skippy the bush kangaroo: note to awol

Sunday, June 18, 2006

note to awol

read the f**king memos from our own freaking embassy in baghdad.

the washington post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before president bush left on a surprise trip last monday to the green zone in baghdad for an upbeat assessment of the situation there, "the u.s. Embassy in iraq painted a starkly different portrait of increasing danger and hardship faced by its iraqi employees."

"snapshots from the office -- public affairs staff show strains of social discord."

-- "personal safety depends on good relations with the 'neighborhood' governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. the central government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias. people no longer trust most neighbors."

-- one embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. another received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.

-- iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in march and picking up in may, report "pervasive" harassment from islamist and/or militia groups. cuts in power and rising fuel prices "have diminished the quality of life." conditions vary but even upscale neighborhoods "have visibly deteriorated" and one of them is now described as a "ghost town."

-- two of the three female iraqis in the public affairs office reported stepped-up harassment since mid-may...."some groups are pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative." one of the women is now wearing a full abaya after receiving direct threats.

-- embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover will be blown. of nine staffers, only four have told their families where they work. they all plan for their possible abductions. no one takes home their cell phones as this gives them away. one employee said criticism of the u.s. had grown so severe that most of her family believes the u.s. "is punishing populations as saddam did."

-- since april, the "demeanor" of guards in the green zone has changed, becoming more "militia-like," and some are now "taunting" embassy personnel or holding up their credentials and saying loudly that they work in the embassy: "such information is a death sentence if overheard by the wrong people." for this reason, some have asked for press instead of embassy credentials.

-- "for at least six months, we have not been able to use any local staff members for translation at on-camera press events....we cannot call employees in on weekends or holidays without blowing their 'cover.'"

-- the overall environment is one of "frayed social networks," with frequent actual or perceived insults. none of this is helped by lack of electricity. "one colleague told us he feels 'defeated' by circumstances, citing his example of being unable to help his two-year-old son who has asthma and cannot sleep in stiflng heat," which is now reaching 115 degrees.

-- fuel lines have grown so long that one staffer spent 12 hours in line on his day off. "employees all confirm that by the last week of may, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without.....one staff member reported that a friend lives in a building that houses a new minister; within 24 hours of his appointment, her building had city power 24 hours a day."

-- the cable concludes that employees' "personal fears are reinforcing divisive sectarian or ethnic channels, despite talk of reconciliation by officials." - editor & publisher

boy....sounds peachy keen over there. yeah...something's on the march, but it sure isn't "freedom". oh...and might i mention the environmental disaster that we are leaving as our legacy of occupation? i'm sure that will leave joy in iraqi's hearts.

an environmental disaster is brewing in the heartland of Iraq's northern sunni-led insurgency, where iraqi officials say that in a desperate move to dispose of millions of barrels of an oil refinery byproduct called "black oil," the government pumped it into open mountain valleys and leaky reservoirs next to the tigris river and set it on fire, the new york times will report monday, RAW STORY has learned.

posted by Cookie Jill at 5:41 PM |