Today’s Must Read

“We don’t have any Thomas Jeffersons here.”

That’s a Marine captain in The Washington Post‘s front page story this morning on the state of affairs in Fallujah. You’re not likely to ever read a more sobering narrative about Iraq — or a more quotable one. The focus of the piece is the city’s police chief, Col. Faisal Ismail al-Zobaie, a former member of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard, turned insurgent turned police chief. Zobaie, and the people around him, have a talent for putting things succinctly.

The Post‘s Sudarsan Raghavan writes that “American ideals that were among the justifications for the 2003 invasion, such as promoting democracy and human rights, are giving way to values drawn from Iraq’s traditions and tribal culture, such as respect, fear and brutality.” Or, as Zobaie puts it:

“I have realized that Americans love the strong guy.”

And here’s Zobaie’s defense of his police force’s treatment of prisoners — a statement apparently made without irony:

“We never tortured anybody,” he said. “Sometimes we beat them during the first hours of capture.”

U.S. Army Maj. Mike Cava, a military judge advocate, on the deplorable standards in the jail run by Zobaie, where inmates are not given meals and sit in cells without air conditioning (last summer, six detainees died of heatstroke):

“It’s a typical Iraqi jail. Their standards are different than ours. They just do things the Iraqi way.”

Capt. Mohammed Yousef from Zobaie’s police force:

“Since Saddam Hussein until now, Iraq obeys only the force,” Yousef said. “We are practicing the same old procedures.”

Sheik Abu Abdul Salman, an imam who calls Zobaie’s control of Fallujah “worse than Saddam Hussein”:

Salman, the imam, said Zobaie controls the city with “a fire fist.”

“But to be honest, security is restored under this guy,” he said. “We have a saying in Iraq: ‘Fever is better than death.’ We were dead. Life stopped at 2 p.m. Everybody was afraid of themselves, including me. If he didn’t use the force, the security wouldn’t be restored. We don’t like the weak man.”

And back to Zobaie:

“If you go through the history of Iraq, you will see that only the tough guy can control the country,” he said. He rattled off the names of every leader since Iraq’s monarchy ended in 1958 with a bloody coup. Hussein, he said, had lasted the longest in power….

What Zobaie wants is for the U.S. military to hand over full control of Fallujah. He believes Iraq’s current leaders are not strong enough. Asked whether democracy could ever bloom here, he replied: “No democracy in Iraq. Ever.”

“When the Americans leave the city,” he said, “I’ll be tougher with the people.”