Millions of Iraqis Enjoying Their New-Found Freedoms

by conor (wsm personal capacity) Thu Jun 10, 2004 13:14

For any one who's bothered true picture is of an Iraq bombed and sanctioned close to the stone age with an estimated 60% uinempleyment rate check these links if interested:



http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=106760614&p=yx676y3zx&n=106761374

(interview with Dr Ibhrahim Allawi )

http://blog.newstandardnews.net/iraqdispatches/archives/000500.html

(how to get by in Iraq today by Dahr Jamail Baghdad correspondent for The NewStandard)

http://www.islam-online.net/English/Science/2004/06/article01.shtml

(from which:



Vicious Circle of Poverty and Hunger




In June/July 2003, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) sent a mission to Iraq. They found that approximately 48% of the population was food insecure and that while starvation had been averted, “chronic malnutrition problems persist especially among vulnerable groups including children and mothers due to a lack of nutrition diversity”.

They emphasized that only a marked improvement in the economy as a whole would change the situation because, although there was potentially enough food in Iraq, half the population lacked the buying power for a sustained nutritious diet. This was due to unemployment, chronic poverty and the absence of a head of household.

Now, a year on, this situation has deteriorated on all three counts. Unemployment has risen; many more men have either been killed or are detained in concentration camps leaving women to fend alone, and chronic poverty is worsened by a substantial rise in prices and the absence of any state subsidies.

A Christian Aid survey of a poor area of Baghdad showed that two-thirds of poor children no longer go to school. They are often kept at home to help their parents. For some, the only household income is the food ration continued from the oil-for-food deal - rice, sugar, flour, pulses, cooking oil, tea, soap and detergent - the US have removed all dairy products except for infants, and even one of these most basic items may be missing. It provides calories but virtually no protein and no micronutrients.

Before the war, a draft document leaked from the office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that the Iraqi people were far more vulnerable to any major conflict than they had been in 1991. “Of particular concern are the high levels of existing vulnerability and the dependence of most of the population on the Government of Iraq for their most basic needs…All but the most privileged have exhausted their assets and, in most cases, their cash assets.”

Now the Government of Iraq has been dismantled and even people’s meager savings are at risk from US looting. With no functioning banks, people are forced to keep money and valuables in their homes. It is routine practice for US troops to confiscate (i.e. steal) all savings, jewellery and valuables during their raids. To give an example, Occupation Watch asked us to speak to a single mother with three children whose house was raided early one morning. She had hidden her savings under a cupboard, but the soldiers discovered it when trashing her home. They took this along with her fourteen-year-old son who is now detained in a concentration camp. She not only fears desperately for her son, but has no money to care for her other children. This is a common event in occupied Iraq."
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of course those of you in lone gunman land can continue wanking over your toy soldiers just don't let the true face of these war interfere with your fantasys

Conor

by Nelly Farrago Wed Jun 09, 2004 01:46

After all the trouble we've gone too. They better be the freeest, most democratic country in the world. Or I will be really pissed.

by soundmigration Tue Jun 08, 2004 21:14

so if you dont support the continuing spread and impostion ,thru any means, of neoliberal economic totalitarianism, ya must be a rabid fundemantalist. to oppose institutional inequality ,thru menial jobs creating shit for us to buy to help resolve the emptiness in our own daily wage slavery lives., ya must have a desire to kill all white infidels.... sorry but dont see the logic, but i can see where fear mistrust and suffering can and will continually be manipulated by those with a very different world view than most. Fundemantalist on all sides belive they have the total and infinite solution to be imposed on the masses. Nike on the other hand just dont give a shit what happens to peeps so long as those in power dont interfere with profit margins

by really impressed at your political savey. Tue Jun 08, 2004 20:18

Vote PD you know it makes sense, these people gave you the celtic tiger and told everyone about it, providing a tempting haven for desperate poor people all over the world.
Think about it.

by Cermunnos Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:24

Yes Its terrible that the Kurds have freedom isnt it? So terrible that a person can get a job in a shoe factory instead of begging on the side of the road.. or worse, building chemical shells to wipe out Kurdish Villages or to threaten your neighbours with.
**workers of the world unite** *


*except if you are an islamic fundamentalist with aspiring plans to usher in a worldwide ummah in which case we must repect your anti-western hatred,