Cockburn writes:
A cruel and bloody civil war has started in Iraq, a country which Bush and Blair promised to free from fear and establish democracy. I have been visiting Iraq since 1978, but for the first time, I am becoming convinced that the country will not survive.
[...]
officials have told The Independent that at least 100 people are being killed in Baghdad every day.
[...]
I have been covering the war in Iraq ever since it began three years ago and I have never seen the situation so grim.
[...]
In March alone the US military said 1,313 people were killed in sectarian attacks. Many bodies, buried or thrown in rivers, are never found. The real figure is probably twice as high.
The Independent also offers these sobering statistics:
Then and now
* FATALITIES
Combat US 2,344, (17,381 wounded)
Britain 103
Other nations 104
* IRAQI DEATHS
Military 4,895 - 6,370
Civilian 33,821 - 37,943
* OIL PRODUCTION
Million barrels per day Pre war (est) 2.5
Million barrels per day Feb 2006 1.7
* OIL EXPORTS
Million barrels per day pre war (est) 1.7-2.5
Million barrels per day Feb 2006 1.17
* OIL REVENUE FROM EXPORTS ($bn)
Sept 2005 $2.74bn
Jan 2006 $1.84bn
* ELECTRICITY
MW nationwide pre war (est) 3,958
MW nationwide Feb 2006 3,700
Hours electricity per day pre war (est) 16-24
Hours electricity per day Feb 2006 10
* DAILY INSURGENT ATTACKS
Jun 2003 8
January 2006 75
* UNEMPLOYMENT
June 2004 30 per cent - 40 per cent
Jan 2006 25 per cent - 40 per cent
* AVERAGE TIME QUEUING FOR FUEL (hrs)
July 2003 0.1
May 2005 1.0
* IRAQIS THINKING IRAQ IS HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
April 2005 67 per cent
Dec 2005 49 per cent
* IRAQIS WHO RARELY HAVE SAFE, CLEAN WATER 71 per cent
SOURCE: BROOKINGS INSTITUTE AND IRAQ BODY COUNT
Think about those numbers the next time you hear Bush and Rumsfeld talk about "progress" in Iraq or the lack of "Good News" being presented through the media.
It is long past the time for some government official - any government official to announce that Iraq is already well-entrenched in a civil war. How can that possibly be disputed anymore?
While western politicians push the Iraqi government to unify, this is the reality in the country:
The formation of a national unity government is now being presented as an antidote to violence.
[...]
But one Iraqi official remarked caustically that the three main communities - Sunni, Shia and Kurds - do not "hate each other because they do not have a government, but rather they do not have a government because they already hate each other".
The formation of this dream "unity government" is bound to change very little due to the evolving corruption and disturbing revelations like the fact that there are actually death squads operating from within that government.
This push for "unity" frankly won't solve much of anything and, even if John Kerry's call for a May deadline with a threat of US troop withdrawal to hurry this along was adopted (in some parallel universe where the Democrats actually controlled congress), the country would still be in the midst of intense turmoil with no end in sight.
We have sat back for years now, watching the Bush administration play a dangerous game of "if only". If only Saddam was removed from power...if only the Iraqis had democracy...if only the Iraqis had the chance to vote for their representatives...if only the Iraqi government would unify...everything would automagically be all right. Meanwhile, thousands have died, daily life for Iraqis is a nightmare, the situation is far worse than it ever has been, no one will admit that the country is embroiled in a deadly civil war and Republican politicians, the majority of their supporters and so many others who refuse to face reality keep looking away, hoping things will just work themselves out.
DON'T LOOK AWAY.
You own this.
You created this.
Deal with it.
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.
- Ernest Hemingway
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