An email sent to me asking the following question
Q/" I am not naive as to corruption in high places, but my desire really is to know the truth. I have read many other blogs that are vehemently anti US and others that are equally pro US. Your blog caught my attention because you seem to be objective. Let me ask you... In your opinion would it have been better for life to continue the way it was before the war? Also do you think that the US should stay in Iraq until things are more stable? Third is there anything that we the people of the US or our Govt. could do to make the situation better there?
A/ I am loyal to my country in the sense of being loyal to the Iraqi people ,you asked me a very tough question,
in the begining we were so happy because we thought the US had come to liberate us,( most of the Iraqi people) and some were not very happy because they benifited under Saddam and they found themselves homeless and jobless .
We cannot deny the good things the US has done for the Iraqi people , but I think that the US should have done more to protect Iraqi people and serve them for example after 4 years of the war electricity keeps getting worse , many people do not have drinking water in their homes especially during the summer , many iraqis are left jobless and cannot provide for thier families which causes them to commit all types of crime Im not saying that all those that have no jobs in Iraq are criminals but an enviroment as such usually leads to this type of problem .
We have to tackle problems like corruption I know that corruption is so huge in Iraq it seems like imposible to solve but I think if the Americans help they can do it , begining with the big heads in the government , huge amounts of money have been spent on what ? All I see is workers sweeping streets that do not need to be swept!! why not work on projects that benifit the Iraqi people, electricity ,water infrastructure projects ...you mignt say SECURITY well many Iraqi governorates in the south are relatively safe but nothing has been done there..
What we need is a government that is willing to work for Iraq not for itself ...what we see now is a bunch of thugs that do not care about anything except making as much money as they can as fast as they can and sending it abroad so they have millions when they return to the countries that they came from, all these people left iraq and did not suffer under Saddam and if they did it was for a short time unlike the Iraqis that suffered during that time and still suffer . I know many officials that roamed the streets in Europe and in other countries and lived on pensions given from governments of those countries who are now milliorares !! Where did they get the money ? most likely from the poor Iraqi people.
What I think is that the Americans did good when they came to Iraq its just that what they did when they got here is not so good !
Should US troops stay in Iraq untill things are more stabe , well in both ways they are bad the question is which is the best of worst ? well I say as long as the US troops are here things will not be stable because you will always find someone complaing even if it is not the troops fault . These troops need to do more than just protect themselves in this country , but leaving Iraq the way it is will be a catastrophe the country will go through the worst civil war in the history of mankind . I guess the troops being on Iraqi soil gives us a feeling of security now because of what might happen if they do leave , they are just like the punishment you threat a child with if he behaves bad .
If you think conditions here are bad now wait till you see what happens when the troops do leave .
7 comments:
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Your assessment of the situation is brilliant. We think very much alike you and I; though I don't live in Iraq sometimes it feels like my heart is there.
I have no Iraqi heritage etc, but I do appreciate the horrors of your sufferings and the benign outlook of the future. Eventually, together with all of the wonderful Iraqi's i've met or spoken to, we WILL change this for the better.
We just need to find a candidate for leadership, one who we could support and promote knowing they will ACTUALLY do something about the municipalities, water, electricity, sewerage and trash collection.
Many of the worst area's don't have even that. Mosul is a MESS; the police are under a constant barrage of car and truck bombs and it HURTS the civilians around which they live. Friends of mine have had their house severely damaged recently, and have had bullets through the walls regularly for many many months.
Build underground electrical grids FROM scratch. Who cares how much construction work it would need; direct ALL the unemployed iraqi's to begin working on these services and hand them out food tokens (or rations) and pay them a liveable wage.
It would take a long time but it would get done, one neighbourhood at a time the power would come on 24 hours a day (once new power stations were built or old ones upgraded). Underground powerlines can't easily be bombed or destroyed.
Keep writing, and take a look at the Olivebranch Network, a group of Iraqi bloggers writing about Iraq and their lives; edited by me & Iraqi blogger Chikitita. ( http://olivebranchoptimism.net )
deeri balich ala roohich
great post! you summerized the situation in a very rational and realistic way regarding the situation in Iraq
Great post! I am waiting for the next one :) All the best, Sigga
Lovely description of what's going on.
'What we need is a government that is willing to work for Iraq not for itself ...what we see now is a bunch of thugs that do not care about anything except making as much money as they can as fast as they can and sending it abroad so they have millions when they return to the countries that they came from, all these people left iraq and did not suffer under Saddam and if they did it was for a short time unlike the Iraqis that suffered during that time and still suffer . I know many officials that roamed the streets in Europe and in other countries and lived on pensions given from governments of those countries who are now milliorares !! Where did they get the money ? most likely from the poor Iraqi people'
Politics/politicians are dirty. I dont believe that Iraq will ever find a ' good ' leader in that sense. The word ' good ' doesnt seem to relate to politicians. They are all in the game to gain some profits. On another note, do you actually think that the government has a ' real say ' or it can actually make a decision? I personally dont.
The solution for me will come when the US finishes its business with Iran/Syria.. other international players. Till then, Allah yostor
Re: the Iraq war in general
(also see this post)
Ever since the months prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there have been a few reports in the newspapers that the Central Intelligence Agency was casting aspersions on the intelligence the White House was relying on to justify the war. The CIA has never given a position on whether the war is needed or justified or said that Bush is wrong to go to war. But doesn't it seem much more likely that the CIA is an extremely right wing organization than a left wing one? After all, even if the people working for them and at least a lot of the leadership really wanted a war for their own reasons, there are a lot of reasons for them to not want to tie their credibility to what they know is faulty information. They and their personnel, present and former, could use other means of promoting the Iraq war, and still be motivated to make the statements in the media. If the CIA got behind faulty information, they would have to make a choice between whether they would be involved in scamming the American people and the world once the military had invaded Iraq and no weapons were found- so: 1) Imagine the incredible difficulties involved in pulling off a hoax that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Imagine all the people you would have to be able to show the weapons to- the inspectors from the UN / the international community, the American press, statesmen, etc. Then imagine the difficulties of substantiating that story to people who would examine it- the lack of witnesses to a production plant that made the weapons or to transportation operations or storage of the weapons during Hussein's regime of them. 2) If the story fell apart upon inspection or the CIA tried not to hoax it at all, imagine the loss of credibility they would suffer. The CIA, it is safe to bet, does not want to be known to the American people as a group that lies to them to send them to war. Even within the CIA there could be disagreement among people about how involved they should be in promoting the war or the neo-con agenda more broadly, so the CIA would have to worry about lying to and managing its own people after trying so hard to get them to trust their superiors in the agency, and perhaps there simply might be too many people in the agency who knew enough about what was going on in Iraq to know if someone was deceiving people to promote this war.
So there is a lot of reason to be cautious against being seen as endorsing what they knew was false intelligence even if they were very strong supporters of going to war.
Granted, it’s certainly possible the CIA could have changed their minds about the war, as a lot of people have, and could now be trying to move the nation closer to withdrawal.
I enjoyed your post, particularly this line, Iraqiya: "I guess the troops being on Iraqi soil gives us a feeling of security now because of what might happen if they do leave , they are just like the punishment you threat a child with if he behaves bad ."
There are mixed opinions on when US troops should leave. Some Iraqis say things will get worse, others say they will get better.
One thing is certain though, that while US troops are in Iraq there will never be peace, because too many Iraqis are able and willing to attack them.
Sooner or later they will have to leave, and you need to think about what you will do then.
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