Americas War - how is it in Iraq today?
That is a question that comes up to my mind from time to time. I try not to forget that on some other earthly spot people are suffering, people are getting murdered people have problems surviving. The mainstream press has found that the Tsunami was more interesting then the Iraq war and now that the Tsunami is not the theme of the day anymore (short attention span anyone?) it certainly does not seem to go back to Iraq as the new old government of the US of A is already waging a new information war that seems to be placed so that it will lead up to another war with weapons - Iran.
Iraq is not even close to normal and they are already putting options on the table for a new war.. I have no clue if they are clueless or if they are really wanting to nuke a country out of its existence (having contaminated fuel). This is something for future discussions. Today I thought "How is the day in Bagdad?" and I turned to one of my favorite Bagdad Blogs by Riverbend. Recently Riverbend has written less and less in her blog - not because she got lazy but because she has no power to turn on her Computer! Now today is Eid a Iraqi / Muslim (?) celebration that is something like spring cleaning here in germany (only that everyone over there seems to do it and there is a fixed date. This reminded me that over a year ago I also read Rivers Blog and she was talking about this festivity. They get together with their family and clean the house. Now this years entry is very very sad. There is not a single reason to celebrate. They could barely get some of their relatives together. But cleaning was not even a remote option as there is something vitally missing for cleaning: WATER. Yes you heard it right there is no water coming out of the faucets in central Bagdad. There is less then 3-4 hours a day electricity and people can not go onto the streets without the fear of beeing abducted, hit by a bomb, hit by a bullet, get robbed etc. The kerosine needed to get heating is not available - or only at horrific prices and there is no gas at the gas station to fill a car or have some extra fuel for the heater. Basically this country has been reverted back to the old age in less then a year. There is no hope that anything gets better soon and the elections seem to be a farce. If Allawi gets elected again that will be the total blow to the whole situation and then the guerillia war will intensify to levels not seen since Vietnam. For People like Riverbend I hope there is some light somewhere in the tunnel that will brighten up a very distant future - but as it seems now the US is to stupid and arrogant that anything will change for the better soon. Read her blog to get a personal feel on how it is in Bagdad today