Rupert's Journal Tells You That Iraq Is Even A Bigger Disaster Than You Thought

Yet there's nothing about this on Faux News, is there...?

A great success for Our Leaders: Taking a powerless state and making dysfunctional, unsafe, ungovernable and, oh yes, a global security risk. At least Johnny Mac will keep the successes coming....

In Baghdad, door-to-door war returned this past week after the fighting in Basra spread to other parts of Iraq. The government declared a state of emergency and imposed curfews, making the capital a large prison for several days.

Curfews and the declarations of a state of emergency have become the only way the government can enforce law and order on the streets when the security situation gets worse. For Iraqis, these circumstances make life even more miserable.

Hassan Mohammed Sadeq, a merchant from Baghdad’s Rusafa area, became upset as he talked to me about the fighting. “We live in the devastated country and we have forgotten what it’s like to live in comfort and peace,” he said. “The government wants to settle their political issues, and we have to pay for this conflict with our lives. Where are we going? Who is listening? We are in hell and the government is ignoring our rights. We had sacrificed for the elections. Is this the new life the government promises? I hope not.”

Mohammed Abdel-Karim, a 50-year-old bus driver from the small area of al Washash in Baghdad’s Karkh section, told me that his job requires him to move everywhere. But he hadn’t been able to work because of the curfew. “I don’t remember how many times there have been curfews, and I cannot stand it anymore,” he said. “We exist within our homes like prisoners and we cannot provide for our daily subsistence.”

Shop owners and other merchants also find life difficult under a curfew. Ahmed Hussein. a 30-year-old shopkeeper in Rusafa, said it’s the government’s failure to control the security situation that has harmed his living conditions. “We are weary of this life,” he said. “Our businesses are collapsing because of this constant war.”

Baghdad had been a city full of life, but curfews turn it into a city of ghosts. The streets are deserted, checkpoints are closed and the Iraqi army guards main streets with tanks.

The security processes make it difficult for citizens to reach their homes. [pull this up one graph] Mahmoud Saad, a 42-year-old shopkeeper from the Kazimiyah area of Baghdad, said he hadn’t been able to reach his home for several days because of curfews, road closures and checkpoints.

Despite the security procedures, armed groups were still able to move about and attack buildings and political parties related to the government. The curfews not only prevented people from going home or going to work, but also made them easy targets in the crossfire between the militias and government security forces.

Shatha Muhammad Ali told me how she spent the days of the curfews in a small room in her house with her mother and brothers, hiding from the gunmen and government forces shooting around their home. “I could barely reach the kitchen to bring food or medicine to my old mother,” she said.

Food prices in Baghdad rose to higher levels during the curfew. One pack of 30 eggs cost more than $15, and vegetable prices were five times more expensive. Prices for bread, meat and fuel also increased.

The only people who were happy with the curfew were the children, who could stay home from school. Because the streets were empty, they became soccer fields for the kids, who sometimes played with Iraqi Army soldiers.

Link.