Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

'What have you done to us, George Bush?'

By Donna Mulhearn - posted Monday, 26 July 2004


Parents are frightened to send their children to school. Women rush to the market and back home again without socialising with friends, many cafes close at sundown, where once they opened until midnight. Men are listless, unemployed and frustrated.

The living conditions in the city are appalling.

Almost a year and a half since the invasion and there’s still no reliable power. The electricity cuts are a constant frustration as families now deal with 45-degree heat without refrigeration or air-conditioning.

Advertisement

The water is still unclean, causing widespread disease and deaths in many country areas. Rubbish lies in the street uncollected. People wait as long as eight hours to buy petrol, and military road blocks cause traffic chaos that makes doing business in Baghdad impossible.

Welcome to the free Iraq – the one you don’t see reported on CNN.

“Saddam was bad, but at least he could keep the lights on!” is one of many comparisons made between the new and old regime.

For many Iraqis it has become as basic as that. That’s because they used to have the basics: jobs, security, power, clean water etc. Now they don’t.

They were promised freedom and liberation, but they don’t have that either. Airing your political views in the "free" Iraq can mean imprisonment and torture.

There are other similarities between the new and the old regime – the coalition bureaucrats live in Saddam’s palaces behind heavy razor-wire bombardments and don’t come out to talk to Iraqis or experience the chaos the invasion has created. They send out terror squads who cruise the streets in black Mercedes Benz with smoked windows. Soldiers raid houses in the middle of the night, trash everything and take away a prisoner without charge or trial, just because he "spoke badly" about Americans, despite the fact he doesn’t own a weapon. He is not heard of for a year, no family visits are allowed. There are stories of torture.

Advertisement

Remind you of something?

Understandably the Iraqis now feel betrayed and humiliated.

The chaos, the challenges of surviving everyday life in the new Iraq and the oppression of the violence have left Iraqis exhausted – physically, spiritually, emotionally.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. 3
  5. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Donna Mulhearn returned to Australia in mid-2004 from six months living in occupied Iraq where she worked as a volunteer aid worker establishing a shelter for street kids and orphans.

Article Tools
Comment Comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy