The U.S. War in Iraq ended Saddam's ruthless dictatorship. But hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children have been killed or maimed and thousands more children have been orphaned. 2 1/2 million Iraqis have fled their nation, a nation so war torn, pictures of Baghdad, Fallujah and other major Iraq cities are seldom shown in the media. The government is largely dysfunctional and corrupt and Iraq is arguably no longer a viable nation.
How bad is it? Baghdad has electricity just 3 or 4 hours a day, meaning businesses are severely limited and there is little computer or television use, little air conditioning in 110 degree seasonal temperatures and no clean water or sewage treatment. Among those who have fled Iraq are doctors, nurses, lawyers, professors, teachers and businesspeople, the core of any advanced society and medical care, education and business opportunities are in short supply. Unemployment is nearly 50%, twice that of the U.S. during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Meanwhile as the Iraqi people suffer, the U.S. built and maintains its Green Zone, a tightly secured city within a city in which all services are readily available to those allowed to enter and where the Iraq government resides.
As for security, military and police protection are unreliable and explosions and gunfire, death and destruction are every day occurrences as families bury their loved ones. So assuming all the U.S. soldiers and U.S. "contractors" actually leave Iraq, you will understand why the Iraqis don't celebrate the nearly nine year U.S. war and military occupation as well as why some Iraqis harbor deep bitterness for America. This is the U.S. legacy in Iraq after paying so high a price in dollars yet a price that pales in comparison to the one paid by America's soldiers and their families, and America's allied soldiers and their families.
Dick
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