Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.
Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.
Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you.
- Pueblo Blessing
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Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 - 12:23 p.m.
WARNING!!!! if you know me personally, you may read my diary, but if you do, you take the chance of hearing things you don't want to know, misunderstanding what I've written and being hurt by it. If you are unsure if it is ok to read, save yourself and me the grief and heartache, and ask first!!! Please note that this is a DIARY, ie my subjective feelings, hearsay, suppositions, and outpourings of ranting of the moment. It does not represent objective news, the whole of what I think of a topic or someone, or even a thought-out representation of any of the above. Keep that in mind. Thanks. * Here is a Diary Etiquette Read Me.
Cmments Comments on Iraq
This is a comment I got on my last entry (please read the entry first):
i doubt the iraqis have many issues like health insurance, medicare, etc.... so they only need to vote for who they think will be able to keep the peace.
Can I say how much this comment makes me want to scream and shake someone??
Can I repeat that?? Can I say how much this comment makes me want to scream and shake someone?
Let's see.
The Iraqis have lived under a murderous dictator for decades. They have been assaulted for over a year by hightechnology highpower bombs. Their cities are in ruins. Their hospitals and firestations, electrical plants and waterlines have been bombed. Factories have been closed by Americans and their allies who are giving rebuilding contracts to Turks, Saudis, Australians and British so they have a boggling unemployment rate.
They have civilians with limbs blown off, shellshocked children, they have no access to clean water in many cases. There is raw sewage lying everywhere (I will try to reference later Dangerspouse's entry about the US soldiers stories of dealing with their shit (yes literal shit) later) with the health problems that entails.
The unemployment is so high, and people are so fed up with the Americans spending money on the living quarters of their own soldiers and their own installations... internet access, exercise equipment, vehicles, water and power, safety... ie anti-bomb concrete shields protecting American zones right in the face of civilian populations... that people are turning to whomever will get the power and water back on, and that tends to be local thugs and religious fanatics who offer to employ the young men to do just that... rebuild these incredibly necessary things.
Apparently less than 13 percent of the "reconstruction money"... all those billions and billions, goes to actually rebuilding anything for Iraq. All the rest is overhead... paying for the soldiers, the contractors, the american installations, flying all the shit they use overseas etc. I suspect that breeds a WEEEEE bit of resentment.
Apparently one reason why these "insurgents" keep coming and there are suicide bombs against contractors and other foreigners is because of the high unemployment due to Americans outsourcing. All those young men who are angry and feel helpless to help their families, seeing foreigners in suits getting posh jobs, eating well, being protected from danger, seeing other foreigners flown in to do their bluecollar jobs..... a large population of angry unemployed young men is always a good base for forment.
Imagine having your child have a limb blown off, and there is no power most of the day. No ambulance. No running water. No CLEAN water. No hospital cuz the "liberators" blew it up to get at "insurgents". You might be able to buy some bandages on a black market (after all there have been sanctions for years so it is hard to get much of anything) if you had money , but the cement factory your husband works at has been shut for months since it is "state-run" and Bremer and the NeoCons think that is communist and have shipped in cement from Turkey.
And there is supposed to be a "free election" in two months. Less than two months.
How the hell are you 1) supposed to know "who will keep the peace"?? and 2) how an election works??
And HOW would you feel about someone who says "i doubt the iraqis have many issues like health insurance, medicare, etc.."... I suspect you may wish them to have THEIR hospitals blown up "to get bad guys".
I suspect the Iraqis have issues like healthcare, plumbing, electricity, the system of giving out of contracts to rebuild, unemployment, religion, education etc etc etc. The Americans say they voted on "security and moral issues". It is sheer cultural arrogance that would suggest that Iraqis do not have those exact same issues.
According to the American president, the war was over and the job was done a year ago. I suspect that the Iraqis feel that "the peace" is not very peaceful, and that the Americans and whomever they are picking to run things don't have a clue in hell.
But who would know if you have only two months to get ready for elections, and have no clue who the candidates are. I dunno. It seems like this is a good time for another comment from yesterday:
I thought the Americanspick and prop up whoever they want, where ever they go?
I suspect that is what Iraqis and most of the world thinks too. And giving them no time to hear different candidates positions, to actually make an informed decision, to have to go to the voting booth with a choice of two candidates picked by the American "liberators" would scarcely dissuade anyone from that opinion.
Americans stated very often during the endless run up to THEIR election that they felt like they didn't have much choice and there wasn't enough discussion of many domestic issues. Now imagine Iraq.
May I predict more suicide bombings and attempt to assassinate whomever is "elected"????
No issues like healthcare.
Know what?? The one who was actually interested in healthcare, employment and infrastructure is the one who would get the popular vote whether the electors where Christian or Muslim, Sunni or Shiite. Because "peace" while you and your loved ones starve and die of parasites in their water makes you want to kill someone.
cheers,
wenchie.
have a good two days,
back then.
Another comment:
Yes, it certainly does make me stop and think! I hope the elections, if they happen, will be more than just a sham. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if in the long term they end up with a worse dictator than before. It's happened before in other places after so-called independence. I also read somewhere that US administrations actually prefer negotiating with dictators, as it's only one person and his friends to please instead of a whole country! ---Exactly. Because if you have free elections and they don't give a f--- about healthcare and employment, you are likely to have riots, kidnappings, assassinations and suicide bombers. Look at Palestine. How many years do they have "no peace"??? A leader can negotiate "peace" but if the people are unhappy and feel powerless, like their lives are worth nothing, they will blow themselves up to get back at you. A dictator doesn't give a f-- about healthcare, but just shoots or jails anyone who causes any sort of problem, justified or not. And the Americans love that. And let's add anyone else interested in their own interests rather than those of the ones living in the country... the Brits, the French, pick any country that has power and political and financial ambitions outside their borders. cheers.
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previous meanderings - future past
Goodbye Michael. May your next life be kinder to you. - Thursday, Jun. 25, 2009
Taking Care of Your Cows - Thursday, Jun. 25, 2009
Saint Joseph robs the cradle and eats spaghetti - Sunday, Jun. 14, 2009
sticky notes and broken irises - Friday, Jun. 12, 2009
The FOODCOMMANDER - Monday, Jun. 08, 2009
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