They were hand-picked by the US administration to help with the rebuilding of Iraq.
MAN: This song is especially for you, for the American army.
HASSAN JANABI: It says thank you. You American. You helped us. You saved us from this.
Hassan Janabi is about to become a key member of Iraq's new regime. In order to come here, he's taken leave from his job as an engineer with the Sydney Catchment Authority.
HASSAN JANABI: The original name of Baghdad is the city of peace. You can see the city of peace. The feeling that you are back home is beyond imagination, beyond description. I cannot describe it. Yeah, this is the first day, the first morning in Baghdad since 1979.
The coalition forces are headquartered in Saddam Hussein's presidential palace. This is where Washington's vision of the new Iraq is being implemented, and also where the Iraqi exiles will be living and working for weeks to come.
HASSAN JANABI: Hello. How are you? Guess where I am now? The presidential palace. She doesn't believe me.
ANOTHER MAN: Before, if anybody prayed here they were killed by Saddam. Now I pray here.
Hassan's mission here is to help run the Ministry of Irrigation and get water flowing throughout Iraq.
HASSAN JANABI: The best shower I ever had. You know, this is Tigris water.
REPORTER: Is it?
HASSAN JANABI: Yeah, this is the water from Tigris, you know. It's so sweet, so beautiful, you know? It's unbelievable.
A Shi'ite from the holy city of Najaf, Hassan also has personal business to attend to after 25 years in exile.
HASSAN JANABI: I cried last night. But I didn't get to finish it. I tried to get it out of my system. Still, probably I'm saving something until I meet my family and go to Najaf and go to the shrines of Najaf and go to the graves of my parents and my eldest brother. They were...I can't... I just can't continue talking about these things. I'm feeling them inside.
The American in charge of the Ministry of Irrigation is Eugene Stahkiv, from the US Army Corps of Engineers.
EUGENE STAHKIV: Eugene Stahkiv. I'm with...
HASSAN JANABI: Eugene? Is that right? Welcome.
He's Hassan's new boss.
EUGENE STAHKIV: I go...we work in the ministry but, you know, we're working in a place that has no windows, no doors, no chairs, no desks.
HASSAN JANABI: In the building itself?
EUGENE STAHKIV: No, the building is burned out. The difficulty was I had to fire all these Ba'athists.
HASSAN JANABI: You had to fire them. Excellent.
EUGENE STAHKIV: It's excellent. On one hand it's excellent. But on the other hand, it set us back. It's done, it's done, and we're moving ahead.
HASSAN JANABI: Excellent. Excellent.
Hassan and Eugene have different reasons for being here. As a representative of the occupying power, Eugene is a pragmatist. As an exile, Hassan is an idealist, determined to make this union work.
HASSAN JANABI: It's a good meeting. It was a good meeting, yeah. I didn't expect him to... But apparently he's having a very, very tough job, but this is, you know, this is the job we are coming for. And I'm looking forward to working closely with him, trying to advance the work of the Ministry of Irrigation.
The palace appears sumptuous but, with the heat reaching 50 degrees each day and no air conditioning, it's far from comfortable.
HASSAN JANABI: Are there any sheets? Are they giving us something? What can I tell you? Yeah, this is the bed. Probably I am going to stay here for a couple of months. Yeah, I can't say anything. Just take it away.
The next day Hassan is taken to see what remains of the Ministry of Irrigation.
HASSAN JANABI: You can show that it is structurally unstable, even if we... These are the storages for the Ministry of Transportation, all burned. But look, this is the Ministry of Oil. It's protected. This floor has been completely burnt and these people telling me that this burn was started deliberately. Some people, some Ba'ath Party members, tried to destroy the whole ministry. So they just lit the fire, and off they went.
Each morning Hassan is driven from the palace to the ministry in an armoured convoy. Although he's uncomfortable with the military escort, he's grateful for the American presence in Iraq.
HASSAN JANABI: I feel they are needed right now. Iraqis need to work really hard, Iraqi political parties, to develop the right model to rule Iraq. I mean, the Americans, they are saying they are not staying forever here. They want to go home as soon as possible. But they won't go before a viable government in Iraq could be instituted. Iraqis have to really to make the case that they are capable of ruling themselves.
While the ministry has 18,000 employees spread throughout Iraq, it's essentially being run by Eugene, Hassan, an Iraqi engineer, and two soldiers from the US Army Corps of Engineers. And it all happens in one room, in a small annexe next to the ruined ministry. Nothing takes place without Eugene's approval. Today he's officially signing in a new minister and his deputy.
EUGENE STAHKIV: This is the official paper. So I guess this is my name in Arabic? Yes, in Arabic, yeah. Congratulations.
MR MOHAMMED CHABLIS: Thank you very much.
EUGENE STAHKIV: These are letters authorising Mr Mohammed Chablis to be the new interim minister, and I'm also signing the official letters releasing everyone else from their jobs, all of the Ba'athists.
The coalition authorities have recently ordered the sacking of all Ba'athists in senior government positions. To his great frustration, Eugene has been forced to fire the people most capable of running the ministry.
EUGENE STAHKIV: Some of these people are decent people and I hate to put them out on the street, and they are technically very good. We need every good person who is used to managing other people.
Eugene is applying for an exception for the previous deputy minister. Although a Ba'ath Party member, Eugene wants him back to replace the man he's just appointed.
EUGENE STAHKIV: You know what that means. You won't be the minister anymore if he comes back. Is that OK with you? Yeah, I'm glad to hear that.
HASSAN JANABI: I'm not happy personally about re-employing high-ranking Ba'athi members, but the issue has been raised before my arrival here. And I wish a negative decision should be taken.
Eugene has little sympathy for Hassan's ideals. He thinks that many of the exiles have unrealistic expectations.
EUGENE STAHKIV: They live in their own kind of odd dream world, almost a kind of virtual reality. And it's nice to talk about it in the coffee houses in Paris about what you would do and how you would run the government. They just seem to feel that government runs by itself, and all we have to do is get rid of the bad guys.
HASSAN JANABI: I don't believe that all these people have been just functionaries to execute Saddam's orders. Some of them have willingly participated in the decision-making process.
Like many Iraqis, Hassan has good reason for hating the Ba'athists. At university he was a student activist and refused to join the Ba'ath Party. He was imprisoned for 10 days and tortured for his principles. Days after being released, he fled the country.
HASSAN JANABI: Yeah, I was, yeah, I was here. I am not sure in which building because I was blindfolded 2km away from this place, I guess. So, yeah, I spent some time here.
REPORTER: What happened? What did they do?
HASSAN JANABI: Oh, well, they don't treat you well. It's horrible torture. They need to extract information, even if there is nothing, but you need to confess for something because you are detained. If you don't have anything, then the answer is continuous torture. Hanging from the roof, electrocution, kicking, hitting, abusing, all kind of this stuff.
Eugene has allowed Hassan two days off to visit his home in Najaf. He hasn't been home since 1979.
HASSAN JANABI: We are gonna see my family. What is left from my family. That's brothers and sisters. I'm so glad to make this trip. I need to get this out of the way before I start the real work.
QAISS (Translation): Hello. Where's Hani Janabi's house?
MAN (Translation): You're there.
QAISS (Translation): Thank you.
MAN (Translation): See that car park? The house is right opposite it. Ask them for Hani's house.
QAISS (Translation): Thank you.
HASSAN JANABI: See if I remember any of these faces. I don't remember this place. This is total... I can't believe it. Look at this. Open sewer. Oh, these are my brothers. Karim.
KARIM: Hassan!
HASSAN JANABI: This is part of the tradition for the newcomers. They sacrifice a lamb. It's very cruel, very cruel, but this is a habit, this is the culture.
These are one of the best friends I left behind. Look how they look. They look horrible.
YOUNIS (Translation): Too many stories to tell. Tonight won't be enough.
I didn't know her name, I told him. Does he send money? Call you? None of that, I said.
HASSAN JANABI: These are stories of terrorising my family and my brothers just because I was outside Iraq. On a weekly basis, and they either call him or him or my sister.
YOUNIS (Translation): His wife's and kids' names? Where does he work. They once told me to go to Australia and get you. I told them I'm penniless and you're better off than them or me. Will he come with me? What are you on about? I swear to you. You think I know where Australia is? Across the road? Who will take me there? Can I go by truck? I told him, you go get him. You're the government, not me.
The next day Hassan is taken to a Shi'ite cemetery outside Najaf where his parents and eldest brother are buried. They died only a few years ago, more than 20 years after Hassan left.
HASSAN JANABI: This is my mother's tomb. This is my eldest brother and the other one is my father's. But the entire area is for the people that I know, the people that I grew up with.
Hassan is going back to Baghdad and taking his brothers and cousins to see Saddam's palace.
BROTHERS (Translation): This is incredible. Even birds don't dare fly here.
None of these Shi'ite men could ever have imagined an opportunity like this.
BROTHERS (Translation): Did the looters raid this palace as well? There are still golden chairs. We'll take one ourselves.
In his day, Saddam would have people killed just for taking photos of his palace.
KERIM (Translation): I can't believe it. Walking around Saddam's palace holding a lollipop. I hope he's not like Casper and pops up on us.
The Ministry of Irrigation is responsible for restoring the country's vital water infrastructure, but the simplest tasks seem insurmountable. They're working in an office without electricity or even enough chairs. And all of the ministry's paperwork was destroyed in the fire.
EUGENE STAHKIV: This has probably been my most difficult job ever, no question. I don't feel like, you know - I think we're doing well here, but I'm just frustrated that we're moving so slowly.
WORKER (Translation): They want to sack us so they'll feel better.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): No-one wants to sack you.
Hassan's job is made especially difficult because the Iraqis see him as their only link to those in power.
WORKER (Translation): Your information is like that of the old regime. You write one thing and do something else.
HASSAN JANABI: It is difficult to speak to every single individual because everybody wants to talk to me and I just don't have time to, and certain issues are beyond my control. And these problems cannot be solved individually. I mean the problem has to be solved for everybody.
This man has throat cancer and wants to make sure his daughter will keep her job. By taking everyone's concerns on board, Hassan's having trouble getting his own work done.
HASSAN JANABI: You can only cry, right? What else you can do?
The most volatile issue at the moment is the payment of the 18,000 ministry staff. These employees are from the countryside, and they haven't been paid for months. They've travelled to Baghdad to demand their wages from their new masters.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): It's obvious there's no organisation. We have families. We're living on wages. One or two months without pay hurts us. It's been four months, and this is the fifth. How long will this go on for? It was better under Saddam. There were rewards. But it's not like that now.
Eugene doesn't think the Americans owe these people anything.
EUGENE STAHKIV: A lot of it is back pay but, philosophically, why should we pay them? Back pay for what? They haven't been doing anything. It's their government that led them into this problem, not us. We're actually helping them get out of it, and they need to pull themselves by the bootstraps. But they have this socialist mentality where we get paid, whether we do anything or not.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): Why do they get $250 and we get 100? Employees are Amara district were paid 250 and while I haven't even been paid my 100. Why? Is this justice? Don't I have a family like him? He can eat chicken while I have bread and tea? They got paid 250 yesterday and while I wasn't even paid 100. Treat us equally.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): I don't know what you do, or those who were paid 250.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): I'm a tip truck driver. And the one who was paid 250? What is he? A clerk.
It's left to Hassan to field the concerns of this angry mob. He's intent on convincing them that the Americans are acting in good faith.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): Let me continue, please. If everyone talks together we won't solve the problem. And no personal issue, please. Everyone here shares a common problem. Let one or two people tell us what the problem is.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): We're not on contracts, we're staff. We have salaries and buses to take us to work.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): Can I answer you? Payments started last week. The payments are organised in batches because there's not enough money, so they split the employees into groups. Unfortunately, your group is the last one.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): When will we get paid?
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): There's no need to come here next week. They'll pay you on site, in the field. Yours is the last payment. Believe me. Don't think that any of us is happy with this. Please let him talk.
EMPLOYEE: We have no money. No money. Here and inside the house, no money. The family is without -
EUGENE STAHKIV:... we gave you $20.
EMPLOYEE: Now?
EUGENE STAHKIV: Last time. Last time you got 20. Next week. You heard, he told you. Next week you get your pay from April plus $30.
EMPLOYEE: All?
EUGENE STAHKIV: All.
EMPLOYEE: Is this the word of a man? Long live the minister. Long live the minister.
EUGENE STAHKIV: I think Hassan saved the issue, saved the day. But frankly, I was enjoying it. I almost wished I could have stood on that chair and explained to them, "Listen, I'll pay you if you go to work, OK? "Here's a shovel." That's what I wanted to tell them.
HASSAN JANABI: It was a little bit threatening situation because we were overwhelmed, but they did not beat us physically. And it appears that they got the message but, you know, they are angry. They have families, they have kids, they don't have money, they have to feed their families.
Hassan has been in Iraq for over two weeks and is desperate to get into the field and away from Baghdad and the ministry politics.
Eugene has agreed to let him follow up his pet project - a plan to re-irrigate the marshes of southern Iraq, which were drained by Saddam Hussein.
Hassan is in the throes of organising a trip to the marshes for a group of American scientists. He has no idea where to start, so Eugene offers his advice.
EUGENE STAHKIV: I do it all the time. I could plan the trip for you in one evening, OK, and that's it. That's what the trip's going to be. That's part of the...we don't have time to kind of, you know, think about these things. It has to be done. And it's your best judgment, your best guess and, frankly, they will never know what the other alternative is. How do you know what the without-condition is?
HASSAN JANABI: Because there's a couple of them have been working on...
EUGENE STAHKIV: It doesn't matter what they've been working on. They are working on what we want, not what they want. Remember that. They're working for us. That's what's important. We define what's important and we tell them, "This is what you have to focus on." And that's what has to be. That's what they have to understand. They work for us. Otherwise we don't need them. If they want to go on some kind of zoological tour, there are plenty of other countries they can do it. OK? That's the reality. You tell them what you want and they do it, and that's it and if they want to go on some side excursion, it's up to them. I have no responsibility for them. This is what we want you to do. This is what's important. That's why we're here. OK?
HASSAN JANABI: Excellent. Good feedback. Yeah, he's good but you know, this is just too harsh as well.
Hassan's dream of re-irrigating the marshes is a massive task. The marshes were home to over 100,000 people who had lived undisturbed for thousands of years.
The marshes used to cover 20,000 square kilometres. They're now less than 15% of their original size. The in the mid '80s, Saddam Hussein drained the marshes in order to flush out Shi'ites opposing his regime.
Tens of thousands of people were forced into exile. Hassan, and many in the West, see the restoration of the marshes as an important symbolic act.
These are the Hamar Marshes, near Basra. Hassan is on a reconnaissance trip before the American officials arrive to inspect the area.
HASSAN JANABI: This is one reed. This is one. It used to be forest here. Now you don't see. It's walls of reeds. This person and his family used to live up there, in the middle of the marshes. And during this draining of the marshes, as I told you many times before, they cut off the flow path of the Euphrates River, upstream of their village.
Two weeks ago this was dry land. As soon as the old regime fell, the locals destroyed a dyke connecting these banks, which had stopped the water flowing. This is the first time this family will have seen their home since they were forced to leave 10 years ago.
MAN (Translation): There's my house. That's my uncles'. This is our river. It was so green you couldn't see the house. There were reeds everywhere. This is our river. We left this area in 1993. Everyone left. All those who lived here left.
WOMAN (Translation): People looted everything. Our stock was lost. We had a safe, a Persian rug, livestock, we built up our possessions. We were two sisters, my mother, my brother and his wife and children. We moved near the dam and the government took everything. When we came here I was four or five years shy of 14. I grew up and became stronger. We cleared the shrubs, removed the reeds and fixed the land, it was all swamp.
MAN (Translation): When I grew up we worked with my father. We planted the land, had animals... We were doing very well. A person returns to his birthplace. It's beautiful.
No-one here is waiting for the Ministry of Irrigation to solve their problems. These men are watering the seeds that will soon become their garden.
Hassan is delighted by the way people here are taking matters into their own hands, turning parched earth into green fields.
HASSAN JANABI: This was dry land two months ago. This was a desert two months ago. This looks fantastic. Looks fantastic. Don't you feel it's good? These vulnerable people with nothing, they struggle with their lives, with nothing.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): We deal with water. We'll bring you the water.
MAN (Translation): Bless you.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): Other people will take care of electricity, health... not us. Our work is with the water.
MAN (Translation): So you bring us the water, we plant and eat and our thanks go to God and you. That's what I wanted. We eat, thanks to God and you. We eat from the goodness of water. I drink the water, so does my son, the palm tree... water brings life to everything. People live off it. We plant watermelons, cucumbers, wheat, beans, broad beans and peas to feed the family. It's not that we have so much land that we can sell produce, it's for the family. Just for the family to eat.
For Hassan, this is what the rebuilding of Iraq is all about - reversing the abuses of the past and regenerating this garden of Eden.
HASSAN JANABI: This is, you know, as good as it can get. You know, this is the land, this is the people, these are the people, the green, the water, everything. This is the Euphrates, Mesopotamia.
END CREDITS
Reporter/Camera
OLIVIA ROUSSET
Editor
BEN DEACON
Subtitling
JOSEPH ABDO
Produced For:
SBS AUSTRALIA
August 2003 – 36’47”
REPORTER : Olivia Rousset
These men are celebrating as they enter Baghdad for the first time after decades in exile. They were hand-picked by the US administration to help with the rebuilding of Iraq.
MAN: This song is especially for you, for the American army.
HASSAN JANABI: It says thank you. You American. You helped us. You saved us from this.
Hassan Janabi is about to become a key member of Iraq's new regime. In order to come here, he's taken leave from his job as an engineer with the Sydney Catchment Authority.
HASSAN JANABI: The original name of Baghdad is the city of peace. You can see the city of peace. The feeling that you are back home is beyond imagination, beyond description. I cannot describe it. Yeah, this is the first day, the first morning in Baghdad since 1979.
The coalition forces are headquartered in Saddam Hussein's presidential palace. This is where Washington's vision of the new Iraq is being implemented, and also where the Iraqi exiles will be living and working for weeks to come.
HASSAN JANABI: Hello. How are you? Guess where I am now? The presidential palace. She doesn't believe me.
ANOTHER MAN: Before, if anybody prayed here they were killed by Saddam. Now I pray here.
Hassan's mission here is to help run the Ministry of Irrigation and get water flowing throughout Iraq.
HASSAN JANABI: The best shower I ever had. You know, this is Tigris water.
REPORTER: Is it?
HASSAN JANABI: Yeah, this is the water from Tigris, you know. It's so sweet, so beautiful, you know? It's unbelievable.
A Shi'ite from the holy city of Najaf, Hassan also has personal business to attend to after 25 years in exile.
HASSAN JANABI: I cried last night. But I didn't get to finish it. I tried to get it out of my system. Still, probably I'm saving something until I meet my family and go to Najaf and go to the shrines of Najaf and go to the graves of my parents and my eldest brother. They were...I can't... I just can't continue talking about these things. I'm feeling them inside.
The American in charge of the Ministry of Irrigation is Eugene Stahkiv, from the US Army Corps of Engineers.
EUGENE STAHKIV: Eugene Stahkiv. I'm with...
HASSAN JANABI: Eugene? Is that right? Welcome.
He's Hassan's new boss.
EUGENE STAHKIV: I go...we work in the ministry but, you know, we're working in a place that has no windows, no doors, no chairs, no desks.
HASSAN JANABI: In the building itself?
EUGENE STAHKIV: No, the building is burned out. The difficulty was I had to fire all these Ba'athists.
HASSAN JANABI: You had to fire them. Excellent.
EUGENE STAHKIV: It's excellent. On one hand it's excellent. But on the other hand, it set us back. It's done, it's done, and we're moving ahead.
HASSAN JANABI: Excellent. Excellent.
Hassan and Eugene have different reasons for being here. As a representative of the occupying power, Eugene is a pragmatist. As an exile, Hassan is an idealist, determined to make this union work.
HASSAN JANABI: It's a good meeting. It was a good meeting, yeah. I didn't expect him to... But apparently he's having a very, very tough job, but this is, you know, this is the job we are coming for. And I'm looking forward to working closely with him, trying to advance the work of the Ministry of Irrigation.
The palace appears sumptuous but, with the heat reaching 50 degrees each day and no air conditioning, it's far from comfortable.
HASSAN JANABI: Are there any sheets? Are they giving us something? What can I tell you? Yeah, this is the bed. Probably I am going to stay here for a couple of months. Yeah, I can't say anything. Just take it away.
The next day Hassan is taken to see what remains of the Ministry of Irrigation.
HASSAN JANABI: You can show that it is structurally unstable, even if we... These are the storages for the Ministry of Transportation, all burned. But look, this is the Ministry of Oil. It's protected. This floor has been completely burnt and these people telling me that this burn was started deliberately. Some people, some Ba'ath Party members, tried to destroy the whole ministry. So they just lit the fire, and off they went.
Each morning Hassan is driven from the palace to the ministry in an armoured convoy. Although he's uncomfortable with the military escort, he's grateful for the American presence in Iraq.
HASSAN JANABI: I feel they are needed right now. Iraqis need to work really hard, Iraqi political parties, to develop the right model to rule Iraq. I mean, the Americans, they are saying they are not staying forever here. They want to go home as soon as possible. But they won't go before a viable government in Iraq could be instituted. Iraqis have to really to make the case that they are capable of ruling themselves.
While the ministry has 18,000 employees spread throughout Iraq, it's essentially being run by Eugene, Hassan, an Iraqi engineer, and two soldiers from the US Army Corps of Engineers. And it all happens in one room, in a small annexe next to the ruined ministry. Nothing takes place without Eugene's approval. Today he's officially signing in a new minister and his deputy.
EUGENE STAHKIV: This is the official paper. So I guess this is my name in Arabic? Yes, in Arabic, yeah. Congratulations.
MR MOHAMMED CHABLIS: Thank you very much.
EUGENE STAHKIV: These are letters authorising Mr Mohammed Chablis to be the new interim minister, and I'm also signing the official letters releasing everyone else from their jobs, all of the Ba'athists.
The coalition authorities have recently ordered the sacking of all Ba'athists in senior government positions. To his great frustration, Eugene has been forced to fire the people most capable of running the ministry.
EUGENE STAHKIV: Some of these people are decent people and I hate to put them out on the street, and they are technically very good. We need every good person who is used to managing other people.
Eugene is applying for an exception for the previous deputy minister. Although a Ba'ath Party member, Eugene wants him back to replace the man he's just appointed.
EUGENE STAHKIV: You know what that means. You won't be the minister anymore if he comes back. Is that OK with you? Yeah, I'm glad to hear that.
HASSAN JANABI: I'm not happy personally about re-employing high-ranking Ba'athi members, but the issue has been raised before my arrival here. And I wish a negative decision should be taken.
Eugene has little sympathy for Hassan's ideals. He thinks that many of the exiles have unrealistic expectations.
EUGENE STAHKIV: They live in their own kind of odd dream world, almost a kind of virtual reality. And it's nice to talk about it in the coffee houses in Paris about what you would do and how you would run the government. They just seem to feel that government runs by itself, and all we have to do is get rid of the bad guys.
HASSAN JANABI: I don't believe that all these people have been just functionaries to execute Saddam's orders. Some of them have willingly participated in the decision-making process.
Like many Iraqis, Hassan has good reason for hating the Ba'athists. At university he was a student activist and refused to join the Ba'ath Party. He was imprisoned for 10 days and tortured for his principles. Days after being released, he fled the country.
HASSAN JANABI: Yeah, I was, yeah, I was here. I am not sure in which building because I was blindfolded 2km away from this place, I guess. So, yeah, I spent some time here.
REPORTER: What happened? What did they do?
HASSAN JANABI: Oh, well, they don't treat you well. It's horrible torture. They need to extract information, even if there is nothing, but you need to confess for something because you are detained. If you don't have anything, then the answer is continuous torture. Hanging from the roof, electrocution, kicking, hitting, abusing, all kind of this stuff.
Eugene has allowed Hassan two days off to visit his home in Najaf. He hasn't been home since 1979.
HASSAN JANABI: We are gonna see my family. What is left from my family. That's brothers and sisters. I'm so glad to make this trip. I need to get this out of the way before I start the real work.
QAISS (Translation): Hello. Where's Hani Janabi's house?
MAN (Translation): You're there.
QAISS (Translation): Thank you.
MAN (Translation): See that car park? The house is right opposite it. Ask them for Hani's house.
QAISS (Translation): Thank you.
HASSAN JANABI: See if I remember any of these faces. I don't remember this place. This is total... I can't believe it. Look at this. Open sewer. Oh, these are my brothers. Karim.
KARIM: Hassan!
HASSAN JANABI: This is part of the tradition for the newcomers. They sacrifice a lamb. It's very cruel, very cruel, but this is a habit, this is the culture.
These are one of the best friends I left behind. Look how they look. They look horrible.
YOUNIS (Translation): Too many stories to tell. Tonight won't be enough.
I didn't know her name, I told him. Does he send money? Call you? None of that, I said.
HASSAN JANABI: These are stories of terrorising my family and my brothers just because I was outside Iraq. On a weekly basis, and they either call him or him or my sister.
YOUNIS (Translation): His wife's and kids' names? Where does he work. They once told me to go to Australia and get you. I told them I'm penniless and you're better off than them or me. Will he come with me? What are you on about? I swear to you. You think I know where Australia is? Across the road? Who will take me there? Can I go by truck? I told him, you go get him. You're the government, not me.
The next day Hassan is taken to a Shi'ite cemetery outside Najaf where his parents and eldest brother are buried. They died only a few years ago, more than 20 years after Hassan left.
HASSAN JANABI: This is my mother's tomb. This is my eldest brother and the other one is my father's. But the entire area is for the people that I know, the people that I grew up with.
Hassan is going back to Baghdad and taking his brothers and cousins to see Saddam's palace.
BROTHERS (Translation): This is incredible. Even birds don't dare fly here.
None of these Shi'ite men could ever have imagined an opportunity like this.
BROTHERS (Translation): Did the looters raid this palace as well? There are still golden chairs. We'll take one ourselves.
In his day, Saddam would have people killed just for taking photos of his palace.
KERIM (Translation): I can't believe it. Walking around Saddam's palace holding a lollipop. I hope he's not like Casper and pops up on us.
The Ministry of Irrigation is responsible for restoring the country's vital water infrastructure, but the simplest tasks seem insurmountable. They're working in an office without electricity or even enough chairs. And all of the ministry's paperwork was destroyed in the fire.
EUGENE STAHKIV: This has probably been my most difficult job ever, no question. I don't feel like, you know - I think we're doing well here, but I'm just frustrated that we're moving so slowly.
WORKER (Translation): They want to sack us so they'll feel better.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): No-one wants to sack you.
Hassan's job is made especially difficult because the Iraqis see him as their only link to those in power.
WORKER (Translation): Your information is like that of the old regime. You write one thing and do something else.
HASSAN JANABI: It is difficult to speak to every single individual because everybody wants to talk to me and I just don't have time to, and certain issues are beyond my control. And these problems cannot be solved individually. I mean the problem has to be solved for everybody.
This man has throat cancer and wants to make sure his daughter will keep her job. By taking everyone's concerns on board, Hassan's having trouble getting his own work done.
HASSAN JANABI: You can only cry, right? What else you can do?
The most volatile issue at the moment is the payment of the 18,000 ministry staff. These employees are from the countryside, and they haven't been paid for months. They've travelled to Baghdad to demand their wages from their new masters.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): It's obvious there's no organisation. We have families. We're living on wages. One or two months without pay hurts us. It's been four months, and this is the fifth. How long will this go on for? It was better under Saddam. There were rewards. But it's not like that now.
Eugene doesn't think the Americans owe these people anything.
EUGENE STAHKIV: A lot of it is back pay but, philosophically, why should we pay them? Back pay for what? They haven't been doing anything. It's their government that led them into this problem, not us. We're actually helping them get out of it, and they need to pull themselves by the bootstraps. But they have this socialist mentality where we get paid, whether we do anything or not.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): Why do they get $250 and we get 100? Employees are Amara district were paid 250 and while I haven't even been paid my 100. Why? Is this justice? Don't I have a family like him? He can eat chicken while I have bread and tea? They got paid 250 yesterday and while I wasn't even paid 100. Treat us equally.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): I don't know what you do, or those who were paid 250.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): I'm a tip truck driver. And the one who was paid 250? What is he? A clerk.
It's left to Hassan to field the concerns of this angry mob. He's intent on convincing them that the Americans are acting in good faith.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): Let me continue, please. If everyone talks together we won't solve the problem. And no personal issue, please. Everyone here shares a common problem. Let one or two people tell us what the problem is.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): We're not on contracts, we're staff. We have salaries and buses to take us to work.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): Can I answer you? Payments started last week. The payments are organised in batches because there's not enough money, so they split the employees into groups. Unfortunately, your group is the last one.
EMPLOYEE (Translation): When will we get paid?
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): There's no need to come here next week. They'll pay you on site, in the field. Yours is the last payment. Believe me. Don't think that any of us is happy with this. Please let him talk.
EMPLOYEE: We have no money. No money. Here and inside the house, no money. The family is without -
EUGENE STAHKIV:... we gave you $20.
EMPLOYEE: Now?
EUGENE STAHKIV: Last time. Last time you got 20. Next week. You heard, he told you. Next week you get your pay from April plus $30.
EMPLOYEE: All?
EUGENE STAHKIV: All.
EMPLOYEE: Is this the word of a man? Long live the minister. Long live the minister.
EUGENE STAHKIV: I think Hassan saved the issue, saved the day. But frankly, I was enjoying it. I almost wished I could have stood on that chair and explained to them, "Listen, I'll pay you if you go to work, OK? "Here's a shovel." That's what I wanted to tell them.
HASSAN JANABI: It was a little bit threatening situation because we were overwhelmed, but they did not beat us physically. And it appears that they got the message but, you know, they are angry. They have families, they have kids, they don't have money, they have to feed their families.
Hassan has been in Iraq for over two weeks and is desperate to get into the field and away from Baghdad and the ministry politics.
Eugene has agreed to let him follow up his pet project - a plan to re-irrigate the marshes of southern Iraq, which were drained by Saddam Hussein.
Hassan is in the throes of organising a trip to the marshes for a group of American scientists. He has no idea where to start, so Eugene offers his advice.
EUGENE STAHKIV: I do it all the time. I could plan the trip for you in one evening, OK, and that's it. That's what the trip's going to be. That's part of the...we don't have time to kind of, you know, think about these things. It has to be done. And it's your best judgment, your best guess and, frankly, they will never know what the other alternative is. How do you know what the without-condition is?
HASSAN JANABI: Because there's a couple of them have been working on...
EUGENE STAHKIV: It doesn't matter what they've been working on. They are working on what we want, not what they want. Remember that. They're working for us. That's what's important. We define what's important and we tell them, "This is what you have to focus on." And that's what has to be. That's what they have to understand. They work for us. Otherwise we don't need them. If they want to go on some kind of zoological tour, there are plenty of other countries they can do it. OK? That's the reality. You tell them what you want and they do it, and that's it and if they want to go on some side excursion, it's up to them. I have no responsibility for them. This is what we want you to do. This is what's important. That's why we're here. OK?
HASSAN JANABI: Excellent. Good feedback. Yeah, he's good but you know, this is just too harsh as well.
Hassan's dream of re-irrigating the marshes is a massive task. The marshes were home to over 100,000 people who had lived undisturbed for thousands of years.
The marshes used to cover 20,000 square kilometres. They're now less than 15% of their original size. The in the mid '80s, Saddam Hussein drained the marshes in order to flush out Shi'ites opposing his regime.
Tens of thousands of people were forced into exile. Hassan, and many in the West, see the restoration of the marshes as an important symbolic act.
These are the Hamar Marshes, near Basra. Hassan is on a reconnaissance trip before the American officials arrive to inspect the area.
HASSAN JANABI: This is one reed. This is one. It used to be forest here. Now you don't see. It's walls of reeds. This person and his family used to live up there, in the middle of the marshes. And during this draining of the marshes, as I told you many times before, they cut off the flow path of the Euphrates River, upstream of their village.
Two weeks ago this was dry land. As soon as the old regime fell, the locals destroyed a dyke connecting these banks, which had stopped the water flowing. This is the first time this family will have seen their home since they were forced to leave 10 years ago.
MAN (Translation): There's my house. That's my uncles'. This is our river. It was so green you couldn't see the house. There were reeds everywhere. This is our river. We left this area in 1993. Everyone left. All those who lived here left.
WOMAN (Translation): People looted everything. Our stock was lost. We had a safe, a Persian rug, livestock, we built up our possessions. We were two sisters, my mother, my brother and his wife and children. We moved near the dam and the government took everything. When we came here I was four or five years shy of 14. I grew up and became stronger. We cleared the shrubs, removed the reeds and fixed the land, it was all swamp.
MAN (Translation): When I grew up we worked with my father. We planted the land, had animals... We were doing very well. A person returns to his birthplace. It's beautiful.
No-one here is waiting for the Ministry of Irrigation to solve their problems. These men are watering the seeds that will soon become their garden.
Hassan is delighted by the way people here are taking matters into their own hands, turning parched earth into green fields.
HASSAN JANABI: This was dry land two months ago. This was a desert two months ago. This looks fantastic. Looks fantastic. Don't you feel it's good? These vulnerable people with nothing, they struggle with their lives, with nothing.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): We deal with water. We'll bring you the water.
MAN (Translation): Bless you.
HASSAN JANABI (Translation): Other people will take care of electricity, health... not us. Our work is with the water.
MAN (Translation): So you bring us the water, we plant and eat and our thanks go to God and you. That's what I wanted. We eat, thanks to God and you. We eat from the goodness of water. I drink the water, so does my son, the palm tree... water brings life to everything. People live off it. We plant watermelons, cucumbers, wheat, beans, broad beans and peas to feed the family. It's not that we have so much land that we can sell produce, it's for the family. Just for the family to eat.
For Hassan, this is what the rebuilding of Iraq is all about - reversing the abuses of the past and regenerating this garden of Eden.
HASSAN JANABI: This is, you know, as good as it can get. You know, this is the land, this is the people, these are the people, the green, the water, everything. This is the Euphrates, Mesopotamia.
END CREDITS
Reporter/Camera
OLIVIA ROUSSET
Editor
BEN DEACON
Subtitling
JOSEPH ABDO
Produced For:
SBS AUSTRALIA