I don't expect this to get very far, some might read it. I'm planning to return to Jordan, this summer probably. A lot of my money has been going to Iraqi refugees, sent through some families I can trust. The situation is dire, and I don't know any NGO now working in the situation, it's so dangerous. A few genuine sources of information are available, almost all of them are Iraqi. For those who do not read Arabic, may I recommend Azzaman in English
W.H. Auden writes with a certain grim humor in
Let History be My Judge
We made all possible preparations,
Drew up a list of firms,
Constantly revised our calculations
And allotted the farms,
Issued all the orders expedient
In this kind of case:
Most, as was expected, were obedient,
Though there were murmurs, of course;
Chiefly against our exercising
Our old right to abuse:
Even some sort of attempt at rising,
But these were mere boys.
For never serious misgiving
Occurred to anyone,
Since there could be no question of living
If we did not win.
The generally accepted view teaches
That there was no excuse,
Though in the light of recent researches
Many would find the cause
In a not uncommon form of terror;
Others, still more astute,
Point to possibilities of error
At the very start.
As for ourselves there is left remaining
Our honour at least,
And a reasonable chance of retaining
Our faculties to the last.
Here are a few bits from Azzaman, to disprove this sort of nonsense thinking:
43% of Iraqis live in absolute poverty – government report
By Kamal al-Basri
Azzaman, May 2, 2007
Poverty is rampant throughout Iraq with more than half the population lacking basic means to survive, a government survey shows.
The survey by the Central Statistical Bureau says that 43 percent of Iraqis suffer from ‘absolute poverty’ and another 11 percent of them live in ‘abject poverty’.
Both terms are measures aid organizations use to quantify poverty in the world and they refer to people below poverty level.
People in absolute poverty lack the necessary food, clothing or shelter to survive and 43 percent of Iraqis now fall into that category, the survey says.
People in abject poverty lack a minimum income or consumption level necessary to meet basic needs and 11 percent of Iraqis are in that category, according to the survey.
The study is the result of a nation-wide survey of families across the country and takes into consideration the millions of Iraqis who have been displaced or forced to flee abroad.
The survey is the largest and most comprehensive the bureau has conducted in the past four years. Hundreds of researchers and civil servants working in its offices in Iraq were involved.
Yet, despite these grim numbers, more news emerges of a different sort
Iraqi oil reserves may surpass those of Saudi Arabia, oil minister says
By Hazem Duaij
Azzaman, May 1, 2007
Explorations and surveys done in the past four years show that Iraqi oil reserves may exceed those of Saudi Arabia, said Oil Minister Husain al-Shahristani.
Speaking at Babylon University in the southern city of Hilla, the minister said Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves already explored and perhaps more than that number of reserves yet to be explored.
Saudi Arabia possesses 25 percent of the world’s proven petroleum reserves and its proven reserves are estimated at 262 billion.
Shahristani did not say whether the surveys conducted so far have substantially increased the country’s current proven reserves which still fall below those of Iran which has emerged as the world’s second largest after Saudi Arabia.
But he said 78 oil fields were discovered most of them of the "gigantic or large" size.
He said the National Oil Company has already reserved 25 massive fields for development.
He said the European Union was interested in Iraqi gas reserves believed to be the world’s tenth largest.
The EU was even keen to construct a gas pipeline network through Syria, Jordan and even Egypt to the terminals on the Mediterranean, he added.
I do not know how else to respond to this sort of news, for it is Iraqi. The sheer magnitude of Bush's fuckup is really beyond reckoning. At the most cynical level, all of the Neocon's predictions should have come true. That they have not, that Iraqis are literally starving to death over that much oil beggars imagination.