Iraqis continue to suffer as the country is slowly torn at the seams, Firas Al-Atraqchi* warns the Bush administration Two days ago, US President Bush delivered his State of the Union address outlining the gains the country has made in both liberating Iraq and assisting in its reconstruction. However, the speech is void of several statistical imperatives which infer that the US has tried to fix its numerous mistakes in Iraq by creating a bevy of others. Such arrogance and rejection of facts as they present themselves on the ground are unfortunately the realms of idealistic crusaders who in their haste to build empires overlook the often calamitous consequences. Wherever you go in Iraq these days, the principal concern is lack of security. While the world holds its breath over the kidnapping of foreign journalists, diplomatic dignitaries and businessmen, Iraqis are suffering in an increasingly precarious environment of wanton violence. Kidnappings, which were the focus of the media in the summer of 2004, have soared from a daily rate of two to 12. Iraqi gangs often monitor their prey for days taking notes on how wealthy a family is and what outside contacts it may have before making their move. Stories of scouring for US cash and sending to relatives in Iraq are common among the Iraqi Diasporas. Attacks on US-trained Iraqi forces and the US military have increased from 70 in late 2004 to about 100 a day in late 2005. Some 2250 US troops have been killed in Iraq, with the wounding of another 17,000. Several thousand US tanks, Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), helicopters, tankers and other military hardware have been destroyed. Debate continues to rage over the number of civilian deaths with estimates ranging between 35,000 and 135,000. The US military says it has killed at least 30,000 "insurgents". Major construction of new detention facilities in Abu Ghraib and the south of the country have been hastened in Iraq as US forces continue to round up entire families of suspects. Many are later released for reasons of mistaken identity, false information given by spies, or lack of evidence. Estimates today indicate some 20,000 Iraqis are languishing in US-run facilities. Compare that to some 5,000 in mid-2004. Hardly the sign of democratic progress in nation-building. Of course, the above numbers are not reflective of the numbers of Iraqis held in Interior Ministry detention and torture dungeons. Nationwide referenda and elections, set as milestones by the US authorities, and packaged as the dynamo to move the country forward have backfired. Instead, they have highlighted and indeed spawned sectarian divisions. Sunni leaders accuse the Shia-led government and its Interior Ministry wing of targeting Sunnis and subjugating them to abuse, torture and executions. The Shia-led government responds by accusing Sunni leaders of supporting the "insurgency" and failing to prevent attacks on Shia mosques, gatherings, funerals and the likes. And Iraq's brain drain continues. Hundreds of the country's educated professionals, scientists, technocrats and doctors continue to filter out of the country for fear of assassination or kidnapping. The effects of such a climate of fear have been so profound that an international campaign to save Iraq's academics is slowly gaining momentum. Although the above is hardly a comprehensive review of the depth of lawlessness and lackadaisical security in the country, the services industry in the country is also the source of much heartache among the Iraqi people. Electricity, electricity and electricity. The word cannot be repeated enough among Iraqis. When Bush took to the podium on Tuesday, he would have done well to consider that prior to the invasion, Iraq, pounded by punitive UN sanctions and occasional US and UK air strikes, managed to generate on average 3958 Mega Watts of electricity. In December 2005, the average generated electricity was 3500 MW. The stated goal of US occupation authorities had been to reach generation of 6000 MW by July 1, 2004. A colossal failure. Oil production, which was meant to partly fund reconstruction in Iraq, has been another abysmal failure. Iraq's oil output has been unable to match or surpass pre- invasion levels forcing US officials to revise their earlier state goal of producing three million barrels a day by 2005. Today, Iraq's oil production ranges from 200,000 barrels of oil a day to just over two million. Pre-war production had topped 2.5 million. While attacks by unknown groups are partly to blame, internal review and auditing reveals gross mismanagement of the oil industry by both the occupation authorities and the new Iraqi government. Report upon report continues to highlight the dreary state of reconstruction in Iraq, with some bluntly stating there are no more funds for this glorified effort. US government audits have still been unable to account for nearly 100 million dollars of Iraqi oil revenue while shedding light on how one US contractor spent $60,000 of Iraqi monies on gambling in the Philippines. According to the audits, millions in cash remain unaccounted for and some 2000 contracts have been mismanaged. Add to that the billions of dollars post-Saddam Iraqi officials have been accused of embezzling. Iraq has decreased its unemployment rate by about 20 per cent but the country is over $120 billion in debt. Moving stateside, the political environment in the US is not much better. Various polls show Bush's approval rating at 39 per cent, a figure the media continues to remind us is the lowest for any US president in a second term barring Richard Nixon. When Bush first took office in 2001, the US had a unified $236 billion surplus at his disposal. Today, the country drowns in a nearly $340 billion deficit. Some $300 billion has been spent on the Iraq war effort. In March 2003, oil fetched $37 a barrel. Today it is on the verge of hitting $70. And Katrina has proven to be a divine catastrophe for the White House. Four months after the devastating hurricane, New Orleans residents accuse the Bush administration of doing too little, and not nearly quickly enough. Some 80 per cent of New Orleans African- American population may never be able to live in the city again. Throw in a mix of scandals -- DeLay, Libby, Abramoff -- and the divisive Iraq war (a majority of Americans want troops to return by the end of the year) and 2006 looks like it will be a make or break year for the Bush presidency. In Iraq, the same holds true. * The writer is a freelance journalist specialised in Middle East issues.
