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    There was, a while back, some ..., 2005-04-14 10:15:45 | Main | the MEK meets in Washington..., 2005-04-15 09:37:50

    the non-existent refugee crisis:

    there are some 1.4 million internally displaced Iraqis, 400,000 of them displaced by the American invasion and occupation, while externally:

    More than 700,000 Iraqi refugees live in Jordan and Syria; 15,000 of them arrived in Amman after the American invasion two years ago, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. They include religious minorities, doctors and other professionals who fear being kidnapped for ransom, and a growing number of Iraqis who were threatened because of their work with the U.S. government and its contractors.

    What should be disturbing is that the pre-existing refugees haven't diminished in number under American governance. The degree to which "new boss worse than the old boss" is true just boggles my mind. About the only recognizable achievement under the occupation seems to be dramatically expanded telecommunications - phone and internet access. Oil production is down, electricity production is down, new construction consists mostly of barbed wire and concrete barriers, various cities are partially or completely flattened, reactionary forces unleashed and restricting women's rights and the few liberties the Hussein regime did more to protect than erradicate, less than half the eligible population participating in the election national census, illegal assaults on union activity, exacerbation of the refugee crisis, 17,000 detained in the American run Saddamist torture state US military prisons, 5,000 plus kidnappings, dramatically higher crime and unemployment rates, child malnutrition doubled, and unnecessary war-related deaths in the six figures.

    If we had simply lifted economic sanctions and let Saddam continue playing Mayor of Baghdad it's impossible to concieve of how Iraq would not be in better shape than it is after two years of liberation. The no-bid contracts to American firms at the exclusion of previous business partners for the development of Iraqi infrastructure, resulting in unfamiliar American technology Iraqis don't know how to ducktape together and can't afford to fix, are part of the problem. The sabotage of infrastructure in opposition to the American military presence is another. The opposition to Iraqi democracy and the corruption and malfeasance of American actions with regard to Iraqi politics, another. The remedy is corporate and military withdrawal, set on a timeline, and otherwise compromising with the demands of Sunni leaders for an alliance with the new government and the corresponding marginalization/decommission of the insurgency.


:: posted by buermann @ 2005-04-14 11:15:16 CST | link





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