Five Years Later, Iraqis Still Lack Basic Services, Believe Surge Has Made Security Situation Worse
Five Years Later, Iraqis Still Lack Basic Services, Believe Surge Has Made Security Situation Worse
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion in Iraq. While security has improved, there are growing concerns by both Iraqis and U.S. military officials that it will rise again in the near future. As has been widely noted, this lull in violence has not led to political progress. It also hasn’t led to an increase in services in Iraqis’ everyday lives.
McClatchy reports on these “worms in the water” five years after “liberation”:
To them, the real crime is that five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, they still swelter in the summer and freeze in the winter because of a lack of electricity. Government rations are inevitably late, incomplete or expired. Garbage piles up for days, sometimes weeks, emanating toxic fumes.
The list goes on: black-market fuel, phone bills for land lines that haven’t worked in years, education and health-care systems degraded by the flight of thousands of Iraq’s best teachers and doctors. […]
In some poor areas of Baghdad, militias or Iranian-backed charities have become the main source of propane tanks, food staples, garbage collection and other services that the government should provide.
A new poll for BBC, ABC, ARD and NHK finds that a majority of Iraqis think their lives are good, “more than at any time in the last three years.” Yet at the same time, 72 percent oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq and 61 percent believe that these troops are making the security situation worse. Additionally, 53 percent say that Bush’s “surge” has “made overall security worse, not better,” and a plurality want foreign forces to leave immediately.
A look at some areas of Iraqi life that the surge hasn’t been able to lift up. In many cases, these services are worse than they were before the U.S. invasion:
| Services | % Rating ‘Bad’ | % Rating ‘Good’ | Snapshot Of Problems |
| Availability Of Jobs | 70 | 29 | The nationwide unemployment rate is currently between 25-40%, where it has remained since November 2005, according to the Brookings Institution. |
| Supply Of Electricity | 88 | 12 | The average hours of electricity per day is at 9.7 hours nationwide, one of the lowest levels since the surge began in early 2007. Baghdad currently has an average of 7.5 hours of electricity, down from pre-war levels of 16-24 hours. |
| Availability Of Clean Water | 68 | 30 | In late 2007, the World Health Organization confirmed that cholera had infected at over 7,000 Iraqis. Cholera is “typically spread by drinking contaminated water.” |
| Availability Of Medical Care | 62 | 37 | New ICRC report finds that hospitals lack “qualified staff and basic drugs.” Health care facilities “have not been properly maintained, and the care they provide is often too expensive for ordinary Iraqis.” |
| Freedom To Live Anywhere Without Persecution | 60 | 40 | In August 2007, the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization indicated that “the total number of internally displaced Iraqis [had] more than doubled, to 1.1 million from 499,000” since the surge started in February. Baghdad, which once used to be a 65 percent Sunni majority city, “is now 75 percent Shia.” |
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George Bush are you listening
I demand you apologize to the Iraqi people for what you have done NOW
March 17th, 2008 at 11:07 amIt’s our McPresident, the idiot boy king in all his impressive glory:
Is this the look of confidence, or a hangover?
March 17th, 2008 at 11:08 amPfffft, 5 years? That’s nothing, we’re gonna be there for another 100. Plenty of time to work things out, eh?
March 17th, 2008 at 11:08 amNew ICRC report finds that hospitals lack “qualified staff and basic drugs.” Health care facilities “have not been properly maintained, and the care they provide is often too expensive for ordinary Iraqis.”
George Bush you are a disgrace you are worse than the NAZIS
March 17th, 2008 at 11:08 amHeckuva job, chympie!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:09 amthe care they provide is often too expensive for ordinary Iraqis.
Welcome to the wonders of the U.S. health system.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:09 amYou are treating the Iraqis just as the Israelis treat the Palestinians
March 17th, 2008 at 11:09 amGeorge Bush - GET OUT AND PAY THE DAMAGE
March 17th, 2008 at 11:10 amAll this is complete non-sense! Who cares about this? We should be talking about Obama’s middle name and his former minister!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:10 amBAGHDAD - Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain vowed in meetings with Iraq’s prime minister Monday that the U.S. would maintain a long-term military presence in Iraq until al-Qaida is defeated there.
http://news.yahoo.com/
March 17th, 2008 at 11:11 amTobie Tall Says:
March 17th, 2008 at 11:09 am
You are treating the Iraqis just as the Israelis treat the Palestinians
Now that’s not true. The Palestinians have clean water and reliable electricity.
In the West Bank, anyhow.
We’re treating the Iraqis just as the Israelis treat the Ghazans.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:12 amAnd don’t forget that we gave the Iraqis a flat tax and forced them to abandon fuel and food subsidies in order to comply with IMF structural adjustment policies, thus turning Iraq into a free market experiment for Friedmanites to play with.
How does Iraq thank us? By whining and asking us to leave their country. INGRATES!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:15 amNato loses another 4 troops in Afghanistan today
Thanks a bunch America
March 17th, 2008 at 11:20 amSo does that picture at the top mean the Iraqis are tearing down their statues of Bush now too?
March 17th, 2008 at 11:21 amFrom Raw Story (Sorry for the long post):
Only Saddam Hussein can run Iraq, says aide
By Damien McElroy in Baghdad
Last Updated: 7:36pm GMT 16/03/2008
A prominent figure in the Iraqi opposition movement that helped propel America and Britain to war in 2003 has said the country would be better off if Saddam Hussein was still in power.
Lufti Saber, once a key lieutenant of the first post-Saddam Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, has a ringside seat on the new Baghdad regime as an aide to the American-led military coalition.
But the political manoeuvring and administrative incompetence he has witnessed on a daily basis has led the former political prisoner to radically revise his views of the invasion of Iraq.
“None of these people trust each other,” he said. “Everything comes down to that. The whole system is set up to ensure that nobody does anything that somebody else thinks is wrong.
“Saddam had a way of rising above that. As soon as he made a decision, it happened. People knew it had to be done. It didn’t matter where they were in the country, they knew the floor at work had to be cleaned, just in case Saddam turned up. Now the country is engulfed in chaos and nobody does anything because they all refuse to take responsibility.”
Iraq marks the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion this week, plagued by problems seen only in failed states.
Many former supporters of the invasion share a bleak outlook on the country’s future prospects, though polls show general population retains hopes for the future.
Mr Saber spent eight years on death row during Saddam’s dictatorship before he was release in an eve of battle amnesty.
He had worked for Dr Allawi’s Iraq National Accord, which in the mid-1990s was based in the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq.
Before his arrest, Mr Saber was instrumental in orchestrating a failed coup within the senior military ranks in 1996.
“I never thought I would say it given that he sentenced me to death,” he said. “But I find myself wishing Saddam was still here. Only he had the knack of running this god-forsaken country.”
March 17th, 2008 at 11:21 amIt wouldn’t be fair to Americans if Bush didn’t destroy Iraq while he’s destroying the USA. He’s an equal opportunity destroyer.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:26 amHere’s what disgusts me. Where is the same fervor that had us jumping into Iraq? We had to get there because of immenent danger. Before the Mushroom Clouds appeared over our cities. There was such an outcry from this administration that those who followed him would move mountains to invade Iraq.
We are now looking at 5 years with no cohesive long term plan. Just hoping the Iraqis start wanting to govern themselves. But they aren’t showing the need to and we (as in Bush’s administration) didn’t give what happens after we kick the shit out of a third world army.
Now we have displaced millions, injured tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) and killed thousands more(most likely hundred of thousands more.).
This administration was really good at whipping up a frenzy but very poor at executing a successful plan.
These aren’t leaders, they are fearmongering idealists and have no place in running the greatest country in the world. They don’t have any place running the least greatest country as well.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:27 amThe United State is doing one heckuva job over there!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:28 amThe Republic of Stupidity Says:
March 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am
So does that picture at the top mean the Iraqis are tearing down their statues of Bush now too?
Have you seen the uncut photos around the toppling of this statue? Not as many iraqis around as we were led to believe.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:29 amhttp://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2842.htm
Not quite the throngs of joyous Iraqis ready to treat us as liberators.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:32 amAwww, now, c’mon, y’all! Iraq is our 51st state!
HURRAH for the Empire of Amerikkka!!!!!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:33 amIn what ways is the surge working? In which ways is progress being made? We hear the media, even NPR, report progress regularly. When will we hold their feet to the fire of criteria like this?
March 17th, 2008 at 11:36 amI’m gonna believe the Iraqis over BushCo and this (and everything else), since they’re living/dying with it.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:37 amOur troops must be getting weary of fending off all the candy and flowers being hurled at them by the grateful Iraqi populace.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:37 amThanks for that Raw excerpt, barfly!
Particularly telling is the passage
“None of these people trust each other,” he said. “Everything comes down to that. The whole system is set up to ensure that nobody does anything that somebody else thinks is wrong.”
In a democratic and/or republican government, the ability to compromise always comes down to trusting the other party to forge alliances and deals that get the business of government done. Without that trust, we are seeing what doesn’t happen.
Governance.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am“this lull in violence”
…punctuated by horrific suicide bombs and rocket attacks?
We were so accustomed to everyday violence, we now consider intermittent violence a “lull.”
Just pointing out the way we all become so immune to the teroor others face, that we lose track of it’s true implications. One-a-day bombings have given way to once a week bombings. If it were happening in London or Rome or Amsterdam, or New York, we might not consider it a “lull.”
March 17th, 2008 at 11:40 amre: photo
Wonder if Dick or Lil Shrub will get the Saddam statue installed in their private garden in Paraguay?
March 17th, 2008 at 11:45 amJust in time for the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain made an unannounced visit to Iraq. Unfortunately for him, this week’s anniversary highlights that at almost every turn, John McCain has been disastrously wrong about Iraq.
For a catalog of McCain’s erroneous statements, see:
March 17th, 2008 at 11:45 am“Forever Wrong: Five Years of John McCain on Iraq.”
The surge is a big a phony photo op as the statue toppling. This whole administration is nothing but a codpiece. At the Booosh Lie-bury beside the mountain of corpses the copiece will be gold plated and put on a pedestal.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:46 amAnd lets not forget, the surge was never intended to be anything but a domestic (US political interests, not Iraqi)political playing card this summer, they sent the surge so they could “bring em’ home” just in time to make the Republicans who have not already resigned look better to their confused base.
From the recent history of elections like the one that replaced Hastert with a Dem, it looks like, at least in that light, the surge isn’t working at all.
Anyone who believes the surge is the reason violence has diminished doesn’t understand the effects of “ethnic cleansing equilibrium” and the fact that we bought-off more than one powerful warlord.
The surge was a US domestic political ploy, nothing more or less, and the only way it can be called successful is if it helps Republicans avoid that 50-State landslide that Rush spewed out about.
“The Surge” was created to help US Republican politicians this summer, not to help the Iraqis.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:47 am– Testimony from Winter Soldier, held last week in Silver Spring, Maryland and virtually ignored by the media.
http://www.democracynow.org/ 2008/ 3/ 17/ winter_soldier_us_vets_active_duty
March 17th, 2008 at 11:48 amhToast ~ good link!!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:52 amNo way the “librul” msm is going to show the reality that our soldiers are going to be dealing with for the rest of their lives…
“I never thought I would say it given that he sentenced me to death,” he said. “But I find myself wishing Saddam was still here. Only he had the knack of running this god-forsaken country.”
This was the most striking statement of the whole article I just quoted, because it brings into question the fundamental assertion that democracy can ever exist within a theocracy. Saddam’s leadership was distinctly secular, because he knew the inherent dangers of allowing religious leaders to gain control of the political levers of Iraq. The question, are the cultural and religious differences so great in Iraq that the concept of democracy is impossible, is asked because there apparently is no “fear” of an over-arching secular political leader, or governing body; power is divided along inequitable (and hence, undemocratic)lines, making any claims that the country is even on the path to democracy sound hopelessly naive. They will never elect a secular leader, even though that is the only sort that would ever have a chance. A political strongman - a sort of Iraqi LBJ, for instance, will not evolve in this climate.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:57 amAnd you’re welcome, R.U.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:58 amOperation
Iraqi
Longwar
6 days
6 weeks
6 months
Ever get the feeling you may have been lied to?
45 minutes to a mushroom cloud Condi lying? Say it ain’t so!!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:59 amEXCELLENT article from an incredibly eloquent reporter, and the loss of his friend:
Witnessing death drives home cost of Iraq war
Friend’s killing puts devastating new face to Middle East conflict, struggle.
In my nightmares, the helicopters still come out of a dark sky, two black spots barely visible against the backdrop of night.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:05 pmThis war is a wildfire blazing across the body and soul of this nation. None of the war-makers — not one — will escape unburned. War mongers of America, you’re going to spend the rest of your life trying, pitifully and in vain, to somehow explain why you helped to unleash this disaster, let along why you refused to change course even years after the futility was already plain to anyone willing to see.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pmyou guys know you can check actual stats on the war here dont you?
http://icasualties.org/oif/
March 17th, 2008 at 1:10 pmI watched the first of John Adams on HBO last night and I couldn’t help but think that the patriots could be compared to the Iraqis and the British compared to the occupying American forces.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pmOf course, there are many differences, but in thinking only of the motivation of the patriots; the intense desire to be independent and form their own government, and the hatred felt by most toward the British, the comparison was quite strong in me last night.
#19.
Not many people know that it was a staged photo-op — a propaganda performance.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:52 pmSurge-tastic!!
Wow - General Dave sure is awesome!!
I sure wish I was dumb enough to buy any of this crap.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:03 pmMy niece served two tours in Iraq as a member of the Army Reserves. Her training and assignment was to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure. Specifically, restoring water and electricity.
Two tours and one Bronze Star later, you know how much she accomplished? The reopening of one eraser factory. Okay, that gave a few people jobs, but erasers won’t keep you warm on a freezing winter night.
She tried to do the job she was trained to do. She kept begging her superiors for the equipment and supplies she needed to do the job she was sent to do. All she got was buck passing. “I’m leaving, let the next commander deal with it.”
Bush talked about improving the lives of the Iraqi people, but that’s all it was, talk. He was never interested in helping anyone but himself.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:02 am