BAQUBA — Farmers in the Diyala province in Iraq have been hit by just about every crisis possible. First the security disaster dried up supplies and markets, then lack of electricity cut irrigation, and now comes a drying up of water resources. Nothing now seems more difficult in Iraq than the business of farming.
Food Crisis Hits Fallujah
FALLUJAH, May 12 (IPS) – Sharp increases in food prices have generated a new wave of anti-occupation and anti-U.S. sentiment in Fallujah. “This is a country that was damned by the Americans the moment they stepped on our soil,” Burhan Jassim, a farmer from Sichir village just outside Fallujah told IPS. “This is Iraqi land
The story that isn’t being told
The story that isn’t being told Rageh Omaar The Guardian March 17 2008 There was also an extraordinary diversity of views about the war and the occupation: independent bloggers such as the excellent Arab-American writer Dahr Jamail operated alongside reporters from the New York Times, ITV and al-Jazeera. But as insecurity, violence and political instability
Running Out of Water in Rising Heat
BAQUBA — Water supply is drying out in what was once the agriculturally rich Diyala province north of Baghdad. Baquba, the capital city of Diyala, is now running out of water both for drinking and for irrigation. Water supply has been hit by power failures. The central pumping station has been running short of electricity
‘I wanted to report on where the silence was’
Texas-born Dahr Jamail was outraged that the US media were swallowing the Bush administration’s line on Iraq and so, with just $2,000 and no previous journalistic experience, he set off to find out what was really happening in the country. He talks to Stephen Moss The Guardian Stephen Moss Thursday May 8 2008 To read
US presidents-to-be in denial
As soon as it was clear that the presidential primaries would be the news story of the year in the US, Iraq was dropped by the media. The occupation and the campaign for the presidential nominations were de-linked almost from the start. So we don’t know what the potential candidates would do in Iraq. But pulling troops out doesn’t seem to be an option for any of them.
Corruption Eats Into Food Rations
FALLUJAH — Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption. Iraqis survived the sanctions after the first Gulf War (1990) with the support of rations through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The aid was set up in 1995
Falluja’s struggle after invasion
Five years ago, George Bush, the US president, announced aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier that the war in Iraq was a “mission accomplished”. But events in the western Anbar province had already been spiralling out of control and were threatening the volatile security situation in occupied Iraq.
Five Years On, Fallujah in Tatters
FALLUJAH — Fallujah remains a crippled city more than two years after the November 2004 U.S.-led assault. Unemployment, and lack of medical care and safe drinking water in the city 60 km west of Baghdad remain a continuous problem. Freedom of movement is still curtailed.
From One Dictator to the Next
BAGHDAD — Many Iraqis have come to believe that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is just as much a dictator as Saddam Hussein was. “Al-Maliki is a dictator who must be removed by all means,” 35-year-old Abdul-Riza Hussein, a Mehdi Army member from Sadr City in Baghdad told IPS. “He is a worse dictator than