Aid recommendations for Iraq and the role of corruption in redevelopment delays

This morning's reading is of a white paper published by Oxfam detailing a 'looming humanitarian crisis' in Iraq. Sad stuff.

I remember when the American public was told that the Armed Forces would be welcomed with open arms and seen as liberators. What seems to have escaped the folks making that claim is the issue of responsiblity. We owe the people of Iraq assistance in getting back on their feet after we have destroyed their country through extended warfare. I know it wasn't all roses before the invasion, but this is a step backwards. For example, only 20% of Iraqi citizens now have access to sanitation, and malnutrition among children has risen by half. These same children, growing up in wartime, will have a high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder, their ability to learn is damaged, and we are therefore helping to create an entire generation of people whose intellectual capital has been stunted from the very outset. This does not bode well for productive reconstruction efforts, and it is, without debate, a worse state of being for the citizens left alive than before the invasion happened.

I wish I could take the large portion of my taxes that is going to the defense fund and divert it to Oxfam.

One thing that is interesting is the number and variation in NGO's in Iraq that have stepped up to do what neither government seems capable of doing- sharing water and food, distributing medical supplies, and so forth. It saddens me that in this country, if I were to give money directly to any one of them to assist with the distribution of humanitarian aid, and any portion of that were to be used for sectarian agendas, even without my knowledge, I could in theory be arrested for abetting an enemy of the United States. However, from my view, if the ability of the citizens of Iraq to pursue 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' is being deliberately impaired by our country, we have failed every touted objective of this war already. How can they seek happiness with IED's everywhere? Liberty with curfews? No sanitation and no water, food rations inadequate? All three of these ideals that we espouse as essential to the great American idea of democracy, that we seek (at least in rhetoric) to promote across the globe, are in danger if not already lost, and we are the cause of it.

This is not the freedom I know.