One of the most unpopular, and seemingly most arbitrary, security measures taken involved jamming mobile telephone services for two days. For Baghdadis, accustomed to doing business over the phone, this was especially upsetting. Roads were blocked, there were curfews and an official holiday was declared, which meant a lot of people ended up trapped in their own homes- then they were without even mobile phone access to the outside world.
And the security measures were not altogether effective. There were several attacks on security headquarters and government buildings and a number of rockets were launched just as the closing session of the summit started.
The Iraqi government spent a lot of money on preparations for hosting the various delegations and this has also been criticised by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s political opponents.
“Huge amounts of money were spent on unnecessary luxuries,” the leader of the opposition Iraqiya bloc, Ayed Allawi said. “We’ve heard that US$1.25 billion was spent on preparations and we’ve also heard allegations of corruption during preparations.”
The Iraqi government has said that it spent US$500 million restoring the various buildings to be used as well as roads. A Turkish company was contracted to provide hospitality services and one of the most scurrilous rumours has it that this company fitted its employees out with Italian-made suits for the job.
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