Myths

[flamin lib]

Mr. Bush is fond of telling us that the Iraqi people are better off now that Saddam Hussein is gone. By what measure? How does one define better off? What if I just list the conditions that those people are living, and dying, under and let you decide if they are better off.

Depending on who you ask somewhere between 40,000 and 600,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the invasion in March 2003 but lets just stick with what the World Health Organization and the Iraqi Health Ministry report. Between 2003 and 2005 150,000 civilians died, almost half due to Coalition action and most of them from “smart weapons”. That was before civil war broke out and religious violence began claiming 1000 people a month.

Speaking of religious violence, before Saddam fell there were almost no “honor killings” of women in Iraq. Currently in neighboring countries about 20 women are stoned to death annually but the number in Iraq has reached 100. Last month a 16 year old girl was stoned because she fell in love with a boy of the wrong sect. If you want to see what freedom of religion is like in Iraq the video is here: http://ballyblog.wordpress.com/2007/05/04/warning-uncensored-video-iraqis-stone-girl-to-death-over-loving-wrong-boy/

What about electricity? Before the 1991 war Iraq consumed about 9000 Megawatts a day. After the first war it dropped to 5000 MW and now it’s down to 3,500. That means that in the very best neighborhoods they have 12 hours of electricity a day in 3-4 hour periods. Most of the cities have less than six hours and the rural areas have none at all. Electricity is a luxury though, right? Not when you consider that electricity powers the water and sanitation systems.

According to the WHO 70% of the population lacks regular access to drinkable water and 80% use toilets that contaminate the water system. UNICEF reports that more than two thirds of child deaths under 15 years of age are from dysentery and diarrhea and 21% of Iraqi children are profoundly malnourished.

Speaking of health, between 1991 (the first Gulf War) and 2005 (the last year we have numbers for) the rate of birth defects increased 400%. UNICEF reports that cancer rates (all types) for children under 15 increased 1000% and leukemia went from 4 per 100,000 to 23 per 100,000. The WHO and other international NGOs blame the increase on Depleted Uranium which has a half life of 4.5 billion years. That’s not going away for a long time.

Iraq has no functioning government, no police, no medical system, more deaths every day than the morgue system can handle and Mr. Bush says they are better off now than under Saddam Hussein.

What do you think?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7967-2004Oct28.html Iraqi civilian deaths

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1510710,00.html health issues

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1128/p01s02-woiq.html religious violence

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5043032 honor killings

[PDJane]

1. I think it's a war crime,

And that this administration, along with toadies, Blackwater torturers, and Halliburton should be sitting in front of a war crimes tribunal.

[Edweird]

2. We broke ALL their shit and poisoned their land with depleted uranium.

Anybody with two braincells to rub together can see they are much worse off.

[stellanoir]

3. We have decimated a sovereign nation

killed countless 100,000's of thousands of innocents, contaminated an entire region with DU, caused the finest of intellects of the country to be killed or emigrate.

All under the auspices of lies.

Sleep tight america. . .oh but Paris had an epiphany.

woo woo

/sarcasm