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Diary for the Period 11-20 March Sunday, 11 March I held two meetings. The first meeting was with the staff of the library reading room and the book stacks, and the second meeting with the staff of the Planning Department. Three people work in the library reading room, and we need to employ three more people. The readers can use two photocopiers. We do not charge for such a service. But, for financial reasons, we limited the photocopying service to 20 pages. If we have two or three copies of the same book, we will allow the reader to photocopy as much pages as he wants outside the INLA. Outside photocopying will also be under our direct supervision. Around 20 people work in the book storage area, including those who serve INLA's readers. We use traditional methods in serving our readers, i.e. from searching the catalogue cards to providing the reader publications he orders. Next week, our readers will be able to use on-line-catalogue for the first time to search for publications they look for. I hope that some time in the future I can computerize the whole reader service. Mrs. E. is supervisor of the library reading room, is a library gradates. She is a very hard working librarian. In the first meeting, we all discussed ways to improve our services and to speed up the process of cleaning up the book stacks; this has proved to be an extremely difficult task, because of shortage of cleaners and equipment. I promised to remove these two hurdles as soon as I could. I highly appreciate the hard work of my staff, who serves the readers under unhealthy conditions. We can still smell the smolder and soot caused by the fires of mid-April 2003. A number of my librarians and archivists, who work in the storage areas, have suffered from allergies. Six people work in the Department of Planning. All are females, including Miss. Z, who is the boss. I asked them to present different types of statistics about INLA's personnel. The obtained data will be analyzed with the aim of developing our human resources in terms of quality and quantity. Ten minutes after arrival to the flat, I heard a big blast. I learnt that a suicide terrorists attacked a group of people near the university of al- Mustanseriya. As a result, 18 innocent civilians were either killed or injured. Monday, 12 March It was a very chaotic scene near the INLA. The US Army and National Guards closed Al-Jemhoriyah Street in the morning. One of the National Guards began to fire towards the sky, hoping to disperse people and cars alike. I had no choice but to get off in Bab al-Mudham round about and to walk to my office. Few Minutes later, two US helicopters flew over the INLA, and then landed in an empty space inside the headquarter of the First Infantry Brigade (about 100 meter away from my office). The two helicopters flew away few moments later. My staff was forced to walk from the Bab al-Mudham roundabout to the building via al- Jamhoriya Street. I was angry about the ill-advised action taken by the National Guards and the police officers, which endangered my staff's lives. Therefore, I sent a letter to the Commander of the First Infantry Brigade and to the Chief of the local police station. In the letter, I criticized their unwise action, and questioned the rationale behind closing two important roads that put the lives of INLA's staff into real danger. I explained that by closing the two roads they would make it extremely difficult for us to keep the INLA open. I ended the latter with this question 'who will be protected by the closure of the two roads: people or yourselves?' The closing of the roads has been one of the most difficult problems I faced since 2005, when the First Infantry Brigade turned the former Ministry of Defense's buildings into its headquarter. The first action taken by the commander of the Brigade was to close the Maidan Road completely without consulting or even informing the directly affected parties, such as the INLA. This meant that the INLA's would have no access to enter the building through the front gate. The Commander took his action unnecessarily, because the several buildings occupied by his Brigade were 300 meters away from the Maimdan Road. Moreover, his soldiers put up a 150-meter long concrete barrier to shield themselves and their buildings. As we have no concrete barriers to protect our building, our staff was exposed to dangers directly. I tried in vain to persuade the Commander to reopen the Road. At the end, I decided to take the initiative by turning the pavement, which separates the INLA's fence from the Maimdan Road, into a temporary road. This would enable our cars to enter the building through main gate. The INLA's guards worked hard to remove all the barriers from the pavement. Thus, I reopened a new temporary road, which was soon used not only by us but also by other institutions. Unfortunately, the National Guards and the Police station closed the temporary road last Wednesday (7 March). At once, I sent the head of the INLA's guards to the officers of the First Brigade in the hope that he could persuade them to reopen the temporary road. The military intelligent officer promised to raise the issue with his superiors. On Monday, 12 March, he sent a message to me that the temporary road would remain closed until further notice and that the Police and the National Guards would only allow my car to use the temporary road. I refused their offer. We have not been using the rear gate for almost a year. Turning the rear gate into the main point of entry and exit means that INLA's car must use the extremely dangerous Al-Jamhoriyah Street. The corridor between the rear gate and Al-Jamhoriyah Street is only 70 meters. My guards are highly suspicious of the behaviors of the people, whose workplaces are located on both sides of the corridor. They sided overtly with armed groups in some of their clashes with the National Guards and the police. At 9.30, once again the internet system stopped working. I had a meeting with some of the staff of the Personnel and Administration Department. I put forward some proposals to make the department more dynamic and creative, which would involve the replacement of its head and one administrator. These changes will come into effect within the space of two days. My deputy rang me in the afternoon that one of the transport contractor accepted in principle last offer, i.e. 113 millions Dinnar. Tuesday, 13 March It was a great news to find out that the internet was working properly again, and I began to read all Monday's e-mails. I met an official from the PM's office. We discussed some issues concerning the reconstruction and the modernization of the INLA. I raised the important issue of the archives of the repressive institutions of the former regime. I criticizes the government for doing almost nothing to protect the cultural heritage of the country. The official promised to pass my views to his superior. The transport contractor did not show up to submit his official offer; after doing that, we both must sign an agreement, which will also require the approval of the Minister. It is a long bureaucratic process. At 10.00, the meeting of the heads of departments was held. At the beginning, my Deputy talked in a great length about our efforts to secure a deal with one of the transport contractors. The following issues were also raised: power-cuts, the renovation works of some parts of the building, the air-conditioning system, the transport of the staff, purchasing more furniture, creating a new computer programme for the Legal Deposit Department, the needs of the archive's reading room and stacks, the accessibility of the new publications to the library readers. In the meeting, I redefined and expanded the responsibilities of the heads of the all departments, while asking them submit work progress reports to my office on a weekly basis. I also asked some of the heads of the departments to resume the holding of the fortnightly meeting with their own staff, like the rest of their colleagues, and that they should send short reports of their departmental meetings to my office. I promised to attend some of the departmental meetings, as I did last year. The meeting lasted one hour and 30 minutes. Mr. K, an Iraqi journalist who works for the American radio station, NPR (National Public Radio), was waiting for me in my office. He explained that Ms. L sent him, to arrange an interview with me. Ms. L is an American radio reporter; I first met her more that two years ago, when she was covering the story of the INLA's destruction. We agreed that Ms. L and her crew would come to my office on in the early morning of Wednesday, if that was possible. US helicopters were flying very low above our building between 11.10.11.30., making a lot of noises. My colleague, the Director-General of the Directorate of Kurdish Culture (KC), informed that he would go to Kurdistan for 10 days and that I should act as the acting director general of his institution in his absence. I had no choice but to agree, since he had to leave on Wednesday. I worked twice before as the acting director general of the KC. I know most of its staff. The KC's small building is about 2/5 km away from the INLA. Wednesday, 14 March The police officers allowed some cars to use the temporary road. I sent the head of the INLA's guards to them, informing them that all the INLA's car would use the temporary road from Wednesday onwards. Mr. K. from the American radio crew, rang me, saying that would arrive soon by two cars. I was given the descriptions of the two cars, which I quickly passed to the INLA's guards at the rear gate. Twenty minutes later, the guards informed my office that they opened the gate for the two cars without searching them. At around 9.25, the American radio reporter and her crew arrived to my office. One of her aims was to see how much the INLA progressed during the last two years and how we managed to work under unfavorable security conditions. After the interview, Ms. L and her crew toured the INLA's departments, interviewing some of my staff. After one hour and three minutes, they left through the front gate, after our guards made sure that the temporary road was safe and open. Thursday, 15 March It was a very chaotic day. US tanks closed part of al-Mustanseriyah road, which is one of the busiest roads in Baghdad. My driver carried out a long maneuver to get me to my office at 8.20. I had a meeting with the staff of the English Archival collections, the Arabic Archival collections and the Catalogue Cards. All these sections are parts of the Archive's Catalogue and Classification Department. Three female archivists work in the Catalogue Cards Section, whose main task is to check all completed files and records, before making catalogue cards, which will be used by our readers. They also send the completed files and records to the Micrographic Laboratory. The latter copies them onto microfiche and film rolls. I asked the staff to priorities their tasks by dispatching the historically important files and records to the Micrographic Laboratory, and returning the insignificant ones to their original storage. Seven young women work in the English Archival Collections Section. Two of them have been on leave. Five of them have BA in English language, while the other two have BA in combined Spanish-English languages. I employed all the seven in the INLA in order to work in the newly formed Section of the English Archival Collections. I need to employ at least three more people to work in the section, as our English collections are huge. I have divided the people who work in the INLA's Arabic Archival Collections into two teams. The first team includes eleven people, who are all women. Only two of them their age is above thirty years. Only three of them are librarians. We discussed ways to improve and speed up the process of registering, classifying and cataloguing Arabic files and records. It is true that old habits die hard, when I found out that the head of the Archive's Catalogue and Classification Department dose not pass her and knowledge and experiences to her own young staff, contrary to my instructions. I have warned her that she had to change her attitudes, otherwise she would be released from her responsibilities and would not be promoted. I blamed her for not holding regular departmental meetings with her own staff. I gave ten days to change work conditions radically. My assistant wrote down all the points and comments made during my meeting. I always use his notes for future reference. I left my office at 12.00, heading to the Directorate of Kurdish Culture, where I should serve as the acting director. I visited two departments, before meeting the heads of the Administration and Financial Departments. We discussed their works and problems, which were not much different from ours. I put my signature to some official papers. After I finished all the paper works, I was not able to leave the building because of very heavy exchange of fires just across the road. The National Guards and the Police closed the nearby roads. Drivers and their passengers quickly left their cars, and hid themselves in some alleys. Everything went back to normality 15 minutes later. I left the building, heading to my home. The exchange of fires and the temporary closure of some roads caused heavy traffic. Before leaving, I told staff of the Directorate of Kurdish Culture that I would visit them on Monday, and that they could ask me to come, whenever they would need me. In the after noon, I went to the Faily Kurdish Club, where I work as a unpaid member of its general board. I met some friends and went home right away. Friday, 16 March I stayed home, spending my time in either writing or reading. Saturday, 17 March I learnt that the snipers returned to al-Fadhel area, and that they began to attack innocent people. US helicopters opened fire on the snipers. Sunday, 18 March The traffic was unbearable. Most roads were closed. The situation was instable in al-Fadhel, as people and cars avoided the area. Al-Fadhel was shelled by mortar, I think, in retaliation for the returning of the snipers to that area. I was informed as soon as I arrived that the son of one of the librarians was kidnapped by unknown group. Armed men murdered two people in al- Shurjah. The INLA had electricity for just two hours and 15 minutes. I received a letter from the Ministry of Electricity stating that it was sorry for not being able to provide the INLA with 6 hours electricity per- day, i.e. 8.30-14.30. The Ministry of Electricity made up a unconvincing justification, that the INLA shares its electricity with some residential areas! I was not surprised by the letter or by the lies it contained. I instructed the administration to take all the necessary measures to hold new an internal election. It would enable librarians and archivists to select three people who will represent them in the INLA's Managerial Council, whose members consists of the heads of all departments. The age of candidates must be under 30 and two of them must be female. The election consists of two stages. In the first stage, every ten librarians and archivists elect one representative, who will go to the second stage. In the second stage, the elected people in the first stage will elect in their turn three people for the Managerial Council. The latter is responsible for all important decision-making and implementation, including planning and budget. So far, five elections have been held since 2004. In 2006, we were not able to hold any election because of the security situation. This election is a little different from past elections. In the past, the librarians and archivists elected their representatives directly. In other words, librarians and archivists voted according to the system of direct democracy. As the number of the INLA grew, it became difficult to implement direct democracy. Therefore, I resorted to indirect democracy, whereby librarians and archivists can select their three representatives through two stages. I bomb exploded near al-Mustanseriyah University. At last some go news were on TV. The man who masterminded car bomb attacks in Baghdad were arrested in our district. He was a young Palestinian and one of the most influential leaders of al-Qa'ada. Monday, 19 March The snipers attacked a number of civilians from their positions in al- Fadhel. The INLA had electricity for only 40 minutes. Power-cuts began to effect our works, especially in the Computer and Micrographic Departments. I raised the issue of repairing the Generator with the engineer of the Ministry of Culture. She told me that she was doing her best to have it repaired, but some people in the Ministry were hindering the paperwork for unknown reason. Corruption and restricted regulations have prevented me from repairing the generator since mid-2006. Around 10.50, I supervised the first phase of the election for the Managerial Council, in which 26 librarians and archivists participated. They elected three young ladies for the second stage. I was surprised to I receive an appreciation letter from the Minister of Culture for proving my patriotism during Al-Mutananbi gathering last week!! I received unconfirmed information from Mrs. Ni., the head of the Catalogue Department of the Library, that yesterday the US Army arrested Mr. J., who was one of her librarians. No one knew the true reason or the circumstances. I decided to wait until Tuesday, hoping that I would receive more detailed information concerning the arrest of the librarian. During the last few weeks, several members of the INLA's staff had their homes searched by the US army and the National Guards, especially those who live in the so-called 'hot areas' of Baghdad, such as al-A'dhamiyah, al-Ghazaliyah and al-Jame'ah. Around 12.20, because of a bomb explosion a number of people were either killed or injured inside a well-known Mosque in al-Shurjah. Some people thought it was suicide attack while others thought it was a bomb planted in one the Mosque corners. Tuesday, 20 March We had no electricity at all. Several departments were unable to work, such as the Micrographic Laboratory, Restoration Laboratory and the Computer Department. I sent one of my staff to the local electricity distribution station. He was told that the reason for the power-cut was that the main cable was severed for unknown reasons and the repairmen would restore the power in a few days. Last year, because of a similar incident, the INLA did have electricity for more than 4 weeks. The repairmen will not work unless they get an order from their engineers; the engineers will not issue order until they receive in advance some payment; the repairmen will not execute the orders properly until they get their share from the payment. It is a vicious circle. The same fact applies to all other public services, such telephone and water. Corruption has been the main problem since the early 1990's. It has now become far more dangerous than terrorism. As Wednesday is the Kurdish New Year and a public holiday, the staff received their monthly salaries on Tuesday. Around 10.30, I supervised the second phase of the election for the Managerial Council, in which 19 librarians and archivists participated. Two people were elected for the next stage, a young lady and a young man. I had a brief meeting with the staff of the Computer Department to discuss some issues, including the new salary system, which will be applied next month. The new system will raise the salary of all those people whose grades are between 4 and 10 by 60 to 45 percent. Mr. Q gave more information concerning arrested librarian. He informed that a group of armed men wearing the National Guards' uniform went to Mr. J.'s house at 20.00. After they checked his ID card, they ordered him to go with them. He was allowed to change his cloth. Now, Mr. J's family is worried. His wife and brother are not sure that the armed men were National Guards. One has no choice but to wait. Usually, members of organized crimes contact the family of the victim after a few days, asking for a big ransom, whereas the religious extremists will sometimes ring the family of the victim, informing it about his fate. I decided to wait until next Sunday, before I send an official letter to the Ministry of Defense to ask about the fate my librarian. As I strongly believe that the main ethnic groups, the Arabs and the Kurds, must share each other national celebrations, I decided to give all my staff one day off on next Thursday. In this manner they will have four days break (i.e. from Wednesday to Saturday). Needless to say, everybody was over the moon by my decision and I became the most loved director, at least for a few minutes! Before leaving the INLA to the Directorate of Kurdish Culture, three representatives of INLA's al-Ferdos woman society gave me a nice present on the occasion of the Kurdish New Year. I thanked them very much for their nice gesture. I spent one hour in the Directorate of Kurdish Culture, signing papers and reading the mails, before leaving to my home. In the evening, I spent some time, answering a number of messages which I received from some of my staff and friends, congratulating me on the Kurdish New Year.