A Plea from Baghdad

This was posted at the McClatchey Baghdad Bureau's blog site. It is from an Iraqi. The site is where journalists, American and Iraqi, post their firsthand experiences:




Temperatures are rising above 40 degrees Celsius, with electricity supply provided for one whole hour every 72 hours!
WOW! Amazing how well the reconstruction efforts are going!
How many billions has America taken out of its pouch in the name of reconstruction in Iraq??
Where did the money go??
What are the priorities??
There is no national power supply to speak of.
There is no petrol to fuel our own tiny generators.
Why is there no petrol??
Iraq has no petrol for its own consumption?!
Don’t you find that a little hard to believe?
Did you know that the pipelines in Basra, (where Iraq’s very rich southern oil wells are located) are loading oil tankers under the protection of the Coalition forces for the benefit of – God knows who?? UNGAUGED!! (They shamelessly say the gauges aren’t working. It has been four years!)
Millions of barrels daily!!
What about us??
What about US??
When did we fall out of the equation?
Or is it that we were never in it?
We are going without sleep.
It’s too hot to sleep indoors.
Too dangerous to sleep outdoors.
My daughter and son dampen their clothes and lie down on the bare tiles of the floor.
I sit up all night with a meheffa (a hand-held fan) in my hand to stir the air about them so that they can sleep – even fitfully is good enough. Me – forget me.
Is this really the situation Mr. President aspired to?
I don’t have the stomach to speak of the darkness we live in, the cold water we bathe in …etc. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Temperatures rise to above 55 degrees in July ….. in the shade ….