CPTnet
May 27, 2003
IRAQ UPDATE: May 26, 2003
On May 25 the team visited a friend in the Shatta Humse neighbourhood of
Baghdad. Streets in this area are filled with large green pools of water
contaminated with raw sewage. Because of this, taxis will not travel down
these streets.
The friend's wife went into labour at 4 a.m. on May 14, but
no taxis were willing to take her to hospital until daylight because of
security concerns. The friend's sister works at a local high school and says
that attendance is now about 75 percent. The friend told CPT that suicide
bombings will
increase in Iraq because of anger and frustration with the foreign
occupiers.
Gasoline continues to be a real source of frustration. The team passed a
number of gas stations with lines of 100 cars waiting several hours for a
fill-up. The lines are now under U.S. military control and some essential
workers such as doctors are allowed to go to the head of the line-ups. Some
others who get gasoline turn around and sell it on the black market for
several times the price they paid. Iraqi Oil Ministry officials say that
supplies will improve in June when more gasoline arrives from Jordan and
Kuwait. In the meantime, some public buses are running, but many have been
looted or stolen and the buses also have difficulty getting fuel.
Iraqis have said to the team that democracy has no meaning unless
salaries, cooking gas, electricity, and gasoline supplies are restored.
They want the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and the UN to immediately begin
food distribution "or chaos will follow." Many also repeat a saying that
Iraq is "one of the most ungovernable countries in the world because of it
ethnic and religious make-up." But still they say that Iraqis are qualified
and ready for self-government, and that the new government need not exclude
all Baathists since they were originally liberal-minded secularists who
avoided extremist groups, theocrats and communists.
Electricity is only available in the city for two to three hours per day.
Imams in the local mosques are urging looters to return stolen goods, or
bring them to the mosque for distribution to the poor.
The team's Stewart Vriesinga has returned to his home in Ontario and been
replaced by Rick Polhamus (Fletcher OH) and Anne Montgomery (New York NY).
Lisa Martens (Winnipeg MB) continues in Baghdad.
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