Breeding the next generation of terrorists

"President Bush may not be aware of this. In his televised address to the nation he warned that a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq could cause a “humanitarian nightmare.”

A trusted aide should take the president aside and quietly inform him that this nightmare arrived a good while ago.

When the U.S. launched its “shock and awe” invasion in March 2003, the population of Iraq was about 26 million. The flaming horror unleashed by the invasion has since forced 2.2 million of those Iraqis, nearly a tenth of the population, to flee the country. Many of those who left were professionals marked for death — doctors, lawyers, academics, the very people with the skills necessary to build a viable society.

The Iraq Ministry of Health reported that 102 doctors and 164 nurses were killed from April 2003 to May 2006. It is believed that nearly half of Iraq’s doctors have fled. The exodus of health care professionals in a country hemorrhaging from the worst kinds of violence pretty much qualifies as nightmarish.

While more than two million Iraqis have fled to other countries, another two million have been displaced internally. According to the Global Policy Forum, a group that monitors international developments:

“Most of these internally displaced persons, or I.D.P.’s, have sought refuge with relatives, or in mosques, empty public buildings, or tent camps. ...I.D.P.’s live in very poor conditions. Public buildings are particularly unsanitary, often overcrowded, without access to clean water, proper sanitation and basic services, in conditions especially conducive to infectious diseases.”

Iraqis are enduring most of their suffering out of the sight of the rest of the world. International relief organizations and most of the news media are largely kept at a distance by the insane levels of violence.

Access to safe drinking water is a problem in much of the country. (The World Health Organization was asked to help with a recent outbreak of cholera in parts of Kurdistan that is believed to have been caused by polluted water.) Sanitation facilities are routinely crippled by violence and sabotage. The economy, like the country’s infrastructure, is in shambles.

The worst aspect of the nightmare, of course, is the rain of death that has descended on Iraq since the U.S. invasion. Controversy has surrounded virtually all attempts to estimate the number of civilian casualties, but no one disputes that the toll is staggering.

The U.S. government has behaved as though these dead Iraqis were not even worth counting. In December 2005, President Bush casually mentioned “30,000, more or less” as the number of Iraqis killed in the war. The White House later said there were no official estimates of Iraqi deaths.

We shouldn’t be so cavalier. Based on all available evidence, it seems unreasonable to believe that fewer than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed thus far. Many very serious scholars believe the total is much higher.

As for the number of wounded and disabled Iraqis — men, women and children who have lost limbs, or been paralyzed or otherwise maimed in air, rocket and bomb attacks — no one has a real grasp of the size of the problem.

“Just considering the number of the dead and the number of displaced, this is probably the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world,” said James Paul, the executive director of Global Policy Forum, which recently compiled an extensive report on the war and occupation. “This is the biggest displacement of people in the Middle East in a very long time.”

The effect on children of the carnage, the dislocations and the deteriorating quality of daily life has been profound. Conditions in Iraq were dire for children even before the war. One in eight died before the age of 5, many from the effects of malnutrition, polluted water and unsanitary conditions.

Now, more than four years after the invasion, huge numbers of Iraqi children are finding themselves orphaned, homeless, malnourished, and worse.

According to Unicef, the U.N.’s children’s agency: “Many children are separated from their families or on the streets, where they are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Most children have experienced trauma but few receive the care and support they need to help them cope with so much chaos, anxiety and loss.”

These are just a few of the things you won’t hear much about from the American officials in Washington who profess to care so deeply about the people of Iraq." -Bob Herbert


As pointed out in Krugman's 9/14 piece, it is evident the only folks Bush is concerned about are his greedy bastard corporate buddies.

I guess corporate handout are just fine.

The children are going to grow up under these conditions will not look upon are democracy with much affection.

I 'll respect you in the morning

Krugman continues to be the rare sane media voice in what has been a huge snow job. The Bush adminstration would not have ventured into Iraq and Iran is next without the help of the mainstream media.

The Petraeus report will have as much value as Powell serving as a marketing rep before the UN. Independent voices? Bullshit.
Both are loyal soldiers. They just follow orders.

The sad reality is more civilians will be killed for no particular reason other than we have a maniac in the White House and spineless jerks in the Congress.

Saudis going south in Iraq

"The Bush administration and Saudi Arabia's ruling family have a lot in common, including oil, shared rivals like Iran and a penchant for denial that has allowed both to overlook the Saudis' enabling role in the Sept. 11 attacks. But their recent wrangling over Iraq cannot be denied or papered over with proposals for a big new arms sale. And if these differences are not tackled, there is an increased likelihood that the war's chaos will spread far beyond Iraq's borders."

How many of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia? Who had private escorts from the US?

"If Washington wants Saudi backing for the Maliki government, Maliki must earn it by ending sectarianism in the security forces, reforming discriminatory anti-Baathist restrictions and pushing through an equitable oil revenue law.

It is past time for Bush to acknowledge that the U.S. has no realistic chance of winning a military victory in Iraq, and that it needs to be urgently preparing to manage the consequences of U.S. withdrawal. That will require working cooperatively with all of Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria. Compared with those, Saudi Arabia should be easy."

Iran another sideshow distraction

This fun filled post was brought to by Sideshow..........

Iraqis to Americans: Just Go

You will not see this on the evening news. The MSM is too busy covering Paris Hilton's version of "Lockup."

Bill Moyers: Fans of Libby

"BILL MOYERS: One beltway insider is quoted saying the neo-cons are "weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness" of Libby's sentence. And there's the rub. None seem the least weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness of sentencing soldiers to repeated and longer tours of duty in a war induced by deception. It was left to the hawkish academic Fouad Ajami to state it baldly, as he pleaded on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal for Bush to pardon Libby. For believing "in the nobility of this war," wrote Ajami, Scooter Libby had himself become a "casualty" -- a fallen soldier the president dare not leave behind on the beltway battlefield. Not a word in the entire article about the real fallen soldiers. The honest-to-god dead and dying and wounded. Not a word about the chaos or the cost. All the beltway warriors can muster is a plea of mercy for one of their own who lied to cover their tracks. There are contrarian voices.

PATRICK BUCHANAN: This is an open and shut case of perjury and obstruction of justice. And the Republican party, you know, stands for the idea that high officials should not be lying to special investigators.

BILL MOYERS: And from the former Governor of Virginia, James Gilmore, a staunch conservative, comes this verdict: "If the public believes there's one law for a certain group of people in high places and another law for regular people, then you will destroy the law and destroy the system." So it may well be, as the Hartford Courant said editorially, that Mr. Libby is "a nice guy, a loyal and devoted patriot"...but none of that excuses perjury or obstruction of justice. If it did, truth wouldn't matter much."

Joe Lieberman must Go

Finally the Einsteins who gave us Lieberman have had enough. They want him to resign from the party. What these clueless wonders have not embraced is that Lieberman left the party long time ago. The voters should demand that he resign his seat. it is the very least they can do.

Where can I donate to help fund the recall?

Six more soldiers dead

Thanks for nothing Congress. You will not be able to wash the blood of these brave kids off of your hands.............

Reid-Feingold

Our congress is working on something real....

Cut them a break

The good news is the British hostages were released. What is deplorable is watching the MSM tear them to shreds. They parade ex-military who have never been in that situation and trash the Brits.

Only those who have been in that situation are qualified to criticize the hostages. What a great way to treat our major ally who blindly followed us into a questionable war.

The limelight grabbing retired military should channel their outrage at the leaders who made the Middle East so volatile. Or, the conditions the injured military are returning to.... Walter Reed Hospital springs to mind.

Outrageous

Two Brits confess

Of the confessions are coerecd...

The Iranian President will not be happy until, Blair or Shrub bombs his country.

Oh Baby it will be different this time.....

Shrub is a dry drunk. He stop drinking cold turkey. Any alcoholic who has never worked through whatever issues that led him to the bottle in the first place constantly assures those he purports to love, things will be better. This time.

An untreated substance abuser will tell those around them what they think they want to hear, then proceed and do whatever he feels like doing.

Shrub feels like picking a fight with Iran so he is doing it.

I wish someone would perform an intervention before Shrub blows up the planet.