Iraq Is As Bad Now As Under Saddam

I know that rightwingers seem to think that liberals take pleasure when bad things happen in Iraq in Afghanistan. That’s such a stupid theory. After all, we’re the ones that didn’t want anyone to die in the first place.

Anyway, I’m sure they think we’re pleased as pink with the lastest news from John Pace, former director of Human Rights for the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. He’s been saying that human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad now as they were under Saddam Hussein and the level of extra-judicial executions and torture is up; morgue workers are being threatened by both government military and insurgents not to investigate deaths.

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Tags: Iraq, Saddam Hussein, U.N., human rights abuses

US Snubs UN Rations

Food meant for Katrina Victims donated by the UK, Spain, Italy, and Isreal is being held by the U.S. government because it’s been deamed unfit for human consumption. Never mind that the food donated by the UK is the same UN-approved rations fed to British troops in Iraq. If the red-tape isn’t worked out, all the food could be sent to be incenerated. [“Up in Flames”]

Makes you wonder who friggin’ is making these decisions, doesn’t it?

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief, U.N., politics

Good News From Iraq

I’ve been keeping an eye out for good news articles of any kind as I’ve been very depressed lately about the state of the world and the overwhelming negative news in print and on t.v. I’m happy to report that I’ve found one that certainly is good news to those of us interested in protecting the environment and in helping repair the damage wrought in Iraq.

In the early 90’s, to punish rebellious Iraqis, Saddam Hussein had the marshlands drained to almost nothing by building a network of channels and dykes to redirect the water elsewhere. By 2002, satellite images revealed the marshlands had shruck to 10% of their original coverage area. This forced many marshland residents into camps in Iran.

“The near-total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands under the regime of Saddam Hussein was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life as well as food in the form of fish and that most crucial of natural resources - drinking water,” United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) executive director Klaus Toepfer said in a statement. [“Water returns to Iraqi marshlands” (BBC News)]

Immediately after the fall of Saddam’s regime, people began breaching the dykes to allow water back into the marshlands. Then 2003 was an excellent water year, reportedly, which helped greatly.

It’s now estimated that the marshlands around 37% of the marshlands have been restored!

There is still quite a bit to do obviously, but drinking water and sanitation projects are under way in a UN-funded project. It will probably take years to restore the area but so far there’s been a positive improvement and that is a good thing.

Tags: Iraq, Saddam Hussein, U.N.