Folks,
Riverbend has been on a tear lately
Her latest, a marking of the 15 year anniversary of the 1991 gulf war on January 17th, after Iraq occupied Kuwait, or as riverbend puts it according to American terminology, after Iraq ‘liberated’ Kuwait in 1990.)
Her post is about the resconstruction that Iraqi's undertook after the war and how successful it was.
More after the flip...
She writes,
For 42 days, Baghdad and other cities and towns were bombarded with nearly 140,000 tons of explosives, by international estimates. The bombing was relentless- schools, housing complexes, factories, bridges, electric power stations, ministries, sewage facilities, oil refineries, operators, and even bomb shelters (including the only baby formula factory in Iraq and the infamous Amirya Shelter bombing where almost 400 civilians were killed).
According to reports and statistics made by the “Iraqi Reconstruction Bureau” and the ministries involved in reconstruction, prior to the 2003 war/occupation, the following damage was done through 42 days of continuous bombing, and various acts of vandalism:
- Schools and scholastic facilities – 3960
- Universities, labs, dormitories – 40
- Health facilities (including hospitals, clinics, medical warehouses) – 421
- Telephone operators, communication towers, etc. – 475
- Bridges, buildings, housing complexes – 260
- Warehouses, shopping centers, grain silos – 251
- Churches and mosques – 159
- Dams, water pumping stations, agricultural facilities – 200
- Petroleum facilities (including refineries) – 145
- General services (shelters, sewage treatment plants, municipalities) - 830
- Factories, mines, industrial facilities - 120
…And much, much more- including radio broadcasting towers, museums, orphanages, retirement homes, etc. While the larger damage- damage to dams, bridges, warehouses, ministries, food silos, etc.- was done by warplanes and missiles, the damage to smaller facilities was caused largely by vandalism in the south of the country and in areas like Kirkuk. In the south it was mainly the work of the “intifadah” which was initiated by the ‘tawabin’ or “The Repentant” who infiltrated the south from Iran and found supporters inside of the country. (Many of the ‘Tawabin’ are known today as Badir’s Brigade.)
We basically destroyed the place, as we all are well aware of, however, opposite the party line currently being spread about how bad the facilities and infrastructure were in after all those years of sanctions, she says
Immediately after the war, various ministries were brought together to do the reconstruction work. The focus was on the infrastructure- to bring back the refineries, electricity, water, bridges, and telecommunications.
The task was a daunting one because so many of Iraq’s major infrastructure projects and buildings had been designed and built by foreign contractors from all over the world including French, German, Chinese and Japanese companies. The foreign expertise was unavailable after 1991 due to the war and embargo and Iraqi engineers and technicians found themselves facing the devastation of the Gulf War all alone with limited supplies.
Two years and approximately 8 billion Iraqi dinars later, nearly 90% of the damage had been repaired. It took an estimated 6,000 engineers (all Iraqi), 42,000 technicians, and 12,000 administrators, but bridges were soon up again, telephones were more or less functioning in most areas, refineries were working, water was running and electricity wasn’t back 100%, but it was certainly better than it is today. Within the first two years over 100 small and large bridges had been reconstructed, 16 refineries, over 50 factories and industrial compounds, etc.
(emphasis mine)
90% had been repaired!, and with stifiling sanctions to boot. That is pretty amazing to me, and quite frankly, this comes as a big surprise to me because I really did believe that the infrastructure in Iraq was totally decimated before George Bush decided to destroy even more of it, but it really sounds like almost all of the destruction of Iraq came in 2003.
Perhaps this is exaggeration on her part, but frankly I'd believe an Iraqi any-day over George Bush.
Of course, we're not leaving anytime soon are we? We need to be ready to invade Iran and control of oil means we won't be leaving anytime soon, its pretty distressing that the Iraqi people have now been suffering at the hands of the world for 15 years now, well really since the CIA had a hand in bringing Saddam to power.
More...
It wasn’t perfect- it wasn’t Halliburton… It wasn’t KBR…but it was Iraqi. There was that sense of satisfaction and pride looking upon a building or bridge that was damaged during the war and seeing it up and running and looking better than it did before.
Now, nearly three years after this war, the buildings are still piles of debris. Electricity is terrible. Water is cut off for days at a time. Telephone lines come and go. Oil production isn’t even at pre-war levels… and Iraqis hear about the billions upon billions that come and go. A billion here for security… Five hundred million there for the infrastructure… Millions for voting… Iraq falling into deeper debt… Engineers without jobs simply because they are not a part of this political party or that religious group… And the country still in shambles.
Really now, is there really any way the Republicans can continue to support keeping the troops there, I think that its quite clear that the Iraqi's can do this themselves from here on out and are likely to do a much better job of it especially since they don't have killing sanctions to deal with.
She provides photos of some of the facilities before and after and it is impressive.
Please go read the entire thing linked above, but I'll close this with her parting shot:
Note: I was tempted to stamp all the ‘after’ pictures with “AMERICANS DID NOT RECONSTRUCT THIS” as I know that in a month some clueless Republican will send them back to me with the words, “Look at how we reconstructed your country!”.
Amen Riverbend, I hope some day I can travel to Iraq and you make it through this mess George Bush created for you, and I can meet you and thank you for making me feel connected to the people of Iraq, you and I have the same dreams and hopes, however I am forever sorry for the despair my country has inflicted on the Iraqi people beginning with the facilitation of the rise to power of Saddam Hussein by the CIA
As I write this I note that More killing is being reported
I am truly sorry, may we leave you in peace soon!