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April 17, 2005
It's Official. We Have No Shame.
Really, you'd think Halabja, the Kurdish town gassed by Saddam Hussein, invoked often as a pretext for various wars would get some special treatment -- like potable water, which is pretty special in Iraq these days.
Well, read it and weep:
The New York Times reports on the effects of the Bush dministration's earlier diversion of funds that had been earmarked by Congress for Iraq's reconstruction: "with the outbreak of insurgency in central and southern Iraq last year, the United States shifted $3.4 billion from water, electricity and oil projects to pay for training and equipping the Iraqi Army and police forces." Of 81 planned water projects to be financed through the Iraqi government, all but 13 were cancelled. Effects even in the Kurdish north, the part least affected by the invasion and occupation, have been harsh. The town of Halabja, gassed by Saddam (with the aid of the Reagan administration) in 1988, and frequently used as a propaganda point in subsequent U.S. assaults on Iraq, just lost a $10 million project, with the result that only half of its population has regular running water and even less has potable water.
I saw this story over at the newly-redesigned Occupation Watch, which is now running a daily compilation of news and analysis about the occupation. It looks as if it will be an invaluable resource.
Posted by zeynep at April 17, 2005 11:24 PM
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