The US invasion of Iraq has not managed to spread Democracy in the region but it is successfully spreading Cholera:
The number of cholera cases in Iran is on the rise after the outbreak of an epidemic in neighbouring Iraq, an Iranian health official was quoted as saying on Saturday."The last count shows 43 people have contracted cholera in Kordestan province," Mohsen Zahrai, who is in charge of water and food-borne diseases, told ISNA news agency.
He said those affected had been commuting across the border with Iraq and warned Iranian citizens to postpone pilgrimages to Iraq until the situation was under control. (Agence France Presse)
That's the problem with microbes. They don't seem to care about borders:
Jordanian Health Ministry Secretary General Ali Asa'ad said on Sunday that his ministry has alerted all hospitals and health centers to check cases of diarrhea to make sure they are not symptoms of cholera amid the disease outbreak in Iraq and Iran.
Asa'ad said in a statement that health teams at border points and airports are checking on all passengers from Iraq by giving them preventive medicines and taking notes of their health history, official Petra news agency reported. (Xinhua)
Meanwhile the cholera epidemic continues to spread within Iraq itself, with over 3300 cases reported since August. Cholera is primarily a waterborne disease. So it is related to poor sanitation. Before the invasion Iraq's cholera incidence was about one in a million per year. Since august it is jumped by a factor of 100 and expected to climb further.
Cholera can appear anywhere in a country with few resources, but it is easily preventable and cheap to treat (oral rehydration therapy). The real scandal in Iraq is that this disease of poor sanitation and poverty is occurring in a country where a superpower is pumping in almost $200 million a day. It's not a country without resources, in that sense.
Two hundred million dollars a day of US taxpayer money and what they have to show for it is an epidemic disease of poverty, spreading to its neighbors. Please don't give them any more of my money. I don't think they can afford it.
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Come on Revere, they had cholera before we were there. We also didnt invade Iran and they have it. Its also an Iraqi problem as they have taken over the responsibility for the administration of all things Iraqi. To get rid of it they have to have power to push the pumps and they cant get it because of all of the illegal tapping of the powerlines and regions just taking things off line. Got to have water to have sanitization and they have control of that too.
We arent putting 200 million a day into Iraq. Far from it. We might be spending about two million a day to keep our troops in there. But 200 million a day is about 73 billion dollars annually, and that would account for just under 1/4th of the entire military budget. The numbers just wont add up for all of the other things the military is doing if we use the 200 mill a day figure.
Again, folks you cant just use the military budget of the US as propaganda. The Dems who use those numbers are full of crap as a Christmas turkey. Its money that we were spending ANYWAY to maintain the force, not additional. But they would have you think that because it fulfills their agenda. There is a LOT of additional and I will give that to Revere hands down. But not the numbers that are being touted. For 200 million a day I would go there and have the whole place up in running in 3 months, that includes payoffs and payment for hit squads to take out the militias. I would turn it into a mercenary war for 200 million a day. Shit, pay me 2 million a day and I would bring order out of chaos. And they would have a full blown democracy as a result complete with sanitary water, oil rigs pumping and a very friendly government. Or ELSE.
USAID which is the coordinating facility for aid outside the US budget for 07 is 3.9 billion. Where is the rest of the money thats inflowing as is suggested? I havent seen anything. The DoD is also pulling back on requests for additional ammo and bombs. Dont need them any longer. So the supply chain is moving back to the manufacturers and not from manufacturer to the lines. Something isnt right when this kind of statement is made.
Randy; I suggest you read the post again.
I'm not sure as to where they are using the 200 million dollars per day, but I think it should be enough to solve their problem regarding poor sanitation.
"But 200 million a day is about 73 billion dollars annually, and that would account for just under 1/4th of the entire military budget."
73 billion a year is roughly accurate, at least as an average for the past few years of what the whitehouse cannot avoid admitting it is spending on the war:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR20070…
Now a small slice of that money is going elsewhere, Afghanistan, a few 'war on terra' related operations and payoffs to other countries, but the vast majority of it goes to Iraq. 130,000 troops + contractors + supplies isn't cheap.
Then there are the future costs (eg va care for the vets, deferred maintenence, etc) and whatever costs the whitehouse has managed to conceal within the constantly growing regular defense budget.
And yea, total defense spending is up about 25% specifically for the war on top of the increases to the regular defense budget. It is really quite shocking if you think about it: The US is spending more than the entire rest of the world combined on the military while loosing a war, and most of the rest of the spending is by nations that are friendly toward us. Do you think there is any chance that our strategy is stupid?
"For 200 million a day I would go there and have the whole place up in running in 3 months, that includes payoffs and payment for hit squads to take out the militias. I would turn it into a mercenary war for 200 million a day."
Who knows, it is hard to believe you could do worse... though your complete ignorance of the cost of the war can't be a good sign. All we do know is what bush can do with that much money, even after making it in large part a mercenary war.
200 million dollars a day is huge sum of money. I think they can spend a little for sanitation to avoid other diseases.
Yo Jeff, I can tell you that the streets would be flowing in honey and everyone would be happy for 2 mill a day if I was running it. No I agree its a total balls up on this and the ONLY way to end it is one of two. Take out Damascus, Teheran and violate Pakistan sovereignty and get Osama bin in Pajama's. The other? Just leave. It would turn into a bloodbath far worse than anything we have done or will.
Me, I wouldnt allow the enemies of Iraq to provide shelter to them. I would surround and give them an hour to pony them up. Else its urban renewal time. Ten or 15 D8 bulldozers would just raze the neighborhood. If they shoot, we call in an air strike with 200 pounders. Either way the get the message that there is a new sherrif in town and he wont take shit from anyone. Be nice first, be as bad as it takes on the second.
First thing for me would be secure the power stations and take local control away from the mullahs and tribal leaders. Next, get them all on line and secured. Shoot anyone who tries to piggy back in a very loud and published way. Always explain that they were caught red handed and that by the one taking, it can take it down for all the others.
Pumps are next, water, water. Drinking and flushing water. Same thing. Steal water. You are shot. Summary execution. Sewerage, get it up and pump! Then start building projects to get the areas that dont have it on line. Haul water to the people that dont have every day. Do it in armor and again, be nice but if they want to get rowdy...Get ten times more rowdy than they ever think about it. Finally the last two. Ensure food is getting to the people and that the schools are open. Offer a 5000 dollar cash reward for the turn in of any foreigner thats a terrorist. Publicly execute them in the square by hanging every Saturday. Thats immediately after a first class two hour trial complete without media, juries. Only a single judge and you know the type... Judge Roy Bean. Absolute control and without any tolerance of any kind. See someone that needs help, do it. If you got troublemakers like the Al Mahdi Army... take them off the map!
Yolanda, it would be nice but thats not what we are responsible for now. Thats an Iraqi fight and speaking of fights if you havent heard the Turks are about to take off on the Kurds again. War looms in the NW of the country. The Turks have been fighting a civil war of their own with separatists who flee back into Iraq everytime they chase them.
Sanitization could we be the least of the Iraqi worries soon. The Turks backed off last time at our request, they are not going to sit back and get shelled from Iraq and just take it. I dont blame them.