Still a living hell......

Photo: An Iraqi woman walks with her child next to a damaged car after a bomb explosion in the Mashtal neighborhood of eastern Baghdad. November 4, 2008

This headline says it all:

Iraq's U.S.-era mass grave uncovered

Yes, yet another mass grave from the Bush-era in Iraq has been uncovered. There were 22 bodies found near the city of Karbala. As the article states:

"It is the latest in a series of mass graves of the new Iraq which the U.S. invaded in 2003 and still administers and occupies. Mass graves were a feature of the former regime of Saddam Hussein and they were among the excuses the U.S. used to justify its invasion of the country, promising a new, mass-grave-free era. But Iraqis have almost forgotten about Saddam Hussein's mass graves as the atrocities perpetrated in the country since the arrival of U.S. troops are said to be even worse."

And here is another report of 20 bodies found in an abandoned house that has been declared a mass grave near Tal Afar. It mentions yet another mass grave that had 34 bodies near the town of al Qaim. These sites are in the northern part of Iraq.

We were told that Saddam put 300,000 to 400,000 people in mass graves during his rule over Iraq. But the fact is, less than 30,000 bodies have been uncovered that were traced to his time in Iraq. This may be incomplete, but it is not far from the overall total. And, it is beyond a doubt horrific that he killed so many people and dumped them into mass graves.

But what the US has done in less than six years is far worse than what Saddam did in his decades of rule. There are over 40,000 unidentified bodies buried in Najaf alone. All of these bodies were found on the streets of Baghdad and points south between March 2003 and July 2007. No doubt, there have been more unidentified bodies put in that massive grave since then and many more buried in the areas north of Baghdad. On top of that, there are "mini" mass graves being uncovered on a regular basis – 20 here, 34 there, 18 there….. God only knows what the final total will be. The US authorities and the US military are sure not trying to keep track.

But one thing is for sure – the US and it's occupation of Iraq has been way more devastating for Iraq and it's people than Saddam ever was. And when Saddam was at his worst, the US was supplying and supporting him.

Here's a video of one of Baghdad's graveyards, by CNN. All the people in this graveyard were known. All of these deaths are from one neighborhood in Baghdad.

The war (and occupation) goes on forever and the horror never ends.

For example, the International Committee of the Red Cross said “The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) describes the condition of Iraq's health, water and sanitation services as dire - failing to meet the needs of a large part of the population. (snip) The ICRC insists, it can not be expected to provide basic services indefinitely.”

And last week, a main water pipeline in Baghdad was blown up.

About 20% of Iraqi children are not in school. Instead, they are begging on the streets or working at a menial job.

And for the Iraqis who are refugees in other countries, Refugee International has recently said this:

“Two million Iraqi refugees are increasingly desperate and few of them are willing to return home. Although the United Nations and donor governments have dramatically increased their response to Iraqi refugees’ needs, these efforts must be expanded as refugees are increasingly vulnerable due to depleting assets and rising costs.

And I am still collecting pictures of Iraqis from news sources and saving them to a blog called ‘Faces of Grief’. Lately, the amount of photos coming from Iraq have increased again. They have always been heartbreakingly sad. One Iraqi blogger that I follow is Sunshine, a teenager in Mosul just trying to survive and finish her education. Life has been very difficult for her and her family recently. Here’s a clip from her blog:

After few minutes another explosion happened, with tears on my brother's check he looked at me and said " you are a liar you said there won't be explosions any more" I couldn't answer, but I hugged him..

There were a lot of noise and shouts in the neighborhood, not everyone was lucky like my family and I, people died and others injured, one of my neighbors who is a new bride was injured badly in her face and neck, why should such a beautiful young lady live with scars in her face?? Oh god, your mercy, when will we have a peaceful life? I want to stop worrying and start living .. I missed school for one day, I stayed to help fixing the house, my brother went to grandpa while he was talking the man who'll make new windows for us and said "TELL HIM TO BRING BETTER WINDOWS THIS TIME SO THAT WHEN EXPLOSIONS HAPPEN NEXT TIME THEY DON'T BRAKE ,OK?

And other residents in Mosul are just doing their very best to flee.

Here is one Iraqi’s opinion on what happened to his country, called

“We were Iraqis once… and have a country”

Once upon time we were the cradle of civilizations. For many ages we were the rulers of empires.

Once upon time we lived together under occupations, through wars and starvation.

Once upon time we used to travel to countries and our passports were not rejected.

Once upon time our identity was Iraqi, now it became sect or ethnicity.

We were Iraqis once… and have a country.

And here is a clip from a commentary on what Iraq is like now. It is titled "Truth be told, Iraq is still a living hell".

Without saying so explicitly, the Republicans leave the impression that Iraq is now a nearly pacific place. But let's look at the actual statistics for September — as compiled for the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index. Last month, 98 Iraqi policemen were killed. On about two days out of every three, a bomb killed two or more people. Over all, those bombings killed 164 people and wounded 366 others. These and other attacks killed 500 Iraqi civilians, about 17 a day. ….. About 19,000 Iraqis remain in American military prisons. Almost 3 million Iraqis driven from their homes still are not willing or able to return. Even now, almost five years after the invasion, Baghdad residents get just over 11 hours of electricity each day, compared to 20 hours before the war. At the same time, no one is kidnapping foreigners any longer. Helicopters aren't being shot down. Attacks on oil pipelines have virtually ceased. As for the carnage, while the violence remains frighteningly high, in January of 2007 there were at least two bombings every day, and more than 3,700 Iraqi civilians died.

And here is another clip, from an article called “Devastation in Iraq is systemic”:

The Iraq that has emerged from the American invasion and occupation is now a thoroughly wrecked land, housing a largely dysfunctional society. More than a million Iraqis may have died; millions have fled their homes; many millions of others have been scarred by war, insurgency and counterinsurgency operations, extreme sectarian violence, and soaring levels of common criminality. Education and medical systems have essentially collapsed and, even today, with every kind of violence in decline, Iraq remains one of the most dangerous societies on earth.

An in depth report on the current conditions in Iraq can be found in a book by Michael Schwartz titled “War Without End”. He also wrote an article called “Wrecked Iraq: What the Good News from Iraq Really Means”. Here’s a clip from that article:

….what was once the most advanced Middle Eastern society – economically, socially, and technologically – has become an economic basket case, rivaling the most desperate countries in the world. Only the (as yet unfulfilled) promise of oil riches, which probably cannot be effectively accessed or used until US forces withdraw from the country, provides a glimmer of hope that Iraq will someday lift itself out of the abyss into which the US invasion pushed it.

And here is another headline to sum up one consequence of our actions:

Hatred of America Unites the World

This was also posted on Daily Kos on 11-9-08 (and pretty much ignored).