According to a senior UN spokesman last night on BBC Newsnight, millions of Iraqi people, particularly the old and the young, are in danger of dying from starvation-related illness in the next few weeks unless the American and British forces take on their full responsibilities as occupying powers. The UN is now asking for US$2 billion from the developed nations -- the largest donation ever sought. And this is only for starters.
This is not to say that American and British officers are carrying out mass genocide on purpose, of course. It is because senior officers have not yet prevailed upon their Commander-in-Chief that the whole invasion plan has gone seriously awry, and that it had better be modified as soon as possible. It was sheer incompetence on the part of Bush's team that they assumed that the Iraqi nation would welcome the invasion forces with open arms and that the occupation would be finished within a fortnight. Now that this has clearly not happened and that, in effect, a full-blown Medieval seige is taking place, then Bush should change the strategy immediately. According to what is happening in Basra, the war seems to be ending in a novel way. Water and food are now so short that thousands of Basrans who live on the periphery are pouring out every day to beg from the surrounding forces. Then they return to their homes. At the same time, the occupying forces have not dared enter the city for fear of guerilla warfare. From the interviews with American soldiers on TV last night, morale seems to be collapsing already -- as it did among many troops in Northern Ireland. They are, quite simply (and quite rightly), frightened of entering the cities. I suspect that the occupying armies will be swamped by their humanitarian responsibilities for feeding the civilian population and will not be able to cope. Once again, I believe that the Americans will soon neglect the big cities, leaving them to the charities and the UN, and will concentrate their heavy armour around the oilfields of the Tigris valley. Unless there's a total change of plan I cannot see how Blair can survive for much longer. I don't know enough about the American political scene to make an equally strong or specific forecast, but I really cannot see how Bush and his team will be able to survive for long enough to fight the next Election. The experiences of Northern Ireland and Vietnam are being repeated, but instead of lasting decades and years respectively it is being compressed into weeks or months this time. Keith Hudson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Keith Hudson,6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel:01225 312622/444881; Fax:01225 447727; E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
