|
|
April 08, 2003
Marines Struck By Poverty In Baghdad
Plastic grocery bags are Baghdad's urban tumbleweeds. They roll across the landscape by the thousands, hanging up in trees and on fences until they are shredded by the sunlight and friction from the dust in the wind. As Marines moved through eastern Baghdad Tuesday, it was not just the combat that captured their attention. Sometimes it was the grinding poverty they saw around them. Sometimes it was the trash and filth. Sometimes it was the fact that every body of water seemed polluted. "Twenty-two days without a shower and this place smells worse than I do," said Cpl. Casey Mitchell, a reservist who works for the Sheriff's Department back home in Lucedale, Miss. Posted By Billy Beck at April 8, 2003 08:48 PM | TrackBackComments
Nasty... A nation that smells worse then the Paris tubes... Can it be? Posted by: Original Mark at April 8, 2003 09:04 PMWelcome to the third world. Abject poverty and heavily militirized rich leaders. We built plenty of places like this with our own support for dictators in the past 50 years. Posted by: fatboy at April 8, 2003 09:06 PMand now we get to fix them... There also wasn't much alternative in some countries... Posted by: Original Mark at April 8, 2003 09:24 PMI think its a bit of a canard to assume that Iraq's oil wealth is suddenly going to make the Iraqi's a prosperous people. The oil that they have, which is admittedly a lot, simply is not enough to do that on its own. Iraq is not like Kuwait or Bahrain or Qatar - it does not have a small population sitting on top of a huge oil deposit. Also, I agree with an assessment in the New Republic about oil in fact being a curse. Iraq's fortunes, like all countries dependent on one or another particular commodity, rise and fall with the price of a barrel of oil. Until that economy significantly diversifies, it will be continue to be captive to the commodities market's whims. Posted by: Gary Gunnels at April 8, 2003 09:24 PMInteresting article in The Atlantic this month about the Sauds and those particular Oil-Rich Idle Bums, most of whom seem completely good for nothing. So I say that Iraq needs to use any "oil wealth" not to start individual bank accounts for its citizens (as is done for the Saud family), but build infrastructure, organize public services, educate, etc. They need to build a real economy in Iraq. Sounds like they need regular trash pickup (grin). They need decent schools that don't waste time teaching the students to hate the West. They need information and communication; they need to be hooked up to the internet (really - don't laugh). The Iraqi people have a lot to do, and a lot to establish and build - things we in the U.S. take for granted, that have been sadly neglected there while Saddam lined his pockets - and that's what their oil money needs to pay for. Posted by: Kathleen at April 8, 2003 09:54 PMWelcome to the Grand Experiment. Like Fatboy said, we spent 50 years encouraging this sort of thing because it wouldn't be right for us to interfere and we needed the allies in the cold war. Now it's time to fix that mess. The bad news is that as the winners of the cold war we get to fix the loser's mess, too. With a little luck, and a little planning, and a whole lot of work we might be able to help create a society of relatively happy, free people. And maybe, just maybe, when it's all over they'll tell their neighbors that the Americans aren't so bad after all. Posted by: datarat at April 8, 2003 10:30 PMOT: Hey, the same datarat from alt.l-e? Hello, again :-). BTW, my neighbors finally went to federal prison, my property values went up, and we sold out and moved to acreage in the country. Posted by: Kathleen at April 8, 2003 10:48 PMThe US is going to clean that place up and the Iraqis are going to love it. But we'll never get any thanks. Posted by: queef at April 8, 2003 11:14 PM
America knows this drill well. Opec showed us that oil wealth was ephmeral at best. G. W.'s home state of Texas learned that 40 dollar a barrel oil was not the norm and we adapted. Maybe you have heard of Texas Instruments? Motorola? Compaq? Dell? Hell dont even make me mention the non-high tech companies... Oil is great foundation to build an economy from, it sucks as an ongoing foundation for a national economy.... but even so, Iraq is in a very special position, thier oil is very sweet, very high in demand, they could live off it by itself for decades to come, but it would breed the narcisstic lifestyle that is emblematic of Saudia Arabi, and so many other middle eastern countries. They should strive to follow the Texas model, using their natural resouces to fund thier existence, while expanding thier economic foundation until oil is redundant or irrelevant to thier economic well being. Posted by: Joel Mackey at April 8, 2003 11:20 PM
I know, I know ... there's fear that only those in the smart, well educated West know how to handle such important decisions. But maybe a good place to start would be to just ask the question to the soon-to-be-minted Iraqi Democratic Government, "What would you like to do with the money from the sale of oil?" Posted by: WorldTraveler at April 8, 2003 11:30 PM "What would you like to do with the money from the sale of oil?" The problem is, we know that answer... Destroy the Jews... See, we need to teach them to build rather then destroy, make love rather then kill.. Its all about... Democracy! Whiskey! and Sexy! Posted by: Original Mark at April 8, 2003 11:49 PMOriginal Mark said: Its all about... Democracy! Whiskey! and Sexy! OK. So, WHERE did that come from? Posted by: Penta at April 9, 2003 12:17 AMPost a comment
|