NY Times: Joy Fades as Iraqis Chafe Under a Grim Occupation

[La_Serpiente]

Joy Fades as Iraqis Chafe Under a Grim Occupation

MAHAWIL, Iraq, Dec. 15 — In the evening gloom, on a dirt track a quarter mile from this country's largest killing field, the two brothers spoke of the need for answers.

They wanted Saddam Hussein to tell them — to tell all of Iraq — why the bullet-scarred remains of more than 3,000 people had been dug up here last summer. They wanted to know why one of their cousins was among those found, why this cousin had disappeared 12 years earlier while buying flour at the village market, why members of the Baath Party had killed so many of their own countrymen.

Those were the easy questions.

More important, said the brothers, Dhiya and Ayad Abed, they wanted to know why life had gotten worse for them since the American-led forces ousted Mr. Hussein. Why did they lack electricity and fuel, why were there no jobs, why were armed bandits roaming the streets?

"It was inevitable that he be captured," said Dhiya Abed, 27. "There was no other way for this to end. But the Americans have to do something for us because things are worse than before."

Joy Fades as Iraqis Chafe Under a Grim Occupation

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Sadly, this is why the capture of Saddam won't make a difference

We're messing up bigtime in restoring infrastructure and stability to Iraq. Methinks it might have to do with the fact we really went in there for oil and so that Haliburton and other pigs like it could drink deep from the public trough.