Iraqis short of food, water as fighting rages

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2008/March/focusoniraq_March185.xml§ion=focusoniraq&col=

29 March 2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis in areas thrown into turmoil by five straight days of battles between security forces and Shiite militiamen said on Saturday they are scared to leave their homes and are running short of food and water.

The situation in the worst-hit areas, Sadr City in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra, is deteriorating, residents told AFP.

Violent clashes erupted in most Shiite areas of Iraq after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered troops to attack gunmen in neighbourhoods controlled by the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Basra.

Basic services have come to a near halt in both Sadr City, with a population of two million, and the port city of Basra, home to some 1.5 million people. Medical supplies are also running thin.

“There is no water or electricity. Food supplies in Sadr City have dried up,” said Riyad Rubaie, a resident of Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad.

“Hospitals are overflowing with the wounded,” he added. “The American army is preventing ambulances from entering the area. Shops are closed. There is no food inside the city.”

[knitter4democracy]

1. I was thinking about this on Friday.

I was driving back from the next city over after taking my daughter to the hospital when I saw our Air National Guard planes practicing above the freeway. I got to wondering what it's like for Iraqis on a daily basis. If you drive on a freeway there, you take your life into your hands with checkpoints, bombings, IEDs, and firefights going on around you. If you need food, it's a major trip that you might not come home from.

I may have a pantry, but I don't have gallons and gallons of water for my family downstairs. I have some ways to cook in the fireplace, but I don't know how long my firewood would last. I don't know how I'd keep my kids safe in that kind of environment.

[NNN0LHI]

4. And on good days the Iraqis might get a few hours of electricity

How do they keep food fresh without a refrigerator?

Don

[knitter4democracy]

2. Weird error message--delete.

Sorry for the dupe.

[opihimoimoi]

3. "Success is around the Corner" Bush....a long time ago...the lyin bastid..