Iraq - Other perspectives and fear

[WhiskeyGirl]

Life in Baghdad's slums
Fighting to Survive in Sadr City Fighting to Survive in Sadr City

Iraq's poorest people live on trash heaps, sleep amongst the rats and drink polluted water. In the country with the world's third largest oil reserves, a million people live in misery, despite the fact that the US has spent $53 billion on the country's reconstruction efforts.

The rats come at night, when the Saad's are sleeping. They force their way through the spaces between the thrown-away household appliances that Saad Kazi Saad has piled up to form a wall around his part of the rubbish dump. They scamper around the shredded double mattress where the five-member family is crowded, and make their way to the outhouse that the family uses to relieve itself, which is just a few steps away from their outdoor bed.

Sadr City is Baghdad's poorhouse. Around three million people are crowded into the impoverished Shiite Islamist-controlled suburb in the eastern part of the Iraqi capital. The streets all have the same checkerboard pattern; and, in the 1960s, farmers from the Iraqi provinces were meant to find new and modern living spaces here.  Instead street, as many as five families live together in the small apartments at times today, and the sewage runs in the. But for some it is even worse: The Saad would consider themselves lucky if they actually lived in Sadr City.

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[WhiskeyGirl]

'Every Corner in the Region Is Frightened'

Allawi is pessimistic about the region. He says that on the night before his interview with SPIEGEL, he conferred with Arab leaders until 1 am With a growing number of conflicts in the region, he says, the situation has grown more serious than most there have ever experienced.  "Early today," he explains, "one of the most experienced of us came in and asked: Has the next catrastrophe in the Middle East broken out yet?"

 

SPIEGEL: That is a very gloomy analysis -- and it does not provide much hope for peace in this region.

Allawi: I am not gloomy, I am only realistic. America is the last remaining superpower. We need to have good relations with Washington. But we also have to see the mistakes in the US strategy. We have excellent, professional soldiers in Iraq today but, and I am only quoting the chief of staff here, we do not have an army ready to shoulder its responsibilities. Similar comments come from the interior minister. And our police force is Infiltrated by militias.

SPIEGEL: Saddam Hussein's former foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, who is now in prison, accuses America of leaving Iraq "to the wolves."  Who does he mean by that?

Allawi: He means the predators that have been unleashed all over the Middle East, the lawless people and the terrorists who want to spill as much blood as possible on as many places as possible. The conflicts between Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Maghreb are similar and inter-connected in this respect.

SPIEGEL: The leaders of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians will soon start a new round of peace talks in Washington. Do you believe these talks have any chance?

Allawi: I am very skeptical. The environment is not right.

SPIEGEL: For the past two years, it seemed as though Iraq had tamed its predators. SThe al-Qaida terrorists appeared to have been decisively beaten.

Allawi: Yes, but the early warning signs that have accumulated over the past months, the increase in violence, the new wave of assassinations and suicide attacks, should not be read as something superficial and accidental. On one day alone we counted 13 attacks with dozens of people killed. This is a systematic development. The biggest mistake committed by the Iraqi government and the multinational forces was to let down the Sahwa forces -- the tribal movement which was so decisive in the fight against al-Qaida. They have not been integrated, they have been disenfranchised and pushed back into despair and poverty. This will have consequences. Violent groups are already mushrooming in the shadows of al-Qaida.

Why would they let down the Sahwa forces?

Allawi: Everybody is frightened. Every corner of the region is frightened. Even America is frightened, even Iran is frightened. We are heading towards a situation which almost compares to the Cuban crisis in 1962.  There is an umbrella of fear spreading above us. Everybody should do his utmost to prevent tensions.  I am calling for an international conference on the issue of proliferation.

SPIEGEL: Can Iraq live with a nuclear Iran?

Allawi: I don't think so.

SPIEGEL: Do you think that war will break out over Iran's nuclear program?

Allawi: It is a very high possibility.

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At a time when more nations are getting nuclear weapons, why is Obama putting the US at risk?  Destroying our ability to defend the nation and it's people?

Are the people of Iraq being thrown under the bus along with Israel?

I listened to the liberal news media about the WMD and biological/chemical agents that were not found in Iraq when it was invaded.

I think the Kurds and others that were destroyed and left in mass graves by Saddam are evidence of the biological/chemical weapons.  Not sure where the WMD are, but aren't biologicals capable of mass destruction?  Mass murder?

[WhiskeyGirl]

The Financial Times Germany writes:

"President Barack Obama wants to make clear that he is sticking to one of his most important election promises and is bringing the troops back home. There is nothing much more to it. The war is far from over, never mind won."

"Around 50.000 American soldiers are staying in Iraq and contrary to what the government seems to be suggesting, they are fullfledged soldiers who will attack if need be."

"The Iraqi soldiers and police are not able to provide security everywhere in the country … and the number of terrorist attacks has increased recently, while five months of attempts to form a government have failed so far."

"In such a volatile situation, the U.S. simply can not stubbornly stick to its withdrawal plans. ... Instead of fixating on a date, the U.S. should set concrete goals. The Iraqi security forces need better training so that they will be able to cope one day without American help. "

"Above all the Americans have to Ensure that the Sunni minority is protected and well integrated within the political system Otherwise there is a danger that radical Shiites - possibly with support from Iran - could take sole control."

I wonder why democracy doesn't protect minorities in Iraq?

"It is now up to the Iraqis to make this experiment in Arab democracy work. The political elite are not creating a good image at the moment due to their inability to reach a compromise. And one of the region's favorite sports is blaming the Americans for every ill in the Arab world. The Iraqis will not have this excuse if they waste this opportunity for freedom that the Americans have given them - one that many Iraqis have paid for with their lives. Freedom means Deciding one's own fate. And Iraq's politicians must finally accept this responsibility. "

In the US, it seems like some politicians, those farthest away from Main Street have taken away the freedom of locals to determine their own fate.  Who protects the minorities?  Don't they have any rights?  Or just the rights the laws made by biased and greedy humans?

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