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<font size=3><b>Sabah al-Baghdadi - Iraq: Disastrous and Shocking
Official Statistics<br><br>
</b>Aug 7th, 2009 at 15:21 <br>
<a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/08/07/sabah-al-baghdadi-iraq-disastrous-and-shocking-official-statistics/" eudora="autourl">
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/08/07/sabah-al-baghdadi-iraq-disastrous-and-shocking-official-statistics/<br>
<br>
</a>Translated and adapted from Arabic by Khalil Nakhleh<br><br>
The following official governmental statistics, up to December 2008, show
the disastrous conditions prevalent in Iraq since the American invasion
and occupation of that country. <br><br>
1. <b>One million widowed Iraqi women</b>
(according to Iraqi Ministry of Women Affairs). <br><br>
2. <b>Four million orphaned Iraqi
children</b> (according to estimates by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning).
<br><br>
3. <b>Two and a half million (2,500,000)
Iraqis killed</b> (according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Forensic
Medicine). <br><br>
4. <b>800,000 Iraqis have disappeared</b>
in secret holding places connected with the different ruling parties
(according to registered complaints at the Iraqi Ministry of the
Interior). <br><br>
5. <b>340,000 Iraqi prisoners, detained
without charge, in U.S. army prisons, the prisons of the Iraqi
government, and the prisons in the Kurdistan District</b> (according to
Iraqi, Arab, international and UN human rights organizations and
agencies). US occupying forces admit officially that the number of
Iraqi detainees in their prisons is about 120,000. <br><br>
6. <b>Four and a half million (4,500,000)
Iraqis are refugees outside Iraq</b> (according to statistics of those
seeking passports (category C) from the General Directorate of Passports.
<br><br>
7. <b>Two and a half million (2,500,000)
Iraqis are refugees inside Iraq</b> (according to the Iraqi Ministry of
Refugees). <br><br>
8. <b>76,000 registered Iraqi cases of
AIDS</b>; this number did not exceed 114 cases before the invasion and
occupation of Iraq (according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health). <br><br>
9. <b>Frightening spread of the use of
addictive drugs</b> imported from Iran, among youth (according to the
Iraqi Ministry of Health and the Center for Combating Drugs and
Addictions). I have written a series of well-researched articles
about the various methods used to smuggle drugs, some of which are highly
toxic, and how they are collected in different storage places in the
southern districts, under the total control of some of the parties and
the militias participating in the government, and how the profits from
these drugs are used to buy (pay off) government officials, in order to
gain their support and silence, and to finance their election campaigns.
<br><br>
10. <b>Three out of every four marriages end up in divorce</b>
since the invasion and occupation of Iraq (according to Iraqi Ministry of
Health). <br><br>
11. <b>More than 40% of the Iraqi people are under the poverty
line</b> (according to the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights). I
believe, however, that the actual percentage is much higher, and
surpasses 55%. <br><br>
12. <b>Decline in the level and quality of basic and tertiary
education</b>, according to statements made by officials in UNESCO, which
led this organization to refuse to recognize university degrees issued by
Iraqi tertiary institutions (universities and colleges).<br><br>
13. <b>Tens of thousands of forged university degrees</b> are
granted to high government officials, high ranking officers, directors
generals, and senior officials of political parties (according to
statements and statistics from the Iraqi Honesty and Transparency
Commission). <br><br>
14. <b>There exist about 550 political bodies and party
coalitions</b> (according to the Iraqi Independent Public Elections
Commission), and, as of today, there is no law regulating this large
number of political bodies. <br><br>
15. <b>There exist about 11,400 civil society organizations</b>
(according to the Iraqi ministries of the Interior, Justice and Social
Welfare). These organizations have public and secret objectives,
and it is not clear what these are, and how they are financed. <br><br>
16. <b>There are 126 security companies controlled by foreign
secret service agencies, and registered at the Iraqi Ministry of the
Interior.</b> The declared objective of these companies is to
protect foreign embassies, foreign diplomats, and visiting VIPs.
However, their hidden objectives are unknown. In this case, what is
the value of having today one million persons under arms in Iraq,
distributed among the Ministries of Defense, the Interior, the various
governmental security agencies, in addition to the security agencies of
the various ruling parties. <br><br>
17. <b>There are 43 officially registered armed militias</b>
connected to parties. <br><br>
18. <b>There are 220 newspapers and media publications financed by
foreign secret service agencies</b> (according to Iraqi Journalist
Union). The specific objectives of these publications is to do
brainwashing of Iraqis, to remove their thinking about the various
projects aiming at fragmenting Iraq into sectarian, regional, and ethnic
mini-states, and to destroy their national identity. <br><br>
19. <b>There are 45 TV channels financed by foreign secret service
agencies</b> (according to statements by the Management of Nilesat and
Arabsat satellite service providers). <br><br>
20. <b>There are 67 radio stations financed by foreign secret
service agencies</b> (according to statements by the Iraqi Information
Commission). <br><br>
21. <b>There are 4 networks of digital communications, the
estimated value of each is 12 billion dollars, financed in favor of party
leaders.</b> Among which are the following companies:<br><br>
· Kork Company owned
exclusively by Mas’aoud Barazani (the President of the Kurdistan
District);<br>
· Assia Company owned
exclusively by Jalal Talbani (the President of Iraq);<br>
· Zein Company (Kuwaiti),
50% is owned by Ahmad Jalabi and the Islamic Da’wah Party;<br>
· Atheer Company owned
exclusively by Abdel Aziz al-Hakim. <br><br>
22. <b>There are more than 11,400 official and unofficial party
headquarters.</b> These could be the offices of fake contracting
company, or an NGO, or a political group. However, these
headquarters in reality are public premises for the Iraqi government that
were taken over from their legitimate owners after they were eliminated,
or forced to vacate and seek refuge somewhere else. All are paid
for from the Iraqi national budget. <br><br>
This is only the tip of the iceberg of what’s happening in “their new
democratic Iraq”, since the American invasion and occupation of the
country. <br><br>
The article appeared originally in
<a href="http://www.kanaanonline.org">www.kanaanonline.org</a>, no. 1973,
on 30.7.2009.<br><br>
Sabah al-Baghdadi is an independent Iraqi journalist and researcher; he
may be reached at
<a href="mailto:sabahalbaghdadi@maktoob.com">
sabahalbaghdadi@maktoob.com</a>.<br><br>
Translated and adapted by Dr. Khalil Nakhleh:<br><br>
Dr. Khalil Nakhleh is an independent Palestinian researcher and
development consultant; he may be reached at
<a href="mailto:abusama@palnet.com">abusama@palnet.com</a>.<br>
<br><br>
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