Report paints grim picture of Iraqi life



(CNN) -- In the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country still struggles with high unemployment, inconsistent utility services and widespread poverty, a joint survey from the Iraqi government and United Nations indicates.

Released Thursday, the report from Iraq's Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation and the U.N. Development Program in Iraq surveyed nearly 22,000 households in the country's 18 provinces during 2004.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. program's resident representative for Iraq, said Thursday that the "Iraqi people are suffering. They are going through a very difficult time. We knew it, but now it's been proven."

While there has been progress since Saddam Hussein's fall, "these data depict a very tragic picture of the quality of life," Iraqi transitional Planning Minister Barham Salih said.

Salih said the mismanagement of Saddam's government and his regime's internal conflicts and those with its neighbors took a toll that spared no sector of the country's infrastructure.

"Saddam Hussein has left us a wasteland," Salih said. "This country could have been the economic powerhouse of the Middle East."

The survey estimated that the minimum number of war-related deaths ranges from 18,000 to 29,000 and is probably higher.

The report said the survey didn't attempt to count entire families who died and therefore underestimates the total number of people killed.

Children under 18 accounted for 12 percent of the deaths, the report said, while the information on infant mortality and malnutrition shows that "the suffering of children due to war and conflict in Iraq is not limited to those directly wounded or killed by military activities."

The information about deaths was "derived from a question posed to households concerning missing and dead persons during the two years prior to the survey. Although the date was not asked for, it is reasonable to suppose that the vast majority of deaths due to warfare occurred after the beginning of 2003."

Children also are affected by widespread malnutrition. About 43 percent of boys and girls between the ages of 6 months and 5 years suffer from some form of the condition -- chronic, general or acute malnutrition.

High unemployment
While Iraq's unemployment figures were high, the survey found that most eligible workers -- excluding the military -- were able to keep the jobs they had held since before March 2003.

Iraq's unemployment rate was 10.5 percent of a population of 27 million people, the report found. When the figure of workers who had given up looking for a job -- discouraged workers -- was included, the unemployment number increased to 18.4 percent.

Most of the unemployed were people who were looking for their first jobs, the report found.

De Mistura, the U.N. representative, said Iraqis have done well to maintain services, but he said delivery of utilities such as water, sewage, sanitation and electricity hasn't been consistent.

"Although a large percentage of the population in Iraq is connected to water, electricity and sewage networks, the supply is too unstable to make a difference to their lives," he said in a news release.

According to the survey, 98 percent of Iraqi households are connected to the national electricity grid, but only 15 percent find the supply stable.

As for water availability, the figures were 78 percent (had water) and 66 percent (had problems).

Household income falls
More than a fourth of Iraqis surveyed described themselves as being poor and 96 percent said they receive monthly food rations under the public food system set up through the oil-for-food program.

The median income in Iraq was equivalent to about $255 (366,000 dinars) in 2003 and decreased in the first half of 2004 to about $144 (207,000 dinars).

The report indicated it was difficult to come up with concrete numbers from prior years to indicate the movement of wages.

"However, most observers agree that, due to a combination of wars, sanctions and economic mismanagement, the average Iraqi household probably has lower real income today than in 1980," the report said.

The survey said the largest declines were in the central Iraqi provinces, including Baghdad.

In terms of poverty, the survey looked at subjective measures. About one in six respondents to the survey said they were unable to buy one of six items listed (new clothes, heating, etc.)

De Mistura said the survey should help the Iraqi government develop a plan to improve living conditions.








Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/12/...rvey/index.html

THIS SCREAMS FOR ATTENTION!

Children also are affected by widespread malnutrition. About 43 percent of boys and girls between the ages of 6 months and 5 years suffer from some form of the condition -- chronic, general or acute malnutrition.



:crying:

It does, but I'm not hearing much concern about it from Americans. The media is starting to give it attention--maybe that will help.



from the May 13, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0513/p06s01-woiq.html

Iraq's ministries struggle to serve

Amid a wave of attacks in Baghdad, the health ministry, like others, grapples with shortages and corruption.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD - Moments after another car bomb rocks the Iraqi capital, a badly wounded policeman is wheeled into the emergency ward of Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital.

The officer lives. But doctors who are working to save his life and the lives of many others are frustrated that they can provide only limited services.

Two years since the US started spending hundreds of millions on Iraqi healthcare, the country's health ministry is plagued by shortages and corruption that marked Saddam Hussein's rule, say health professionals and officials.

The results are broad reaching - and are affecting Iraqi lives for the worse, they say. With six leadership changes in two years, and steady insecurity and corruption, the ministry is unable to distribute medicines or repair facilities overwhelmed by decades of neglect.

"From day to day, the situation is getting worse, but it should be getting better," says Luay Farhan, head of the emergency ward at Yarmouk, which receives scores of cases from attacks every day. "We hear every [promise], but we do not see anything. There is stealing from this ministry, starting with the highest people."

Officials say that the problems of the health ministry are emblematic of those that dog many Iraqi ministries. The approval of new Iraqi cabinet two weeks ago sparked a wave of attacks that have left more than 400 dead. Thursday, militants exploded car bombs in Baghdad, killing at least 21 and wounding more than 70.

A further burden on the new health minister, Abdel Mutalib Mohammad, and the other newly appointed heads of the Iraqi bureaucracy, is endemic corruption, which some estimate to be as high as 70 percent.

"That's a very high figure," says Shakir al-Ainachy, chief of operations for the health ministry. "You can see that services are not improving well ... there is definitely a negative impact."

That impact is being felt across the board, according to a study of living conditions in Iraq in 2004, released Thursday by the Ministry of Planning and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The survey of 21,668 households found that many vital statistics have hardly changed since the Hussein era. Almost a quarter of children under five are chronically malnourished; pediatricians say that infant mortality remains among the highest, at 40 per 1,000 live births.

The UN data indicates that, in the aftermath of the 2003 war to spring 2004, some 24,000 Iraqis "with a 95 percent confidence interval from 18,000 to 29,000 deaths"died a war-related death.

"While many aspects of living conditions in Iraq in 2004 are dismal, most reflect the courage, endurance and determination of the Iraqi people to overcome the hurdles they are facing," said Staffan de Mistura, the UNDP representative in Iraq.

As casualties from two weeks of constant attacks roll into freshly painted but underfunded facilities, the impact of two years of uneven rebuilding is felt on the ward level. At Yarmouk, the 1,000-bed hospital that carries the biggest caseload in Baghdad, money has run out.

"The health ministry does not have money to spend until July ... a lot of things have stopped; we have been hurt by this," says Tala al-Awqati, a pediatrician in charge of the special-care baby unit. "People are not getting what they need from the health services. Money for disinfectant is not there anymore; sometimes we must buy it ourselves."

Part of the problem has been constant leadership change - with first American and then Iraqi officials - coming in "with their own vision, and trying to change everything," says Dr. Awqati. "Before, despite the dictatorship, there was a system, but now there is chaos. You can't bring a whole country crumbling down, and then tell people to work."

The special baby-care unit has been fortunate. It was refurbished a year ago by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and has received six new incubators. Still, insecurity aggravates every problem. Awqati's 12-year-old son stays with her at the hospital during exam periods - no other option is safe. Infant mortality rates remain high, partly because "women can't reach the hospital at night," she says.

Doctors and their families have also been targeted, and often kidnapped for ransom. The son of one Yarmouk doctor is currently being held. Iraqi newspapers report that 130 doctors have been assassinated over the past two years. To protect themselves, doctors and clerics last week were given the right to carry weapons from the Ministry of Interior.

"America can control this situation, because America is the first country in the world - all Iraqis thought the US would solve every problem in Iraq, but it's just promises," says Dari al-Adwan, Yarmouk's deputy director. After Baghdad fell, an early stop of the first US administrator of Iraq, Gen. Jay Garner, was at Yarmouk.

"He promised us he would rehabilitate this hospital, and turn it into an Iraqi model for the Middle East," says Dr. al-Adwan, a staff doctor at the time. "But it was just words."

Nearly all health facilities have had makeovers - overdue paint jobs and clean-ups. Salaries have also risen from $20 per month before the war to $300 or even higher.

Officials point out that in 2002, Hussein budgeted $16 million for health, while last year the budget was $950 million. Still, that amount was less than half what the health minister wanted in his $2 billion request.

And lack of cash has meant that crucial infrastructure projects - such as replacing old water pipes and sewage systems at Yarmouk - go undone. New medical equipment is limited to "very simple things" like X-ray machines, says Dr. Adwan.

But the real frustration, health professionals say, is that past problems created by wars and a decade of sanctions are not being resolved.

"Salaries take half the ministry budget, and the rest is not enough to run facilities, so every day you see people go to hospitals and they don't get their medicines," says an Iraqi doctor working for a Western relief agency, who asked not to be named. He points to a case at Qaim, on the border with Syria, where medical deliveries are made every three months instead of every one, and distribution is "deficient and inefficient."

About a year ago, arrests were made after more than $10 million in medicine was stolen.

Addressing drug shortages, the new inspector-general of the health ministry was quoted as saying that "a lot of money is leaking out," and called for all warehouse workers to be fired.

"It's not better than Saddam's era," says the doctor. "Despite all this money in to the system, people see no change [in services]. A lot of people are dying, for lack of simple drugs."

Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics, and related links



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'Tis my understanding that this ain't due to lack of food, but chronic diarrheal conditions secondary to poor sanitary practices. Methinks water borne bacterial diseases (mainly coliform bacterial contamination) seems to be the worst, eh?

People there learning basic sanitary practices (washing hands before preparing food, not contaminating newly dug common wells and the like) should help cut way back on this problem methinks. You be absolutely right though, "THIS SCREAMS FOR ATTENTION!" and 'twould seem the perfect situation for a little UN and WHO assistance, eh?

Not being a witness to what the real culprit is there, I can only be sympathetic to the challenges that parents face keeping their children healthy and out of harms way.

("Children also are affected by widespread malnutrition. About 43 percent of boys and girls between the ages of 6 months and 5 years suffer from some form of the condition -- chronic, general or acute malnutrition.")

It is easy for us to say that they should be practicing basic sanitary practices and not contaminating newly dug common wells, but we're sitting here at our 19" flat screen computer monitors drinking bottled water and chastising the Iraq people for being so ignorant as to be causing their own children to be malnourished? Something's wrong with this picture!

KT

heyyyyyy flydangler!!!!!!!!!! Bring your tackle box and come and join the CGCS California Delegation on August 13th in Ventura for our 1st Annual Convention.

You can fish up in Ojai, just minutes away at Lake Casitas, and you'll also be minutes away from Port Hueneme Naval Base! BTW, a couple other members who will be there were also born in '48!

http://www.worldwidefishing.com/california...any=Ojai+Angler

KT

yeah, all that money flowing out of our treasury dept..... now where must it be going??


if only the Iraqis could find that money trail... and follow it... wonder where they'd end up at?



oh well.... wait another month or to, BushCo will order up another $80 billion, that'll take care of them then...... won't it??

Iraq war costs home bases
K.P. NAYAR


Washington, May 13: The US military, consumed by the burgeoning demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is to save $6.7 billion a year by closing 150 bases in America and realigning its forces world-wide, the Pentagon announced today.

The announcement comes three days after the Senate passed an emergency bill sanctioning war expenses of $82 billion. The latest legislative sanction has taken the cost of the invasion of Iraq past $200 billion, but the military top brass warned Congress that they would seek at least two supplemental emergency funding requests before the end of the current financial year in October.

All in all, the cost of the war, it is estimated here, will cross half a trillion dollars by 2010, a severe drain on the US economy at a time of unprecedented budget deficit, a soaring trade deficit and prospects of a declining dollar.

Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who forwarded the Pentagon’s recommendations to a nine-member Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which began work on May 3, tried to put the best face on the trimming of the US defence apparatus.

“Our current arrangements, designed for the Cold War, must give way to the new demands of the war against extremism and other evolving 21st century challenges,” he said.

President George W. Bush will take a decision on the closure of bases by September 23 and Congress will then have the option to reject the recommendations in its entirety. The closure of bases within the US is a political hot potato both for Bush and Congress.

One site that is proposed to be closed, for example, is the Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, the state’s second largest employer. It is home to 29 B-1B bombers, half the US Air Force fleet of this aircraft. Bush’s home state of Texas would lose 15 facilities, Pennsylvania 13, Alabama and California 11 each and New York nine.

On the whole, 218,570 military and civilian jobs would be pulled out in the process, but the Pentagon claimed that 189,565 new jobs would be added elsewhere. This figure gives only a partial picture of how entire communities, which depend on military bases, would be affected by a spin-off of the closures and relocations and the resulting loss of economic activity.

Senators and Congressmen whose constituents will lose their livelihood are expected to fight the proposals tooth and nail.

Even before the process of base closures was embarked upon, Bush clashed with Senator Trent Lott, the former Republican floor leader, who has been fighting to keep a naval station in his home town of Pascagoula in Mississippi. It is one of the bases recommended for closure today.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050514/asp/...ory_4738561.asp

The War in Iraq Costs


http://costofwar.com/

Hi Bammo... If you wish to see what is really happening with the base closing scam just look where the net job gains and losses are. West coast and northeast loses jobs. Guess where jobs are created? You guess right. Texas and Flordia are the winners!!!!Who would have known. I suppose these states are just lucky winners. You believe in the tooth ferret and WMD in Iraq if you believe that.

When yer right yer right, and on this yer definitely right!

Methinks I gotta say I can be as guilty of this as anybody. I do wish somebody would step up to the plate and at least do the simple things that might end so much of the needless suffering, eh?

Wish I could be at the CA conclave, but 'twould seem 'tain't gonna happen. There's plenty of times I miss livin' in CA, somethin' my wife don't share.

I remember responding to a topic about 6 months ago that the provisional authority was requiring Iraqi farmers to buy their seed from them instead of using their centuries old seed exchange program.

There was an outcry from folks here that we were forcing Monsanto upon these poor farmers. Well I can tell you, as a farmer, as soon as these Iraqi farmers make their first harvest of crops grown from genetically superior seed they will be the envy of the Middle East.

There is a reason why an American farmer can feed more people than any other farmer in the world and I'm glad this knowledge is being shared with the Iraqi farmers.

Sometimes progress just sounds harsh.

This is one very big 'invisible' trail in Iraq that will be hard to follow as for discovering where $billions has disappeared to that was to aid the Iraqis.

and the big corp neocon beat goes on and on and on and on and on ..........
~ brought to you by BushCo



Christian Aid vindicated over Iraq’s ‘Missing Billions’ -1/02/05

An official US audit has unearthed evidence of widespread corruption in postwar Iraq, finding that the occupying authorities failed to keep track of nearly 9 billion dollars (£4.8billion) of Iraq’s oil and other revenues.

In October 2003, as reported by the Ekklesia news service a Christian Aid report, Iraq: the missing billions, warned that at least 4 billion dollars of Iraqi money earmarked for reconstruction had gone missing.

At the time, this accusation was vigorously denied by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the US-controlled body that ruled Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

But in June 2004, as the CPA was being wound up, another Christian Aid report revealed that as much as 13 billion dollars was unaccounted for.

In a scathing new report to Congress, Gen Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, said that while the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was careful to monitor the spending of US taxpayers' money in Iraq, it failed to provide proper oversight of projects paid for with Iraq's own funds.

Christian Aid’s research exposed how this financial black hole was in flagrant breach of the United Nations' resolution that established the CPA. Resolution 1483 stipulated that all Iraqi oil and other seized funds must be used to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people and to finance the rebuilding of Iraq’s shattered infrastructure.

In its two reports, Christian Aid also argued that the situation was fuelling suspicions that oil money was being creamed off for the benefit of US companies. In turn this was adding to frustration and resentment among some Iraqis, said the reports, potentially fuelling violence.

They also called on the British government to ensure that the money was properly spent.

The new Bowen report blamed the CPA for failing to keep track of the disbursement of development funds from Iraq's oil revenues, the Oil for Food Programme and seized assets. The report said: ‘…there was no assurance the funds were used for the purposes mandated.’

It cited an Iraqi ministry that claimed to employ 8,206 guards, when there were in fact barely 600. At another Iraqi ministry, financial controls of a 435 million dollar budget were left open to ‘fraud, kickbacks and misappropriation of funds,’ the Bowen report said.

‘It is clear that the monitoring and accounting systems were dysfunctional, and set a precedent for corruption that continues to this day,' said David Phillips, a former State Department adviser on Iraq. ‘The number is staggering but the pattern of cutting corners has been well known from the beginning, and there has been an awful lot of cash floating around.’

*******

I am not surprised that there is billions missing in Iraq--just like the the "food for oil" corruption. Unfortunately, we will probably never know where the money went and no one will be held accountable.

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=29573&st=0&p=288901&#entry288901


I conducted an informal interview two days ago with a UN official here in
Amman...thus I'll leave his name out of this...for now. He told me that 95% of
the reconstruction funds for rebuilding Iraq have been spent outside of Iraq.

So the argument of staying in Iraq to help rebuild the country-that too could
have been flushed long ago. Want to find someone accountable-look to some of
the larger contributors to the Bush Administration. We all know their names by
now. Check their profit margins as of late while you're at it.

This is really quite a different story from those you read or hear about
in the news these days. Listen to what is being said by an Army Major who is in
Iraq and seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/r/rydbom.htm

OPEN LETTER TO FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND BEACH
It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran
Church about what's really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on
TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn't
sell.

The stuff you don't hear about? Let's start with Electrical Power
production in Iraq. The day after the war was declared over, there was nearly 0
power being generated in Iraq. 45 days later, in a partnership between the
Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there are now 3200 mega
watts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total national
potential of 8000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv)
are being repaired and are about 70% complete.

Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and
Mosul, home of the 4th Infantry Division, Water treatment was spotty at
best.
The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple
chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for
sediment settling (The Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi
River) were in short supply or not used at all and when chlorine was used, it
was metered by the scientific method of guessing. So some people got pool
water and some people got water with lots of little things moving in it.
We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to facilities that are only 50% or less operational are being let, chemicals are being delivered, although we don't have the metering problem solved yet (It's only been 45 days).

How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You bet it was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people because they have no other income, they produce nothing else. Oil is 95% of the Iraqi GNP. For this nation to survive, it MUST sell oil. The Refinery at Bayji is at 75% of capacity producing gasoline. The crude pipeline between Kirkuk (Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what all Iraqi's use to cook and heat with, is at 103% of normal production and WE, the US ARMY, at least 4th ID, are insuring it is being distributed FAIRLY to ALL Iraqi's.

You have to remember that 3 months ago, ALL these things were used as
weapons against the population to keep them in line. If your town misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks stopped, Water was turned off, power was turned off.

Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the Iraqi people, crude oil is being stored, the country is at 75% capacity now, they need to export or stop pumping soon, thank the UN for the delay. ALL LPG goes to the Iraqi people EVERYWHERE. Water is being purified as best they can, but at least it's running all the time to everyone.

Are we still getting shot at? Yep Are American Soldiers still dying? Yep, about 1 a day from the 4th ID, most in accidents, but dead is dead.

If we are doing all this for the Iraqi's, why are they shooting at us?

The general population isn't. There are still bad guys, who won't let go of the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (Read Nazi Party, but not as nice) who know nothing but the regime. They were thugs for the regime that caused many to disappear in the night and they have no other skills. At least the Nazis had jobs they could go back to after the war as plumbers, managers, engineers, etc...these people have no skills but terror. They are simply applying their skills....and we are applying ours. There is no Christian way to say they must be eliminated and we are doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at literally everyday by small arms and RPGs. We respond and 100% of the time, the Ba'ath party guys come out with the short end of the stick. The most amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped
shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things and leave. The more they shoot at
us, the longer we will stay.

Lastly, Realize that 90% the damage you see on TV was caused by IRAQI's, NOT the war. Sure we took out a few bridges from military necessity, we took out a few power and phone lines to disrupt communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and government headquarters buildings with 2000lb laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), he had plenty to spare. But, ANY damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation facilities, refineries, pipelines, was ALL caused either by the Iraqi Army in its death throws or the Iraqi civilians looting the places. Could the army have prevented it? Nope. We can and do now, but 45 days ago the average soldier was lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed enough to know who owned what or have the power to stop a 1,000 people from looting a building by himself.

The United States and Britian are doing a very noble thing here. We stuck our necks out on the world chopping block to free a people. I've already talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death, bottom line, who cares, this country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump anyway. We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the last 30 days than the US Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (Remember, this is a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason we came here, if we find it GREAT, if we don't, SO WHAT? I'm living in a "guest palace" on a 500 acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the street and out into the countryside 5 miles away (I have) and see a family of 10 living in a mud hut herding two dozen sheep, Then tell me why you think we are here.

Respectfully, ERIC RYDBOM MAJ, ENGINEER Deputy Division Engineer
4th Infantry Division

"I'm living in a "guest palace" on a 500 acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the street and out into the countryside 5 miles away (I have) and see a family of 10 living in a mud hut herding two dozen sheep..."

Why didn't we give the palaces to the Iraqi people to live in???

The people are mad at the "leaders" and the US military because they live inside the protected Green Zone and they have food, electricity, and clean water.

What has $4 billion per month for 3 years bought us so far??? The country is not much better off since Bush got on that carrier. There were 500 killings this month alone.

"The US military, consumed by the burgeoning demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is to save $6.7 billion a year"

Wow, almost 2 months savings from what we spend now in Iraq. Big deal!! The Pentagon budget has increased every year under Bush. The Pentagon misplaces money every year and fails its audits. The military budget is 50% of the total US budget. No wonder Bush needs to rob the Social Security funds.

Well, it would be pretty hard to dismantle these palaces and ship them back to the USA so I would suspect the Iraqi people will receive their property back. I suspose from your statement you would perfer US troops to live in as much danger and discomfort as possible?

Your idea reminds me of what the bolsheviks did in 1919 moving peasants into former Czarist residences. It worked for a while.

With the billions spent on the war so far we could have built every Iraqi a nice house to live in. But then how would the Bush friends make money?

http://www.concordmonitor.com.

Article published May 20, 2005
Iraq: U.S. went on spending spree before handover Billions handed out in June
By T. CHRISTIAN MILLER
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - Bill Keller knew that rebuilding Iraq's shattered telecommunications network meant throwing money into a black hole.

As the clock ticked down to the end of the U.S. occupation last June, reconstruction projects were hopelessly mired in delays, and financial controls at the Iraqi Communications Ministry appeared non-existent. Yet instead of putting the brakes on spending, top U.S. officials urged that contracts be accelerated, Keller said.

"We were squandering the money we were entrusted to handle," said Keller, at the time was a deputy adviser to the Communications Ministry. "We were a blind mouse with money."

This apparent indifference toward accountability when it came to spending Iraqi money was common among U.S. officials last year as they rushed to sign contracts in the waning days of U.S. control of Iraq, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

In recent audits and interviews, June 2004 has emerged as a month when money and accountability were thrown out the door. The United States played the role of frenzied shopper, leaving the Iraqis to pay the bill.


More than 1,000 contracts were issued by U.S. officials in June, about double the usual number. Auditors disclosed this month that several U.S. officials are under investigation for possible embezzlement during the June spending blitz.
"There were lots of examples of bad management because of the chaos around the turnover," said Ginger Cruz, chief of staff for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, who oversees U.S. spending in Iraq. "There was a greater opportunity for fraud."

Senior officials with the Coalition Provisional Authority that ruled Iraq until June defended their actions. They acknowledged paperwork problems but said wartime circumstances demanded a focus on action, not accounting principles. Most of the money, they said, helped prevent bloodshed by providing desperately needed goods and services for the Iraqis.

But the pell-mell effort to spend money in June 2004 helps explain many of the problems in the reconstruction of Iraq, and continues to haunt the United States nearly a year later.

U.S. officials are now unsure whether billions of dollars dispatched to Iraqi ministries to fund reconstruction projects ever reached their final destinations. Schools and hospitals refurbished with hastily issued contracts have again fallen into disrepair. The oil and power industries are in worse shape than during the Saddam Hussein regime.

Under the terms of a U.N. resolution, the United States was supposed to safeguard Iraqi money in a special account. The money consisted of Iraq oil revenue and assets seized from Saddam's regime.

The United Nations, which had control over Iraqi oil proceeds, would deposit money into the fund as it cleared old debts. In March 2004, the United Nations unexpectedly released $2.5 billion into the development fund.

Coalition officials suddenly had a massive windfall. A former senior CPA official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the issul said the new money sparked an intense internal debate: Should the coalition spend it, or leave it for the new Iraqi government? In the end, the official said the United States decided in consultation with the Iraqis that the country's needs were too urgent to wait. There was also a belief that the Iraqi money could be spent more easily than the U.S. money, which was governed by far stricter contracting rules and oversight.

So the spree began. On a single day in May, U.S. and Iraqi officials approved almost $1.9 billion worth of spending, including new oil, security and electricity projects.

Over the next few months, U.S. officials throughout Iraq placed more focus on launching projects, and less on accounting concerns. E-mails, documents and interviews with officials who worked in Iraq at the time portray a mania to move money.

"The Iraqis will be paying for the screw-ups of the CPA for a long time," said a coalition adviser who requested anonymity. "They have had to unwind what we did in that year, and that has made it tougher for them to recover."

------ End of article

By T. CHRISTIAN MILLER

Los Angeles Times

US generals say Iraq outlook 'bleak' Christian Science Monitor

Two new hospitals for Baghdad’s low-income neighborhoods

By Anwar Jumaa

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?f...-16%5C10336.htm

Azzaman, April 16, 2005



The Health Ministry is to construct two major hospitals in Baghdad, the first in Sadr City and the second in Shaab District, two of the capital’s most impoverished neighborhoods.

The one in Sadr City is of 400-bed capacity and “will be an example of a modern health facility supplied with latest medical equipment,” the ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the hospital in Shaab will have a 200-bed capacity.

The statement did not mention how much the two hospitals will cost or which company has won the contracts to build them.

Health conditions in Iraq have not improved in the two-years since the downfall of the former regime despite the removal of U.N. trade sanctions which restricted the flow of medicine to the country.

But the statement said shortages of medicines were to be alleviated as “huge quantities” were on their way to hospitals across the country.

“The ministry has purchased all the medical equipment and services needed by hospitals and health establishments,” the statement said.

The relative improvement in security is apparently luring foreign firms to the country.

The Ministry of Electricity has said it has singed a contract with the Italian Franco Tosi, a thermal and hydropower generation firm, to rehabilitate two major units at the Baiji power plant.

The power plant in Baiji is the largest in the country. If fully operational, it can produce more than 500 megawatts a day.

The two units Franco Tosi will repair are expected to add 220 megawatts to the national grid once completed.

The ministry says the contract with the Italian firms was singed during a visit by the Electricity Minister Ayham al-Samarraai to Italy early this month.

Agreement Between Two Ministries to Train Students on Health Technology


Baghdad: The two ministries of Higher Education and Health have agreed on organizing special training courses of Technical colleges and the institutes under the technical education administration.


This has been pointed out by an official in the ministry of higher education. He said that the objective is to improve the health and preventive efficiency, which participates in improving the students’ capability. A joint committee of the two ministries has been formed to set joint curricula using the direct applicative methods in the health institutions and adding a program to test the students understanding through theoretical and practical tests.
The source pointed out that the courses include giving theoretical and practical lectures on the fields of health control, its systems, laws and regulations, and introducing the students to the duties of the control department and their role in enlightenment and guidance. The health control department has assigned a number of experts and doctors for the purpose of training students and organizing field visits to work sites, such as retail stores, laboratories and hotels.
Source: Al-Mada

Reforestation program to restore biodiversity, create 500 jobs in Iraq

Monday, April 18th 2005
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The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the General Directorate of Horticulture, Forestry and Rangelands began reforesting areas which were either burned by central government armies in the 1990s or over-harvested by residents for fuel wood.

The 1,100 donums of land (1 hectare = 10 donums) replanted in eight subdistricts in Arbil are part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Agricultural Reconstruction and Development for Iraq (ARDI) program.

In the past few years, the MOA has been implementing a reforestation program in the affected areas to restore the biodiversity of the region. Under this program, the General Directorate of Horticulture, Forestry and Rangelands has developed the capability to produce large quantities of tree seedlings for planting. They have also supported a policy that outlaws the destruction of newly planted trees and have deployed forestry guards to enforce this policy.

ARDI will provide needed tools, transport and labor to the MOA to plant seedlings in Arbil and Dahuk.

Almost 500 temporary jobs will be created for local laborers.

Iraq reconstruction program provides equipment to agricultural media centers

Sunday, April 17th 2005

http://www.portaliraq.com/shownews.php?id=1111171

Through grants awarded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Agriculture Reconstruction and Development for Iraq (ARDI) program, two agricultural media centers in Arbil and As Sulaymaniyah governorates now have equipment needed to serve Iraqis involved in agricultural work.

Media centers serve as the publicity arm of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) Agricultural Research and Extension Centers. The centers produce reference and training materials for farmers, and publications and reports for the General Directorate of Research and Extension.

According to USAID, under the previous regime, these centers were neglected and suffered from a lack of available equipment.

Media centers equipped with modern technologies will be able to support the training and information distribution efforts of the Extension Centers. USAID believes that this will lead to improved agricultural production as more farmers are able to obtain information on improved agricultural methods and technologies.

The equipment includes video cameras, audio/video mixers, television monitors, digital cameras, projectors, memory cards, printers, microphones and computers.

Since receiving the equipment, the center has produced numerous publications, including posters, instructional pamphlets and agricultural calendars. It has also produced a television program for local broadcast that details the process of sheep vaccination and informs farmers where vaccines can be obtained.

ohio-veterans-and-military-families-speak-out@yahoogroups.com
From: "tom farley"

Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 09:03:52 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [OHIO-VETERANS-AND-MILITARY-FAMILIES-SPEAK-OUT] Bad week in Iraq

When will the Bush admin and the Pentagon level with the American people. All of the lies leading up to the Iraq War are now coming home to roost in spades. Our troops won't be coming home - ever, And it was
all about Oil. Tom Farley Vet 54-56.

Analysis: Bad week in Iraq
By Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Published May 20, 2005

WASHINGTON -- It has been a bad week for U.S. policy
in Iraq.

Top generals have admitted to the U.S. Congress the renewed seriousness of the Sunni Muslim insurgency there and the failure to adequately create Iraqi security forces so far. They have also openly
acknowledged what Pentagon planners have quietly known for at least a year: The United States will have to maintain current troop levels, or close to them, in Iraq for years to come.

Even more ominous, Iran's foreign minister was welcomed by the new Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad -- the strongest sign yet that Iraq won't stay in Washington's pocket. This also signals the danger
of a huge Iraqi Shiite reaction against U.S. forces if the United States ever clashes with Iran over its nuclear program.

Top-level U.S. generals in Washington and Baghdad Wednesday gave briefings both on the record and on background acknowledging that U.S. force levels in Iraq would at the very least have to remain at or close to their current levels of 138,000 troops for years to come.

CENTCOM commander Gen. John Abizaid, who directs all U.S. military forces in the Middle East, admitted in a Washington briefing that progress in training the new Iraqi security forces and making them an effective
element in fighting the insurgency had been "disappointing," the New York Times reported Thursday.

The paper also noted the admission of a senior U.S. officer in Baghdad that there had been almost as many car-bomb attacks in the city in the past month -- 21 -- than in the whole of 2004, when they totaled 25.

These statements certainly came as no surprise to uniformed Army planners in the Pentagon who have already drawn up detailed plans and projections factoring in this inevitability.

However, the somber public acknowledgement by senior Army officers this week is likely to come as a cold shock to the U.S. public and to hawkish media commentators who had assumed national parliamentary
elections in Iraq Jan. 30, the election of a national assembly and the eventual creation of a coalition government from the Shiite and Kurdish parties who dominate it would isolate the Sunni Muslim insurgency
in central Iraq and undermine its support.

Instead, the opposite has happened. The wave of terror bombings that have killed more than 400 people over the past month indicates the insurgents remain more formidable and implacable than ever, and there is
no significant sign of their support eroding in the Sunni community.

But there was another, from the U.S. point of view, potentially far more ominous development this week. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi paid a visit to Baghdad, the first by any senior Iranian political leader since the toppling of Saddam Hussein, and held talks with the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government. Both governments then confirmed their
determination to strengthen bilateral ties.

"We have been working with Iran to open a new page in the bilateral relationship," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar al-Zebari told a news conference in Baghdad, where he appeared with Kharazzi Tuesday.

Kharazzi also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani. He promised to cooperate with them on security, against al-Qaida and on joint monitoring of the Iraq-Iran border.

Kharazzi's visit came only two days after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad and at a time when the United States continues to take a tough line against Iran's nuclear program and when
the prospect of an eventual confrontation between the United States and Iran that could turn violent appears more, not less, likely.

Most of the U.S. media coverage of Kharazzi's visit to Baghdad restricted itself to the fact that he was there at all. But the readiness of the new Iraqi
government to welcome him by itself sent a loud message to the Bush administration that has up to now never factored into their strategic planning.

That message is that the new government is not going to remain at Washington's beck and call for much longer, let alone forever. And, far from making the new government more dependent on U.S. support, the
continuing fierce Sunni insurgency may instead be nudging it toward its fellow Shiites of neighboring Iran.

In fact, Iran's political influence and ties to Iraq's majority Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the population, have always been far wider and deeper than just supporting firebrand young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual guide and mentor of the dominant Shiite coalition in the Iraqi parliament, has refused to personally meet with any U.S. officials in the more than two years the U.S. Army has been in Baghdad. And Sistani, strikingly, has not yet taken out an Iraqi or any other passport. He still holds the Iranian citizenship he has never revoked.

The military news from Iraq is by no means entirely bad. U.S. casualties remain far, far below most of the levels of last year. U.S. search-and-destroy missions near the Syrian border have disrupted and inflicted significant damage on insurgency supply and communications lines, and U.S. forces, especially in and around Baghdad itself, continue to rack up significant tactical successes in destroying guerrilla cells and capturing useful suspects. U.S. officers in Iraq believe tactical intelligence on the insurgents is steadily improving. Some 1,100 suspects have been held in U.S. drives against the bombing offensive.

However, growing political ties between the Shiite political leadership in Iraq and the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran could transform what is
currently at worst a holding situation in Iraq and make it dire.

For they open the possibility that if the U.S. confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program escalates into pre-emptive U.S. or U.S.-approved Israeli air strikes against Iranian nuclear installations, or if, even worse, U.S.-backed insurgents try and topple the Islamic Republic, then the mainstream Shiites in Iraq could rapidly be radicalized against U.S. forces in their country.

In that case, the security challenges facing U.S. and allied forces would vastly become exponentially worse than they are now.

And even if a U.S. clash with Iran is averted, the continuing failure of U.S. forces in Iraq to either defeat the insurgency or produce effective Iraqi
security forces could further propel the country's Shiite leaders, fearful of their vengeful Sunni minority, further into Tehran's arms.

Those developments would make even the current dilemmas facing U.S. forces in Iraq look like child's play.

Monday, April 18, 2005
Al Mada'en crisis.

http://afreeiraqi.blogspot.com/2005/04/al-madaen-crisis.html


The talks in Iraq these days both on the media as well as on the streets have been focused on the latest alleged kidnappings of She'at families in Al Mada'en city that lies to the south of Baghdad.

Al Mada'en is small city that has always been a mixed She'at-Sunni place and have never had any sectarian-based violence until months after the war, especially when several outsider Wahabies came to reside in and around it in the area south of Baghdad that is now called "The death triangle".

When I first heard the news of the mass kidnapping I was not very surprised, as such things happened before and the aim was obvious; to incite a civil war between Sunni and She'at. However, the number of the kidnapped seemed pretty high to the degree that it was difficult to imagine how it happened.

Then came a surprising announcement from Sadr's office that this operation did not occur at all, and that it was an attempt by the American forces to create a civil war! Now Sadr is stupid and have said and done so many stupid things but now he's risking a lot by denying what officials are saying and are actually acting upon! How would his own supporters looked at him if a day after such statement hostages were found and released? Anyway soon after that, the Association of Sunni Scholars affirmed what Sadr's office said and so did some small gatherings of ex-Ba'athists that are hiding behind different names now.

This gave me two things to think about. First whenever the "Association of Sunni Scholars" agreed this perfectly and timely with Sadr and Ba'athists, it always showed that there was a sort of coordination among these anti- democracy powers taking place and planned in advance. As although they do have a sort of an alliance among them against the common enemy, yet they couldn't always organize their efforts to lie in parallel to each other's this much. Meaning this was a tactical coordinated effort more than a reaction based on a long term one.

The other thing is that denying what seemed to be a fact as all Iraqi and officials said meant that these groups are apparently sure of what they're saying. But how can they be so sure?!
Till now it seems that indeed the news were far from true the least to say and it also seems very likely that the whole thing (the faked news) might be planned. But who and why are important questions.

Despite the repeated aggressions Wahabies committed mainly against She'at- and despite that Wahabies can be seen as part of Sunnis by some, although the truth that most Iraqis know is that Wahabisim is an independent hateful sect that is no longer Sunni although it did originate from Sunni sect about two hundred years ago- the reaction of the vast majority of She'at was remarkable in the way they practiced self-discipline and avoided any escalation of the situation. It's true that these fanatic Salafi-Wahabies are not really Sunnis and their motive is clear to every sane man, but still such things can create an undesirable emotional reactions among average people in an already highly emotional society when it comes to religious beliefs.

So I want to give credit to all She'at for their rational and patriotic way of dealing with this sensitive matter, as until lately all these crimes committed by those Wahabi terrorists failed to enrage the She'at in the wrong direction, and also as a result failed to create any significant fear among Sunnis that they might pay for what these fanatics are doing.

However, these days brought serious worries that I heard from both Sunnis and She'at on how long this can go without causing civil war as a result of uncontrolled reactions from some radicals or simple emotional people on both sides, and more particularly on the She'at side, as technically there are few 'Sunnis' who are already fighting this 'sectarian war' (Most active Ba'athists are Sunni) but until the She'at join, it can hardly be called a war or cause any serious bloody split in the Iraqi society.

So who's benefiting from escalating the situation and take it closer to a civil war (although this is still a remote possibility)? This is a question that in this particular case should lead us to those responsible, as it makes no sense that the Iraqi government or the Americans would deliberately throw such a dangerous rumor in such critical times! The reasonable conclusion would be that it must be done by those who want a civil war to occur; Iranians, Syrians and their agents in Iraq, the Sadrists and the "Association of Sunni scholars". The confident tone in which the latter two parties denied the incident supports such conclusion and rule out the possibility of any undue exagurations on some false reports because if that was the case then they (the Sadirsts and Sunni Scholars) couldn't know more than everyone else, even more than the government and the moderate She'at religious leaders who have more support in most Iraq than these parties if it wasn't for the fact that the Sadrists and the Scholars knew about the rumor even before it spread!

It may be still early to make a final judgment but these are my thoughts for now and I also see that the Iraqi officials managed this crisis badly and fell into the evil scheme of those who planned this by reacting so violently and creating a public panic before even being sure of the information that fell into their hands. I wish this would be a lesson to them to be more careful in the future, as although the whole issue seems to be faked, but it did add an unnecessary fuel to the flames that are still controllable till now but might not continue to be so forever.

Top trade official among 14 killed
Published: 23 May 2005
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/printnews.asp?Article=112801
baghdad: Fourteen people, including a high-ranking government official, were killed in new clashes and attacks across Iraq yesterday. Ali Mussa Salman, the trade ministry's director general, was gunned down on his way to work in the capital.

One civilian was also killed and 10 wounded when gunmen opened fire from a car in the western Baghdad district of Al Gzalia, an interior ministry official said.

Five militants were killed and 11 wounded in joint US-Iraqi raids in the cities of Mahmudiyah and Yusufiyah, 35km south of Baghdad

In Al Qaem, near the Syrian border, four Iraqi civilians were killed and seven wounded, in a gunbattle between US forces and insurgents, medical sources said.

Another civilian was killed by a road-side bomb in Oyoun, north of Kirkuk.

A suicide car bomber blew himself near a US convoy and police station in northern Tikrit, 80km north of Baghdad, wounding three American soldiers and two Iraqi policemen, said a military spokesman.

A militant was killed during clashes with Iraqi police in Sinaa, in northern Mosul, police said.

Separately, Iraqi security forces captured Ismail Budair Ibrahim Al Obeidi, a "terrorist" close to the network of Jordan-born militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, a government statement said.

The terror suspect, also known as Abu Omar, planned car bomb attacks in Baghdad and rigged booby-trapped cars for foreign fighters, the statement said.

A US soldier was killed last night in a vehicle accident near Kirkuk, the military said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© Gulf Daily News

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15385179-23109,00.html

Bomb blast at restaurant
May 23, 2005
From: Reuters

A CAR bomb has been detonated outside a Baghdad restaurant, and a police official said casualties were feared.
The bomb exploded in the Talibiya district of the capital, the official said without adding further details.

Insurgents have stepped up attacks since a new government was announced in late April, killing over 500 people in suicide bombings, assassinations and ambushes.

At Least 20 Killed in Bombings Near Mosul
By Associated Press

11:57 AM PDT, May 23, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two car bombs exploded Monday outside the home of a community leader near the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 20 people and injuring another 20, Iraqi hospital and police officials said.

The explosions occurred in Tal Afar, about 50 miles west of Mosul, said Khesro Goran, Mosul's deputy governor.

At least 20 people were killed, said Mosul's deputy police chief, Brig. Gen. Wathiq Mohammed, and the director of Tal Afar General Hospital, Saleh Qaddo Haider.

At least 20 people were injured, Mohammed said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...world-headlines

Audit criticizes Iraq's handling of oil sales after power transfer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The board monitoring Iraq's oil revenue said Monday that Iraqi leaders mishandled about $100 million in oil money meant for development in the six months after they took power from the U.S. government.
The International Advisory and Monitoring Board said a new audit also found the now-defunct U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority used questionable accounting practices with money from the Development Fund for Iraq. It also singled out the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for refusing to provide files for contracts that were funded with Iraqi oil revenue.

The audit, conducted by accounting firm KPMG, covered the period from the June 28, 2004, transfer of sovereignty to the new interim government until Dec. 31.

While the audit makes no accusations of fraud or wrongdoing, it notes that Iraqi ministries and U.S. agencies awarded numerous noncompetitive contracts with development money. At one point, U.S. agencies bought armored vehicles with $988,000 that was supposed to be used for Iraq's development. In one case a $6.1 million contract "was advertised on a subscription only Web site and therefore not publicly tendered," the report found. "Only two bids were received for the contract."

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said he hadn't seen the latest report and couldn't comment on its specifics. But he said the CPA did well in difficult circumstances in Iraq, "implementing hundreds of projects to improve the quality of life for the Iraqi people."

The audit said that during that time, Iraqis violated a U.N. Security Council resolution that was passed to make sure oil profits went to help the country recover from war. For example, the government bartered petroleum products for electricity and other oil products from Syria in transactions worth $461 million. It later deposited $97.7 million from oil sales into its own bank accounts, a direct violation.

Iraqi banks also used the fund as an intermediary to conduct wire transfers for customers, something that could have resulted in "criminals, or associates of criminals, being able to conceal the source of funds transferred and their identity."

The audit was the third to be released since the board was set up by the U.N. Security Council in 2003 to ensure the transparent operation of the fund, which receives Iraq's oil revenue and frozen assets from Saddam Hussein's ousted regime.

The fund was controlled by the United States and Britain, Iraq's occupying powers, until the June 28, 2004 transfer of sovereignty to the new interim government, when it was handed over to Iraq's new leaders.

The audit was a counterpoint to the numerous reports and investigations that have focused on U.N. and Security Council oversight of the 1996-2003 oil-for-food program.

Those reports have claimed that Saddam Hussein bilked oil-for-food of billions of dollars over the course of the program, and have led to intense criticism of the United Nations and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in particular.

U.S. officials had acknowledged in the past that sometimes contracts in Iraq were awarded without competition given the urgency of the situation.

The audit cited numerous instances where the Iraqi government and U.S. agencies kept poor or incomplete records of contracts awarded with Iraqi development money.

Iraqi ministries still maintain most of their financial records in paper notebooks, the report said. They have only "limited outdated financial software and computer equipment," though that could change by the end of the year, it said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/20...htm?POE=NEWISVA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Baghdad's Polluted Water Makes Children Sick With Cholera


http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2005/2005-05-25-04.asp
By Nasir Kadhim and Salam Nasir

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 25, 2005 (ENS) - Cholera is spreading in Baghdad’s impoverished al-Amil quarter where overcrowding and contaminated water are leading to fears of an epidemic. City officials blame insurgent attacks on infrastructure for the outbreak in southwest Baghdad.

Children have so far been the worse affected, with one doctor at a Baghdad hospital saying he is now seeing young cholera patients on a daily basis.

Nadia Shawkat was in line at the Central Children’s Hospital waiting for a doctor to treat her daughter.

“My only baby girl has cholera, and the reason is water pollution, as the physician confirmed,” she said.

To prevent a further outbreak, Imad Hassoon, a pediatrician at the Central Children’s Hospital, has been advising parents to keep their children off the streets.

But in this poor and crowded area of southwestern Baghdad, children like four year old Allawi continue to play around stagnant pools of dirty water, despite the danger.

“We don’t care about this dirt and water any more because we've got used to it,” he said.


An Iraqi child steps over raw sewage flowing in the street and piles of garbage mount in central Baghdad, May 2003. Two years later, the same problems exist. Residents have complained about the health problems, urging city officials to do a better job maintaining water pipelines and sewer systems.
Doctors told Hamza Rasheed that his three year old son got cholera from polluted tap water, but his complaints to the municipality and the Baghdad governorate have been largely ignored.

“The situation has stayed as it was, with an increase in the number of children getting this disease,” Rasheed said.

Ali Salman, al-Qadisiyyah district’s water project manager, blamed insurgent attacks for Baghdad’s dirty water. He said that although large amounts of water are purified every day, the increase in attacks on distribution systems is having “a negative affect on the water quality.”

Truck driver Hatam Dawud used to transport chlorine and other water purification products from Basra to Baghdad, but the recent violence has prevented him from doing his work.

“Because a driver was killed on the road a month ago, now I don’t carry these materials,” he said.

Salman Jabir, an engineer in the water and sewage department of al-Amil, believes that if the security situation improves, so will the water supply.

“I wonder what water and the sewage system have to do with politics, the government and the U.S. forces?” he asked. “Why are the extremists preventing us from reconstructing our country for the sake of our innocent children?”

{Published in cooperation with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.}






Questions or Comments: editor@ens-news.com