Answers to Your Questions About Iraq

March 27, 2007 — -- Thank you for submitting questions to ABC's Terry McCarthy as he reports from Iraq. Here are his answers to a selection of the queries posted on the "World News" message board and ABCNEWS.com:

Question: I'm a freshmen in college, and I'm working on a speech about the war and troops being in Iraq. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. Do you feel that the U.S. troops being in the Middle East are doing more good than harm? What are the overall benefits of our troops being over there? What are the cons to the troops being there? In your personal opinion, do you think the government should pass the bill to withdraw troops from the Middle East, or should we continue with Bush's plan to send more troops? -- Laura

Answer: These are big questions, Laura. I think that the troops on the ground are doing their best to help the Iraqis whom they come in contact with, but the political situation is such that many Iraqis are not happy having U.S. forces in their country. We should remember when talking about the U.S. military in Iraq (or anywhere else for that matter) that it is not the military who decides to go in -- that is a political decision taken, ultimately, by the president. The military in the U.S. is under civilian control, so they have to follow orders -- within that frame, I think that the U.S. military is doing the best it can in Iraq.

Iraqis generally oppose the presence of U.S. forces here -- 78 percent in our poll said they were against the presence of the U.S. -- but at the same time the majority of Iraqis do not want the U.S. to leave immediately, as they fear that would leave the country in an even worse state of chaos and outright civil war. Only 35 percent of those we polled called for immediate U.S. withdrawal. So the situation is very complex, and the military is faced with a very tough job.

Question: Why does the hospital in Baghdad not have enough medicine supply? Who is responsible for supplying medicine to hospitals in Baghdad? Is it the lack of money in the country, which I do not believe, or is there still an embargo on importing medicine to Iraq like before the war?

Answer: The problem with medicines in the hospitals in Iraq is not a question of money -- there is a budget for drugs -- nor is it a question of embargo -- the borders are open. Frankly, it is a matter of corruption -- the drugs that should be supplied free through hospitals are diverted onto the black market so that certain people in power can make money from the business.

Question: Where are the revenues in the North of Iraq coming from? What resources do they have up there in order to boom that fast? I understand the Kurds have not put their hands on Kirkuk's oil yet, so where is the money coming from?

Answer: The Kurds make a lot of their money from importing goods from Turkey and distributing them throughout Kurdistan and farther south in the rest of Iraq. They also are seeing a surge in foreign investment, which comes to Kurdistan precisely because it is safe to build and invest there, businessmen are prepared to risk their money in Kurdistan, because they have some confidence in the future. The same is not yet the case in Baghdad.

Question: Where did Saddam's money go? I mean the huge funds that were frozen in Europe's banks after the war? And the truck loads of pure gold bars that were captured by the Americans before being smuggled to Syria after the war? And the millions of the food for oil program that were never returned to the Iraqi in food, and were stolen at the United Nations? Did all these monies return to the Iraqis?

Answer: Saddam's money that was recovered by the U.S. has been returned to Iraq, much of it to the development fund for Iraq, which was set up by the U.S. to pay for development projects in Iraq. However, it is thought that there are still considerable funds hidden in banks around the world from Saddam's era -- the hunt for these monies continues to this day.

Question: I am so curious to know how are the Christians and Sunnis doing in Basrah?You portrayed the situation in your reports as if Basrah is a bit calm and life is normal, is it so truly? Or you could not freely move about the streets and take pictures in Basrah? Two years ago, an Iraqi newspaper on the Internet, said that the Mahdi militia attacked university female students and killed one Christian student because she was not wearing the head scarf and killed the male student who tried to defend her. Is life still going backward in this way there?

Answer: We spoke to one Christian woman who said she was able to walk the streets in Basra without wearing a veil, but I also know that many of the Christians in Basra have fled to the north. All the liquor stores that the Christians used to run -- legally -- have been closed under pressure from the Shiite militias. And in general, life in Basra is not as good as in Kurdistan, the militias are more violent and some are linked to organized crime, kidnapping, etc, which is not the case with the Kurdish peshmerga militia.

Question: Thank you for a comprehensive (and risky) report on the conditions in Iraq. Seeing a picture of an oil pipeline has revived a long-standing question in my mind. At the outset of the war, I remember being told that some portion of the revenue from the sale of Iraqi oil would be used to reimburse our war expenses. Is that so and who is overseeing that matter? What is being done with the balance of the revenue? -- William, Churchville, Va.

Answer: At the moment the oil revenues are all going to the Iraqi government. That said, the United States does get a form of subsidy in that the oil used on the U.S. bases as fuel -- for Humvees and even for planes -- comes, at least in part, from Iraq. But there is no transfer of funds from the Iraqi government to the U.S. government for the expenses of the war, which are now running at approximately $2 billion a week.

Question: How do those Iraqis who have not fled Baghdad summon the courage to send their children to ballet lessons, work on public service projects, meet to discuss art or even summon the presence of mind to even think about or care about art? Your reporting has opened my mind to another kind of courage and bravery. I'm humbled by them. Sally, Caledonia, N.Y.

Answer: It is humbling for me too, to go around Iraq and meet people living in almost impossible conditions who are nonetheless still able to keep a semblance of normalcy in their lives. It speaks to a level of resilience in the Iraqis that is quite extraordinary. We interviewed a poor refugee family in the north with four children who all lived and slept in one room and had almost no money -- and yet they insisted on serving us tea as we talked to them, because the tradition of hospitality is so important here.

Question: A question for Terry McCarthy about universities in Kurdistan. Are there any that are hiring U.S. professors/teachers of English? I have heard that an American university has broken ground. Pamela, San Antonio, Texas

Answer: They have indeed got a grand scheme to build an American university here in Sulaymaniyah, but that will take some time before it is up and running. Today in the universities in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, there are many Kurdish-American teachers, and they do also hire other Americans. Unlike Baghdad, security is not a problem for foreigners in the Kurdish cities.

Question: I just wanted to ask Mr. McCarthy if (from what he has seen) he feels the people of Iraq are better off now than when Saddam was in power.Jean, Beachwood, N.J.

Answer: The answer to that question is it depends where you live. If you are in Kurdistan or in southern Iraq, which are both relatively peaceful and also doing quite well economically, life is better than under Saddam. But in Baghdad and across central Iraq, life is clearly worse -- particularly for Sunnis, who were favored by Saddam but are now out of power as the government is dominated by Shiites.

Question: Was it easy to move about in the Kurdish north? Did Terry have to take a security detail along with him? Were the people eager to speak with Terry or were they reluctant? --mzgrdngrl

Answer: It was actually very easy to move around the Kurdish north -- we flew in to the main city, Erbil, on a commercial flight from Jordan, drove around in cars we rented up there, and apart from our visit to Kirkuk, which is right on the edge of Kurdistan and where they have had some bombs recently, we didn't even wear body armor (as we do all the time when we go out in Baghdad).

In fact, it was tremendously refreshing to be able to drive where we wanted to, stop and talk to anyone we thought interesting, eat out in restaurants even after dark -- things we wouldn't dream of doing today in Baghdad. And we found the Kurds very happy to talk to us. The U.S. is very popular in the north, because the U.S. Air Force has been patrolling a no-fly zone over Kurdistan since 1991, effectively keeping Saddam Hussein's troops out and allowing the Kurds to develop their own government.

Question: Mr. McCarthy,I noticed on your report tonight a doctor from the north looking to purchase a new Mercedes. Even if he makes 10 times the average wage of $300 a month, how can he afford that car? -- tko44140

Answer: That is a good question -- some of the cars that we saw in the showroom were $30,000, $40,000, they even had a Hummer for $54,000. Most of the customers we spoke to in the actual showroom had set up their own businesses -- construction, import-export, real estate. Because Kurdistan is relatively safe there is a huge flow of investment into the north, something that is sadly lacking in the rest of the country.

Question: Is oil still being produced in Iraq? Who is profiting from oil produced in Iraq? -- p_au_l

Answer: Oil is still being produced in Iraq, but sadly at an even lower level than before the war. The northern oil fields around Kirkuk are essentially not contributing anything because insurgents keep blowing up the oil pipelines, so almost none of the oil there makes it out.

The southern oil fields around Basra are still producing, and technically the revenues go straight to the government as oil has been nationalized since Saddam's rule. However there is a tremendous amount of oil smuggling going on, private criminal gangs profiteering from the oil and making money that is not shared with the Iraqi people. This is a major problem for the government.

Question: My question is, I noticed that several of the men in northern Iraq carrying what looked like small lengths of twisted/braided cloth, somewhat like you would carry a rosary, what are these and why did so many carry them? -- bwgolf_66

Answer: These are in fact worry beads -- they are usually braids of soft material with smooth beads on them that people hold in their hands and play through their fingers, a way of reducing stress -- with no medication!

Question: Can you ask U.S. soldiers if the U.S. media is accurate in portraying what is going on in Iraq? Can you comment on perception among the soldiers as to how the war is covered? -- redbirdlc

Answer: Some U.S. soldiers have felt the media is too negative about the war, and say there are parts of Iraq that are much more peaceful than Baghdad, which is usually all that makes it on to the news. But I always make the point that because of the security situation it is very hard for us doing our day to day reporting to get outside Baghdad -- it is simply not safe for us to drive on the open roads, and so because we are based in Baghdad that is the story we are often reduced to telling.

The whole point of the series we are doing this week on ABC, "Where Things Stand," was precisely to get outside Baghdad and present a fuller picture of what is happening all around Iraq.