Sunday, June 22, 2003
David Aaronvitch lost me for a while with his support for the attack on Iraq, but now he's written a worrying article about how a militant Islamic group are using the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' as 'proof' of Jewish wickedness, here.
This is especially scary after watching the Correspondent program on BBC2 this evening about the post-invasion Iraq. Scared of the effect bodybags coming home might have on the American psyche (especially as the media over there seem to have been telling everyone that now Saddam is gone all the Iraqis love the invading Americans) it seems orders have come down to stop the Americans doing little more than drive around in their tanks. So, several months after bombing stopped the infrastructure of the country is still completely fucked. And the Shia majority, who want an Islamic state, seem to be the only organised political groupout there. Of course, the Western world may count itself fortunate if an Islamic Shia government take over, as there are more right-wing Muslim groups operating.
It's television shows like this that make me doubt whenever governments talk about invading Iraq for the good of the people. Neither the US nor the UK seem to have done anything to prepare to be ready to organise medical relief and food and water shipments to the country when they knew that to get rid of Saddam those would be the very things they'd have to destroy. They have no excuse of not knowing about the state of the country, this was one of the imperatives for going. There's no running water in Baghdad apparently, and though violence is up, hospitals lack the means to treat them.
I wonder how long it took the World War II allies to ensure the surviving Germans in Berlin had basic food and water needs seen to after the war? I will have to investigate tomorrow...
This is especially scary after watching the Correspondent program on BBC2 this evening about the post-invasion Iraq. Scared of the effect bodybags coming home might have on the American psyche (especially as the media over there seem to have been telling everyone that now Saddam is gone all the Iraqis love the invading Americans) it seems orders have come down to stop the Americans doing little more than drive around in their tanks. So, several months after bombing stopped the infrastructure of the country is still completely fucked. And the Shia majority, who want an Islamic state, seem to be the only organised political groupout there. Of course, the Western world may count itself fortunate if an Islamic Shia government take over, as there are more right-wing Muslim groups operating.
It's television shows like this that make me doubt whenever governments talk about invading Iraq for the good of the people. Neither the US nor the UK seem to have done anything to prepare to be ready to organise medical relief and food and water shipments to the country when they knew that to get rid of Saddam those would be the very things they'd have to destroy. They have no excuse of not knowing about the state of the country, this was one of the imperatives for going. There's no running water in Baghdad apparently, and though violence is up, hospitals lack the means to treat them.
I wonder how long it took the World War II allies to ensure the surviving Germans in Berlin had basic food and water needs seen to after the war? I will have to investigate tomorrow...
