Author: Carol Watson

Seems such a short time ago that we had reached 1000 soldiers dead in Iraq. Now it’s 100 more unnecessary deaths.

Casualties in Iraq

The Rolling Stones 1966 hit, “Mother’s Little Helper,” was a warning about addiction to Valium, a tranquilizer used by a legion of western women “…to get her through her busy day.” Of course, there is no comparison between the relatively placid suburban existence of the 1960s and the nightmare of Baghdad at war today. According to Riverbend, Valium is in the emergency first-aid kit of most Baghdad families to help them them make it through their day, and through the night.

Drug addiction is growing in Iraq, but as Riverbend remarks, Iraqis have other concerns which are more pressing; like protecting their children from kidnappers and bombs in this continuing disastrous war and occupation. As she puts it so well, it’s “like discovering you have cancer while you’re fighting off a hungry alligator- you’ll worry about the disease later.”

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Or was it Cheney’s run home? The New York Times reported in this article last Wednesday that VP Dick Cheney was booed during the seventh inning of the Yankees-Red Socks baseball game at Yankee Stadium the night before. According to Tristero: Fair and Balanced blog this is what really happened:

What the Times left out–and what we heard from two different people who attended the game–was that the booing, jeers and catcalls were so loud and so widespread that the Secret Service hustled the Vice President out of the stadium immediately, fearing for his safety.

Found an interesting website which keeps track of attacks on oil pipelines, installations and industry personnel in Iraq, starting in June of 2003 … here

Apparently this past month, June 2004, has been the worst, at least in terms of the number of incidents.

A bit of a reality check has crept into this article from Stars and Stripes on NATO’s promise to train Iraqi security forces:

The North Atlantic Council decided on Monday it was “possible” for NATO to train Iraqi security forces, though it wasn’t clear how or when, or even where.

Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi blogger, shares his personal views on the June 30th “liberation” of Iraq.

The American army is building six permanent bases in Iraq, three surrounding Baghdad, one in the south, on in the east and on in the north. The three surrounding Baghdad are Al-Habbanyya, which is an old Iraq military base and airport near the artificial lake of Habbania, the second is Ar-Rasheed base in the south-east of Baghdad, and the third is At-Taji base in the north of Baghdad, which is the larges base in Iraq, it looks like a small city. The other three bases are Ali base near Nasryya, Al-Walid base northern to Falluja, and another base in Al-Mosul. These six bases are the cancer in the body of the new Iraq.
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Also, check out the links on his page to his family’s and his friend’s blogs.