BAGHDAD: IT'S STILL BAD. A FISKING OF WHY. IT IS GETTING BETTER, BUT NOT WHERE IT COUNTS
There is almost certain to be anti U.S. violence now and we have caused it, make no mistake
First a pretty good job from Newsweek this morning HERE. Much of the blame is being placed on the criminals Saddam let out of jail as the U.S. forces approached Baghdad. According to a very brief piece in the NYT this AM, 300 have been arrested and 92 other criminals were arrested last night. The water situation there is still very bad, but it seems it has been bad for a very long time and this is what is causing much of the malnutrition among children there. Bottom line is that we ain't fixing it.

The UN (I know thugs waiting for a payoff but now actually doing work) is bringing in fresh water. They say they have found an acute malnutrition rate for children of 7.7 percent for children younger than 5, compared with a figure of 4 percent in February 2002. Poor water and sanitation, exacerbated by the destruction and looting of water treatment facilities, are blamed for a rapid increase in cases of diarrhea among children, which can be followed by dehydration and malnutrition. More than one in 10 children in Baghdad is in need of treatment for dehydration, the UN study found. UNICEF said it was trucking more than two million liters of clean water into Iraq each day, as well as importing supplies of chlorine gas and tablets for water purification. The bad water is causing cholera in Basra, not our fault because the cases have been occurring since 1989, but it is one more thing our "Intel" didn't tell us. Fixing the water supplies will take time since what is needed is brand new equipment something the oil money can pay for starting right now. Additionally, Mosul and other areas of Iraq are reporting high levels of diarrheal diseases, which are one of the three main killers of children in Iraq,according to the World Health Organization. One concern is spread of dysentery caused by bad water bacterium. The VOA lays it out along with Drudge audios HERE.

U.S. refusal to stop the looters is mostly responsible for the situation now and we could blow the entire thing. Electrical plants have been looted of computers, cable, cable splicers, and all the stuff needed to fix things and after three weeks the U.S. hasn't bothered to send anything over there. This is a failure. And as I said in another post, if the Democratic Party wasn't controlled by the Hate America Left Bush would be in serious trouble. As it sits right now bureaucratic inertia is going to cost us the entire deal. Mullahs making noise will be effective.

A detailed accounting HERE. This is not more Liberal spin.