Chlorine Restrictions Due To Security Concerns Help Fuel Spread Of Cholera In Iraq
Chlorine Restrictions Due To Security Concerns Help Fuel Spread Of Cholera In Iraq
On Sept. 16, Dr. Mohammed, a dentist in Baghdad and author of the blog Last Of Iraqis, wrote about the possibility of cholera in the city as he described and photographed the changes in water coming from the tap in his home:
This week the World Health Organization confirmed Dr. Mohammed’s fears, with cases confirmed in Baghdad and Basra. The disease had been previously limited to the northern Kurdish provinces, with the number of infected at over 7,000.
Iraq’s deputy health minister, Dr. Adel Mohsin said that further spread of the epidemic was “very likely” in the capital without water testing and maintaining sufficient levels of chlorination, which kills the bacteria. Mohsin said teams testing in the capital had found chlorine levels were insufficient to prevent cholera in 20 areas.
Chlorine imports have been dramatically curtailed in the wake of insurgent bombs that used chlorine. Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO’s representative in Iraq, said some 100,000 tons of chlorine were being held up at Iraq’s border with Jordan because of fears the chemical could be used in explosives, leaving Baghdad with only a week’s supply.
Cholera “is a gastrointestinal disease that is typically spread by drinking contaminated water and can, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration.” Cholera is fairly simple to manage under ordinary circumstances, but the precarious security situation in the country prevents medical teams from reaching the ill, and the mass displacement of the population into unsanitary conditions makes control and treatment difficult.
– Candyce G.
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Not exactly the “Surge” is working that we had in mind.
Ignore the “it”
Buck Fush
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:30 pmIf we did not strategically blow up the water and sewer systems while we were supposedly looking for WMD and liberating the Iraqi people, they would have clean drinking water.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:33 pmCholera in the time of war, huh?
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:35 pmCholera is a real nasty. You take dose(s)of Azithromycin and hope for the best. For the next 48 hours, it is a battle against dehydration. After that, it is gut wretching pain until the infection finally retreats, if it does. Survival rate with proper and timely treatment is about 80%.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 pmwoo hoo, candyce!
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:52 pm!
Cholera in the time of war, huh?
Comment by sarabethG
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:53 pmThe Bush crime family purposely took out the water, sewer and electrical systems… I am going to guess to give the private corporate contractors jobs, to keep the money flowing…even though the Iraqi people wanted to rebuild their own country pennies on the dollar.
These systems were not properly fixed…without electricity, fresh water and a sewer system it is a known fact disease and death will occur.
This IS genocide.
Look at that glass! Them lucky Iraqis got lemonade flowing out their taps.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:53 pmMaybe the Bush crime family should have a taste of that lemonade.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:57 pmIs there anything the Bush thugs have not done to make the lives in Iraq absolutely miserable?
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:01 pmIs there anything the Bush thugs have not done to make the lives in Iraq absolutely miserable?
Comment by had enough — September 22, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
Do they force them to watch Glenda Beck, Dild O’Reilly and Mann Coulter re-runs?
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 pmLook at that glass! Them lucky Iraqis got lemonade flowing out their taps.
Comment by Badmoodman
You always have the best comments, Badmoodman.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 pmlol!
25%ER® said – “Iraq would have clean drinking water if Saddam hadn’t killed all the Mendela’s”
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:14 pmThe Iraqi citizens don’t deserve any of this.
As for the moron in the White House and his incoherenet rambling last week – I think he should be banished to Basra, Iraq.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:21 pmHow is what we did to Iraq and its citizens any different from what a despot inflicts upon the population?
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:23 pmBush&Co are war criminals, but somehow I just don’t think they will ever be meet justice for what they have wrought.
The Iraqi citizens don’t deserve any of this.
As for the moron in the White House and his incoherenet rambling last week – I think he should be banished to Basra, Iraq.
Comment by Marie
Iraq has been living in these desperate conditions for years… years.. and we have not restored their electricity, water and sewer systems. As so much time has passed, one gets the impression it will not get done on purpose… more death and more room for US. This in itself is torturous to that population… a very slow ugly torture – has the Bush crime family’s name all over it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:39 pmAll they need is Famine. They have War, they have Death and now they have Pestilence.
But you tell me
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:44 pmOver and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve
of destruction.
Time to get a passport….
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:46 pmThey’re testing a new Republican program: No Child Left.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 pmWhat this government has done to these innocent people is beyond repulsive — it is criminal and they need to be charged in the World Court for crimes against humanity.
It will decades for this country to recover from the damage done to it because of these wolves in peoples clothing.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 pmThe Bush administration: Winning hearts and minds by helping spread
cholerademocracy in the Middle East.Next stop: Iran!
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:36 pmWhat’s a little cholera when you have freedom?
Sure, you may not have electricity, running water, medicines, or even general medical services to cure you from said cholera either.
As a matter of fact, you may not even be living in a sovereign country, one where foreign soldiers and mercenaries are not allowed to roam the streets of your neighborhood, shooting and killing people at will.
But hey, Pres Bush already declared you live in “freedom”. That must count for something….
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:57 pmWho needs clean water when you have a tall glass of
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:07 pm“purple finger freedom” to cool down with?
Ah, they are now tasting the sweet sweet nectar of Freedom and Democracy. Specifically, Metropolitan tap water.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:20 pmI hate this place. get me out! I cant take living here anymore.
Comment by OMEGA_3 — September 22, 2007 @ 9:42 pm
No one is forcing ya to stay. ;)
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:01 amSurvival rate with proper and timely treatment is about 80%.
And what are the chances of these poor people getting the proper and timely treatment. My god, what have we done. How anyone can justify what we have done to this country is beyond me.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:53 amSounds like the Iraqi government needs to speed up the process of getting chlorine into the country and into the water system. Problem solved.
Yes, ole big foot in mouth, it is all the Iraqi government’s fault. None of the ills of Iraq are our fault. It’s not our fault the do not have clean water, it’s not our fault they don’t have electricity, it’s not our fault they don’t have enough food to eat and it’s not our fault they are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being blown up or shot. Nope, none of it is our fault, it’s all the Iraqi government’s fault.
You make a perfect Rightard. It’s always someone else’s fault.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 amCool, sea monkeys from the faucet. And I had to buy mine from the back of comic books
[joking]
Good article Candyce.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 amSounds like the Iraqi government needs to speed up the process of getting chlorine into the country and into the water system. Problem solved. -Old Bigfoot
The government created by Bush is at fault? No WAY!!
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:14 am“…and so many of the people in the area here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this–this is working very well for them.”
- Barbara Bush
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:28 amFace it: If Iraq hadn’t allowed itself to become embroiled in sectarian violence, there would be no need to hold up chlorine shipments today.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — September 23, 2007 @ 1:23 am
You need to return the Whos in Whoville’s toys — maybe your heart will grow.
On the bright side, maybe by the time your kids are grown there will be a draft!
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:35 amUgh…what a classic mess of a conundrum.
Thanks for the article – thought I don’t know what to do about it.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:38 amThe United State isn’t the greatest county on the planet and never has been. From stealing the country from the native inhabitants, to fighting to keep slavery, to “separate but equal” for black and now gays, to “electing” a president and allows him to invade and destroy another sovereign nation is hardly a country that can claim greatness, moral or otherwise.
Maybe those Americans who have blind faith in anything our government does should leave so that the rest of us can make it better.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:38 amFace it: If Iraq hadn’t allowed itself to become embroiled in sectarian violence, there would be no need to hold up chlorine shipments today.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — September 23, 2007
YOU “face it” you small-minded sasquatch and realize that it was BUSH and his ADVISORS’ misplaced desire for a war that CAUSED the sectarian violence in the first place. It’s absolutely amazing that, in the quarter century during which Saddam Hussein ruled, there wasn’t a single instance of sectarian violence–the religious folk were united in their hatred of Saddam and his Baathists. (It’s worth noting that Yugoslavia’s devolution, including the sectarian conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo, didn’t happen for a full decade following Tito’s death when the various republics began seceding from the central government in Belgrade.)
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:58 amOnce the US decided to play both sides against each other in Iraq, the sectarian violence was inflamed. We supported the Shias when it proved beneficial to us; we supported the Sunnis when it proved beneficial. The problem was that by supporting one side, we risked retaliation by the other. The Iraqis didn’t see us as neutrals–each side saw us helping their old enemy in trying to wipe them out. The Shias would see us demanding that al-Sadr disband his militia without calling on Sunni militias to disband. The Sunnis would see us offering favorable terms to Shia militias and politicians without giving them the same type of favors. And the boneheaded Americans in charge of the country had ZERO knowledge of the political, religious, and ethnic differences between the factions (e.g., the fact that one of the top Kurdish political groups had long been a Marxist-oriented faction and had landed on US lists of recognized terrorist organizations and sponsors; for some reason, the Americans like Bremer and crew either didn’t know that or simply ignored it–the latter point being more reprehensible as one of Dubya’s MANY ever-changing “reasons” for the invasion had included Saddam’s sponsorship of terrorists).
Shorter O Bigfoot — Blame Iraq because they were such an easy target.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:07 amFujimori Returns to Peru to Face Trial
By MONTE HAYES Associated Press Writer
12:15 AM CDT, September 22, 2007
LIMA, Peru – Former President Alberto Fujimori returned to Peru on Saturday to face charges of corruption and sanctioning death-squad killings, a grim homecoming for the strongman who fled the country seven years ago as his government collapsed in scandal.
TAKE NOTE, CHIMPY. YOUR TIME WILL COME.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:19 amAccording to Bush cholera and freedom and synonymous. Go team purple finger.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:35 amNo need for a draft. My son is heading for the New Mexico Military Institute to begin his application process as we speak.
Comment by O. Bigfoot
Wow. Your son can take the place of 30,000 troops? That’s one big foot.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:37 amYeah, who could have forseen a cholera epidemic.
You can’t import chlorine, nor ammoniates, cause they might blow people up.
Or keep disease at bay, or fertilize date palm gardens.
Heckuva job chympie!
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:10 amO Bigfoot
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:16 amAs it was US that took out the water supply, sewer systems and electricity years ago, and still have not successfully repaired this and refused to let the Iraqi people do the repairs as they requested doesn’t that make the Bush crime family appear as the sociopath giggling killers they are? 10 billion dollars a month go to this rat hole and the Iraqi people still live in this unbearable squaller… and for how many years?
Ah, new Republican talking points are out. Fun.
Let’s see, I blame New Yorkers for not standing up to those planes when they flew into the World Trade Center. Damn lazy bastards.
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:13 amThe Republicans have written themselves quite a page in history. It would be funnier if people weren’t getting killed.
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:33 amThe Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse are riding into Iraq–War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death and Dubya–oh, wait Dubya’s afraid of horses and just flies in on occasion when the horses can be kept away.
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:15 amRemember “With 12 You Get Egg Roll”?
With Democracy you get Cholera.
Remember “Would You Trade a Headache for an Upset Stomach”?
Would you trade rape rooms for Cholera?
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:45 am>Face it: If Iraq hadn’t allowed itself
> to become embroiled in sectarian violence,
> there would be no need to hold up
> chlorine shipments today.
Back from your catfishing trip bubba? Catch any big ones?
Yes, gosh, those silly iraqis. I mean, just because we destroyed their infrastructure and killed the only guy who was somehow able to keep them in line, doesnt mean its OUR fault. GO USA! USA! USA!
USA can do anything, USA is all powerful and all beneveolent. Whenever the USA does something and it goes terribly awry, its someone elses fault.
Your the guy on the jury that lets the rapist walk because of what the victim was wearing..she was “asking for it”…
People like you are a time a dozen, a bunch of jingoistic flaghumping trash, lets face it, the holocaust happened because of a pack of “my country is always right” idiots like yourself.
Oh, and bigfoot, I dont notice you saying anything about the allegations of Blackwater selling weapons to terrorists groups in Iraq. I take it you agree with Bush’s contention that anyone accused of aiding terrorists during a time of war doesnt deserve a trial, right?
> . My son is heading for the New Mexico Military
> Institute to begin his application process as we speak.
Is it worth your sons life, if iraq ends up democratically tranforming into a mirror image of Iran? You’re ok with you son dying so Iraq can be run by Mullahs like Al-Sistani and have “no laws which contradict islam” ?
Ugh, I shudder to think of anyone with as xenophobic a mindset as yours being in the military…just what we need, another @sshat redneck heavily armed and in a patronizing mood once he’s deployed overseas. Much like cockroaches, I know you types have nothing better to do with your miserable existences than reproduce, but please, start thinking more and breeding less.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:47 am> you can be wrong, yet still live here if you want to.
heck Bigtw@t, america is such a great place, you can be wrong, yet still run the country if you want to:
we know where the weapons are.
saddam is devloping nuclear weapons
saddam and bin laden are friends.
i cant imagine the war lasting more than 6 months.
mission accomplished.
we will be greeted with flowers.
it will be a cakewalk.
iraq oil money will pay for its reconstruction.
general shinseki was totally off base when he said we needed several hundred thousand troops to occupy iraq
i will fire anyone involved in the leak
we will be greeted as liberators.
AMAZING how you have the audacity to call people who are dissenters “Wrong” (especially when our founding fathers specifically designed the american government to prevent consolidation of power in the hands of the few), and yet these idiots you support, who have been wrong about pretty much every single thing they’ve predicted, in your mind, are the right ones…
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:55 amoh, and bigtwat, I noticed how on one other thread you said you were withholding judgement on Blackwater until “the facts are in”?
Funny how you selectively want to wait until the facts are in when it comes to accusations against your heroes the blood merchants, but you dont want to wait for the facts to come in before you say….INVADE a COUNTRY.
Should we have waited till “the facts were in” about WMD before invading iraq?
Bad news for you and your ilk, word is theres video footage of the massacre, looks like there may end up being more facts than you can handle…
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:12 amClearly Iraq was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If they didn’t happen to be sitting on top of all of that oil at a time when Bushco needed to make a huge profit off of it, then we never would have invaded it.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:33 amSo for Bush & Co is more important to reduce attacks statistics than to keep Iraquis water clean, that’s how they want to win their hearts and minds ??
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 amAmazing. Chlorine, vital to the water supply, “has been held up at the Jordanian border.” The article doesn’t say just who’s holding it up, but I’m suspicious of a certain murderous and evil empire.
Would Iraq hold up its own life-saving chlorine at its own border? Water’s limited anyway, and now what they do get is diseased. “People are panicking…too dangerous to send medical help.”
Secure shipments of chlorine to each water processing plant can’t be managed? PATHETIC. Yeah, security’s improving alright.
It sounds, looks, smells like long, slow genocide. It’s another cheneybu$hCo war crime. Iraq won’t be free till bu$hCo kills everyone there. They have to; they can’t tell the difference between them.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:01 pmthis winger meme – “Saddam Hussein’s rape rooms, torture chambers, genocide, death squads, and such”…
anyone have any numbers?
how many years did hussein rule?
how many incidences, victims?
vs.
bushco war murders?
just curious…
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:02 pm.
Does posting the same claptrap and nonsense in every other thread count as abuse?
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:37 pm