[Previous entry: "Was NYT's David Rosenbaum Assassinated?"] [Next entry: "Global warming: blame the forests"]

01/12/2006:

"'Democracy' Brings Bleak Days to Iraq"

BAGHDAD - Many Iraqis see dismal days ahead in the face of rising violence and the decision by the U.S. government not to seek any further funds for reconstruction.

"It is obvious that the situation is much worse than it used to be," retired army general Ahmed Abdul Aziz told IPS. "Can you walk free in the streets? Did you receive your food ration last month? It is essential for most Iraqis to receive the food ration just to feed their families."

The former Iraqi general added: "When you go to the hospital, do you find medicines? The answer is no medicines, no services, no sheets or pillows, no beds, no nursing, and no ambulances to carry you from your house."

World Bank president and former U.S. deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz had said Iraq could "really finance its own reconstruction." But such words have fallen flat because the state of the infrastructure is clearly worse now than even during the harsh economic sanctions of the 1990s.
antiwar.com