It's been a rough 24 hours for the Bush administration's
Adventure in Nation Building. The
carnage in Iraq continues unabated, but I'm not going to give you a body count today - you should know by now where to get that information.
Sometimes, we lose sight of the fact that it's not just the deaths and body parts and shattered families and lives; it's about the wholesale destruction of the humanity of a people and their way of life.
(more after the flip)
The invasion and occupation of Iraq has literally destroyed the country. When the U.S. finally crossed into Baghdad in early April, 2003, one of the stated goals was to restore the infrastructure of the country. Allegedly, prior to the war, electricity was spotty, and other public services were less than reliable due to the years of neglect and sanctions against Saddam.
The funny thing is, I remember one situation I observed during the invasion as clearly tonight as the day it happened:
On the evening before U.S. cruise missiles began raining down on Baghdad, the city was awash in the sodium vapor glow that lights any major metropolis anywhere in the world. The next evening (and for several days after), as "shock and awe" unfolded, a single fixed camera on the roof of the al Rasheed hotel recorded events at a nearby street intersection, even as the explosions were occurring and the reporters on-scene were gasping "Ooooh" and "Ahhhhh" like a pack of three year old kids transfixed by the pretty colors of their first fireworks display.
What struck me was that the traffic signal at the intersection was still working, and I became fascinated by this one particular shot over the next few days. Even among the death and destruction falling from the skies, vehicles would approach the intersection, and if the light was red, they would stop. When the signal changed, vehicles would proceed. To me, that stupid stoplight was a Dali-esque portrait of a surreal environment, framed by camera quaking from the occasional blast of a 1000 pound bunker buster exploding nearby.
But the point is, even in the middle of American hellfire, the electricity to that goddamn traffic signal continued to flow, and the red light - green light operated unperturbed. And Iraqis who braved the streets in their vehicles continued to obey the signal.
When the American military and their embedded media stenographers crossed the Tigris into Baghdad, we were told that even in the best of times, electricity was a scarce commodity in Baghdad. Most Iraqis only enjoyed a few hours per day of power, something we Americans take for granted. That's what we were told. What we weren't told in the subsequent days is that Operation Shock and Awe literally destroyed the public infrastructure in Baghdad - water treatment, sewerage, power plants, substations, fuel supply lines, telecommunications - those were all primary targets during the initial bombardment.
Over two years and billions of dollars in infrastructure reconstruction contracts later, how much electricity is the average Baghdad resident seeing? A few hours per day. If there's any good news in this regard, it's that individual Iraqi families have become more independent - at this point, anyone of means has their own private generator. So, Iraq has what is truly a decentralized power grid.
There are very few "land lines" left for telecommunications. All hubs for telecommunications were destroyed. So, a cottage industry has sprung up - cell phones. The other day, I was listening to a Bush apologist talking on NPR about what good news this was! What he wasn't saying is that there was literally no other way for people to communicate other than cell towers.
Water has always been an iffy proposition, at least since the Americans showed up. While some water projects have been completed, and I'm sure the Green Zone Bar and Grille has an internal water treatment plant, most people in Iraq do not have a reliable supply of clean drinking water. On June 19th, a large water main in Baghdad was targeted by the resistance, and knocked out the water supply for much of the city. Today, four days later, two million residents are still without water. They may have it back in a week or so. This type of thing happens with striking regularity, yet, we rarely hear about these events in the corporate media, because they're focused on the latest Pentagon press briefing on the most recent spate of car bombings.
Yeah, freedom and democracy are on the march. The resistance is in its final throes. Dick Cheney told me so.
One of these days, the actual truth is going to finally flood out of Iraq, and we will be nationally ashamed and humiliated that we allowed the government of the United States to perpetrate such atrocities.
Today, Tom DeLay had the audacity to literally compare what's happening in Iraq with a day in Houston. Does anyone actually understand - I mean truly understand - the depths of absurdity that people like DeLay will go to in an attempt to justify what has turned into a true disaster of global proportions? What would Houston be like, in the middle of summer, if the city's water supply was knocked out for a week?
A week or so back, I wrote that we (as in, you and I) are as responsible for this mess as George W. Bush, because we let him do it. Again and again I read (or hear) progressives like us saying, "I told you so", or equivalent words equally as annoying. Yeah, we did "tell you so". That in itself isn't ground breaking information.
Because of our collective responsibility, I do believe that we have a national obligation to do what we can to make Iraq whole again. But I also believe that we can't begin to accomplish that task without completely new leadership in the United States, and that might entail a nearly a top-to-bottom housecleaning in our government. We can all go to bed tonight secure in the knowledge that our elected representatives are doing important work - such as wasting a day arguing about a flag protection amendment and doomsday legislation while the pile of steaming shit that we own in Iraq literally burns.
As I sit here writing this, I wonder - how will we ever accomplish such a mission? How can we restore our national dignity and honor in the global community? How will we ever make sure that we restore the quality of life in Iraq at least to the point that if a young mother turns on the tap in her spartan kitchen, she can draw a clean glass of water for her child? If we started tonight, it would take a generation or more. And more than anything, that's the failure of George W. Bush.
I honestly don't think I'll see it to completion in my lifetime. The damage is done. And my kids are going to get stuck with cleaning it up because I let it happen.
(Cross posted at All Spin Zone)
