Battle on Two Fronts

The war and occupation of Iraq has been a disaster: for the Iraqi people, for the US people, and for the hope of peace in the Middle East. As the price tag for the war passes the $200 billion mark, and the Iraqi and US death tolls rise, at least 53% of people in the US confirm that they believe the war in Iraq is going badly, according to a recent Gallup poll. Even as opposition grows, the message from the White House is “stay the course.” But accord- ing to Congressman John Murtha, a conservative Democrat who originally supported the war, “the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is impeding progress ... we need to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis.”

Life in Iraq
THE HUMAN COSTS OF WAR
As the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq drags into its third year, the situation continues to get worse for Iraqis. Failed reconstruction, destroyed water pump- ing and filtration facilities and bombed electrical grids continue to cripple the economy and make day-to- day living a nightmare for Iraqis. Ethnic and religious tensions continue to make the process of building a The website Iraq Body Count estimates that between 28,000 and 32,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the U.S. invasion in 2003. A British medical journal concluded that nearly 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the beginning of the war. There is not an official number of Iraqis wounded since the invasion.

Civilians have been killed by U.S. troops at check- points, during shootouts with insurgents and with chemical weapons. During the incursion into Fallujah in November 2004, it has been reported that the U.S. military used a powdered chemical agent called white phosphorous. White phosphorous burns the skin off of anyone that comes in contact with it. Hundreds and possibly thousands of innocent Iraqis in Fallujah suffered a gruesome death due to the usage of white phosphorous.

RECONSTRUCTION
The inept planning and utter failure of the U.S.-controlled reconstruction process, led by the Coalition Provisional Authority, has only compounded the death and destruction caused by the war and occupation. The reconstruction effort, planned by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), contracted corporations to work on rebuilding water treatment and pumping facilities, bombed- out electrical grids, schools, highways and hospitals before the invasion of Iraq began. Instead of actually working to rebuild Iraq, corporations have used the reconstruction funds and money taken from the Iraqi government to line their own pockets and have done little to account for the nearly $18.4 billion dollars spent on reconstruction.

The average Iraqi citizen only gets electricity for 12 hours per day, with many cities seeing much less than this. In December, Baghdad only saw 6 hours/day of electricity, and many estimate that the number was actually much lower.

Water treatment and pumping facilities, which were marked for reconstruction, still lie in ruins. Because water cannot be pumped into homes due to the lack of electricity, Iraqis are forced to gather drinking water from the heavily polluted Euphrates and Tigris rivers and other water sources that are polluted with human waste, chemical fertilizers and radioactive waste. As a result, Iraqis are suffering from massive outbreaks of cholera, diarrhea, nausea, kidney stones, dysentery and a rare form of hepatitis.

Hospitals lack electricity, staff and medical supplies, and are operating without clean water, sterile needles or clean facilities. At a hospital in Sadr City, doctors reported that they are only receiving 15% of the needed amount of water. Some patients have been forced to bring their own supplies with them to the hospital. There has been at least one report of a person dying on the operating table because the electricity went out during the operation.

Doctors report that the U.S. routinely enters hospitals to interrogate and even remove people they suspect as insurgents. Doctors at the Fallujah General Hospital reported that US soldiers fired on ambulances, killing the drivers and prevented doctors from entering the hospital.

Jobs The unemployment rate in Iraq hovers near 70%. Thousands of Iraqis who were employed by state- owned businesses and corporations have been laid off because of the privatization of state industries and because the occupation has made it difficult for businesses to function. Instead of putting civil engineers and others that are jobless back to work, the US corporations handling reconstruction only hired American workers and are now bringing in people from other countries as cheap labor.

Most of the available jobs are tied to American businesses and the occupation. Many Iraqis refuse to accept these jobs out of fear that they will be killed on the job. “What do my children gain if I am killed in one of those attacks on a US installation?” Stated one Iraqi.

Even the jobs that are tied to reconstruction are unstable. It has been reported that many of the reconstruction jobs provided by USAID and the Iraqi National Employment Project are temporary and on average only last from 45 days to three months.

YOUTH
With few jobs to be had and many of the schools in Iraq destroyed or badly damaged, the future for young Iraqis is very uncertain. Because of regular bombings and the complete disruption of school, many young people have been unable to continue their education. Many Iraqis do not send their children to school in fear that they will be kidnapped or killed.

Some students are unable to attend classes because there is a massive shortage of professors. U.N. officials estimate that 1,832 professors have been fired because they worked under the former government. Other professors are fleeing the country in fear of their lives and the lives of their family members. Professors and deans have been kidnapped or assassinated by insurgents, severely disrupting higher education. The Dean of Al-Anbar University was kidnapped in September 2004. A vice chancellor at University of Al NahRain stated that he had to pay $50,000 to free his kidnapped son.

The dead in Fallujah being buried long after the fighting ceased.