The Common Ills: And how does Iraq intend to get doctors now?

Tuesday, May 05, 2015

And how does Iraq intend to get doctors now?

War Hawk Stephen Harper visited Iraq over the weekend.

Here are some Tweets from the visit by Canada's Prime Minister.

I'm here to show our unconditional support for the troops & the mission they've accepted on behalf of our country. 

297 retweets453 favorites

Stephen Harper @pmharper ·

Honoured to have had breakfast w/ Cdn troops at Camp Canada in Kuwait. Cda is proud & thankful for their service. 

286 retweets436 favorites

Stephen Harper @pmharper ·

Great to see a bit of Canada all the way in Iraq. Canadian owned Melwood Geometrix is rooting for the @CanadiensMTL! 

65 retweets113 favorites

The Tweets came with photos. There were also videos.

But the videos are being pulled.

Not because it appears he's raided Lindsay Wagner's closet to find an old Bionic Woman sweat suit he could model -- who dresses him? -- but because in many of the now deleted photos showed the faces of Canadian soldiers.

Harper has made a big-to-do out of how the press must not show the faces of Canadian soldiers in Iraq -- leading Ann to suggest that soon Harper may order all Canadian soldiers in Iraq to wear veils.

Steven Chase (Globe & Mails) reports:

The PMO yanked the “24/7” videos from the Internet early Tuesday morning after concerns were raised about whether the Conservative video-makers had left Canadian soldiers vulnerable to being targeted by terror groups such as Islamic State.

The videos included footage of soldiers – and, most importantly, their faces, who were in the vicinity of the Prime Minister and Defence Minister Jason Kenney during their visits to northern Iraq and air bases in Kuwait.

By comparison, Canadian media were repeatedly warned against publishing or broadcasting images that show identifiable features such as faces of Canada’s soldiers, including elite troops, in any reporting on Mr. Harper’s trip to Iraq and Kuwait.

Vassy Kapelos (Global News) observes, "It’s still unclear why there appears to be two sets of rules for media and the PM when it comes to exposing the identity of soldiers involved in the mission to fight ISIS."

Meanwhile Alsumaria has a photo essay on a downtown Baghdad car bombing today which has left at least 3 dead and at least seven injured.

Corruption in Iraq means that the billions brought in on oil revenues each year just aren't enough.

Which is why they're flirting with an $800 million loan from the IMF.

Austerity measures is something the Iraqi people can't take. The government already fails to provide for them. But when you get in bed with IMF and the World Bank, austerity measures are usually the outcome.

Alsumaria reports over 60 doctors are protesting in Dhi Qhar because the government has failed to pay them.

Want to know why this is especially bad?

The violence has led waves of people to leave Iraq. And it's often been the professionals.

Iraq has a sever medical crisis.

Which is why, for years, we've advocated for the Iraqi government to offer accelerated government programs for doctors and nurses -- something Nouri only flirted publicly with in his final year as prime minister.

The doctors protesting?

All are from Syria.

Lot of luck continuing to import doctors from outside Iraq when word gets out that those who've traveled to this center of violence are not even getting paid.

The following community sites update: