Saturday, December 25, 2021

Are they allergic to reality?

How does one survive in a never-ending war zone?  That is Iraq, after all.  The US-led war didn't stop, peace didn't come, all US troops didn't leave, it just drags on and on.  And the Iraqi people have tot ry to live with it.  Layal Shakir (RUDAW) reports:

Hundreds of Iraqis have committed suicide in the current year as Iraq sees a concerning rise in suicide rates, an official said on Saturday.

“The number of registered suicide deaths in 2021 is 772, which is about 100 more cases than last year,” state media quoted Khalid al-Muhana, spokesperson for the Iraqi interior ministery as saying.  

Six hundred and sixty three cases of suicide have been reported this year, he noted.

Factors contributing to the rise in suicides in Iraq include high crime rates and violence, financial challenges, legal issues, child abuse, neglect, and intimate partner problems.

Around 60 percent of those who have committed suicide were men while 45 percent of them were women, according to Muhana.


Again, how does one survive in a never-ending war zone?


And please hold the western press acountable for normalizing this situation, for treating an ongoing, never-ending war as something normal and nothing to remark upon.  


In the real world, ALJAZEERA reports:


The governor of Iraq’s Najaf province has resigned, a day after another governor also quit following demonstrations against living conditions and corruption.

Louai al-Yasseri resigned from his leadership in Najaf, in central Iraq, on Friday after the governor of Nasiriya province in the south quit following the violent suppression of protesters.

Their departures underline the challenges facing war-scarred Iraq and how little has changed despite protests that swept capital Baghdad and the nation’s southern regions two years ago.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to express their anger at corruption, unemployment and crumbling public services, and hundreds lost their lives in protest-related violence.


So busy pretending that things are moving right along and that Moqtada al-Sadr is a "king maker," the western press can't deal with reality.  Nearly 18 years after this illegal war began, the western press still can't deal with reality.



The following sites updated: