Fayyad in Baghdad: It is no Longer Baghdad

[bemildred]

(Juan Cole)

He says that the last time he was in Baghdad, during the election season at the end of January, he only heard about bombings when he read about them in the newspaper. Now things are different.

"When some friends heard that I had arrived, they warned me not to go out into the streets: "We don't want to know your location, and you must not tell anyone where you are residing. There is more than one group that kidnaps and kills nowadays."

An official of the Iraqi government tells him, "I am a prisoner in my office and my house, which lies in a secure district, but I canot visit the house where my family lives for fear that I will be abducted."

The government is nowhere to be seen, he says. The government does not control the streets, the militias do. You cannot tell the guerrillas from the police and the army, since all of them wear the same uniform.

Informed Comment

[opihimoimoi]

1. A US made CLUSTER FUCK....and Rummy tells of... Progress? My Ass

[Dhalgren]

2. I think this says it all very well - from Juan Cole (gods bless him)

The cited article "is a shocking indictment of American misrule. Bush has turned one of the world's greatest cities into a cesspool with no order, little authority and few services." And we are spending 1 billion dollars every day, two US soldiers lives every day, scores of US troops wounded every day, hundreds of innocent Iraqis killed every day, hundreds of innocent Iraqis wounded every day, and whole towns and neighborhoods destroyed every day - for this result? And, please humor me just one more time, why the hell are we doing this?