Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 03:51:32 -0400 From: Joe Lobo <tw...@pathcom.com>
I happened to be watching last night on the Overseas Service of BBC- TV an enlightening segment on Iraq where a BBC TV correspondent was getting the views of average middle class educated Iraquis on the state of their nation ,about 8 years after the much revered USA president Mr. G.W. Bush decided that he must have regime change then and introduced the old concept of " democracy ". Speaking to a female university lecturer who said ... ...." Mr. Bush may have had great zeal in bringing us his western -style democracy..........but he brought us more pain and suffering. Under Mr Saddam , our former president who we knew was a military dictator......the poor people had had enough to eat and low level of medical care. Now under the patronage and occupation of the all-powerful USA we have hungry poor and the introduction of corruption among our own Iraqui officials in the Home and Defence ministries who charge the common people enormous bribe money to effect a simple transaction that was speedily done and bribe-free in Saddam`s regime. If a young man wants to join the army or the police, for example , he has to be prepared to pay an entry bribe to concerned officials of the equivalent of $ 500 (US)." Mario responds: This is more selective reporting by the BBC which has supported the tyranny of Saddam Hussein from the beginning with relentless propaganda against the liberation. The US gave Iraq an epic opportunity for freedom and democracy, peace and prosperity, by removing Saddam's heavy heel from the necks of the Iraqi nation, and did so in less than a month in 2003 with minimum casualties. What happend next was the Iraqis turning against each other in sectarian violence while the US-led coalition has been helping the Iraq government to stop the mayhem and train them to handle their own security. There is no "occupation" since the coalition forces have been invited to be there by the Iraqi government to help secure Iraq's nascent democracy. The corruption will have to be corrected by the Iraqi people through their own electoral and legal systems. Any comparison between Iraq and the corruption in Goa is patently absurd.