Like many war news junkies,
I love Riverbend as a source of inside scoop.
She's not an American plant. She's not a radical Islamist. She's a woman with a country falling apart around her, and she points, rather quietly, the blame squarely at Americans these days.
Oh, the Bushies get the sharp edge of the sword, but the country that, eyes open, sent these bastards and their bombs Iraq's way get the broad side on their collective bottoms, too.
Read up on your own.
Some of today's extracts:
..Remember Imad Khadduri? He's the Iraqi nuclear scientist who wrote the book "Iraq's Nuclear Mirage" which is a must-read. He's finally blogging. Check out his site, "Free Iraq"- 'Free Iraq' being more of a command and not a description of the current state of the country...
The Phantom Weapons...
The phone hasn't been working for almost a week now. We just got the line back today. For the last six days, I'd pick up the phone and hear... silence. Nothing. This vast nothingness would be followed by a few futile 'hellos' and a forceful punching of some random numbers with my index finger. It isn't always like this, of course. On some days, you can pick up the telephone and hear a bunch of other people screaming "allooo? Allooo?"...
...
The dial-tone came about an hour ago (I've been checking since morning) and I'm taking advantage of it.
Pause for Dial Tone: I was under the impression that quite a sum of money went toward rebuilding telecommunications infrastructure in Iraq. Sweet contracts, too. But the beauty of a Bush contract is that you're not getting paid for what you do; you're getting paid for who you know.
The electricity situation isn't very much better. We're getting two hours of electricity (almost continuous) and then eight hours of no electricity (continuous).
Pause for Sad Shaking of Head:A perusal of Riverbend's blog suggests that the infrastructure of Baghdad has actually worsened since the invasion. Again, some sweet contracts. Work was assigned, billions paid out to Fluor and other contractors...but little to show.
(My guess is that modern components fit poorly into a vintage 1960s grid, and caused problems that are easily swept under the carpet of 'insurgent terrahhhh..", which allows for the money to keep coming for incompetent work.)
We still can't get the generators going for very long because of the fuel shortage. Kerosene is really becoming a problem now. I guess we weren't taking it very seriously at first because, it really is probably the first time Iraq has seen a kerosene shortage and it is still difficult to believe.
Pause, for disbelief: Everybody say it together now: Oil-exporting country. Fuel shortage. That. Does. Not. Compute.
They say in 1991 when there was a gasoline shortage which lasted for the duration of the war and some time after, kerosene was always plentiful. This isn't the situation now.
Pause for Sea Change in Moral Values: That's because back in 1991, the United States was only making war on the Iraqi regime, not the Iraqi people. [mockery] Everything changed after 9/11. Or was it 11/00? I can never tell!
It feels like just about everyone who can is going to leave the country before the elections. They say the borders between Syria and Jordan might be closed a week before elections so people are rushing to get packed and get out.
Pause for GOP retort"No, no. That's to keep all the terrorists out! We're building democracy in the Middle East. We're the good guys, don'tcha know?
The United States has ended its physical search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, which was cited by the first administration of President George W Bush as the main reason for invading the country, the White House has said.
Why does this not surprise me? Does it surprise anyone? I always had the feeling that the only people who actually believed this war was about weapons of mass destruction were either paranoid Americans or deluded expatriate Iraqis- or a combination of both. I wonder now, after hundreds and hundreds of Americans actually died on Iraqi soil and over a hundred-thousand Iraqis are dead, how Americans view the current situation. I have another question- the article mentions a "Duelfer Report" stating the weapons never existed and all the intelligence was wrong. This report was supposedly published in October 2004. The question is this: was this report made public before the elections? Did Americans actually vote for Bush with this knowledge?
Pause for Remorse: 'Fraid so, Miss Riverbend. 'Fraid So.
The weapons never existed. It's like having a loved one sentenced to death for a crime they didn't commit- having your country burned and bombed beyond recognition, almost. Then, after two years of grieving for the lost people, and mourning the lost sovereignty, we're told we were innocent of harboring those weapons. We were never a threat to America...
Congratulations Bush- we are a threat now.
Pause for Redneck Surprise: Well, that sounds jes' like a threat to me, boys. Guess they a bunch of terrorists, too.
Pause for Clarity: If Riverbend is Iraq's version of Main Street public opinion, the last thing Republican interests can allow to happen is the rise of a truly free and prosperous -- and wholeheartedly vengeful -- Iraq.
Come to think of it, neither can Americans, either.
We got some fence-mending to do. That might require a change of government and some war crimes trials, when the time comes.
And you know what? I think the Bushies see it coming. Not this year, perhaps not in ten years (darn it). But Pinochet ruled Chile from far more unassailable strength, and in time he got his.