[lit-ideas] Iraq & news
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 16:43:17 EST
What we don't hear about Iraq.....what in the world is with the water???
_http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/_ (http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/)
<<Thursday, January 27, 2005
Water Anxiety...
I have to make this fast. We have about two hours of electricity- hopefully.
The water came back yesterday evening. It's just a little drizzle but it's
certainly better than nothing.
E. was the first to hear it. We were sitting in the living room and he
suddenly jumped up, alert, "Do you hear that?" He asked. I strained my ears
for
either the sound of a plane or helicopter or gun shots. Nothing... except,
wait... something... like a small stream of... water? Could it be? Was it
back?
We both ran into the bathroom where we had the faucets turned on for the last
eight days in anticipation of water. Sure enough, there it was- a little
stream of water that kept coming and going as if undecided. E. and I did a
little
victory dance in front of the sink with some celebratory hoots and clapping.
This was followed by a lot of work. We spent the rest of the evening filling
anything that was fillable- pots, pans, cups, bottles and buckets. The
formerly empty area under the staircase is now filled with big pots of water
covered with trays and mismatching pot covers to keep out stray bugs and dust.
I almost didn't sleep last night. I kept worrying the water would be cut off
again. I actually crept downstairs at 4 a.m. to see if it was still there
and found E. standing in the bathroom doorway doing the same. My mother is
calling the syndrome "water anxiety". We were hoping the flow would grow
stronger
at night but apparently the water pressure is really low. E. and I rose
early this morning because we decided last night that should the water
continue
to flow, we'd attempt to fill up the big water tank on the roof. The water
from this tank goes directly to the electric water heater but since we haven't
been using that for a while now, we decided to close up the tank and use it as
a sort of secondary storage. We cannot get caught off-guard again. Drinking
water rose to almost 1,000 Dinars a liter this last week.
E. and I spent the day carrying up buckets of water. The water flow is so
weak, it takes about 17 minutes to fill up a 10 liter plastic pail (I was
timing it). We've carried up about 10 buckets until now. The water still
doesn't
reach the kitchen faucets so we've managed to move the dirty dishes to the
bathroom and are washing them there.
Unfortunately, the electricity situation has deteriorated. We're getting
about four hours for every twenty hours in our area- I'm not quite sure what's
going on in the other areas. It feels like we're almost cut off from each
other.
Baghdad has been unstable these last few days. We had several explosions
this last week and although the number of explosions wasn't surprising, the
force of a couple of them had us wincing. There's a real fear of the coming
elections and what they might bring. I don't like the idea that they've
selected
schools as election sites. School is out right now, but the security threat is
obvious- elections sites are most likely going to be bombed. Schools are
having a difficult time as it is getting things fixed and replaced, they don't
need the added trauma of an explosion. It's just a bad idea.
The curfew begins at six from now on and there's also a "driving curfew" in
addition to the ordinary one. I don't have the exact hours but I know that
during several hours of the day, it's ok to be on foot but not ok to be in a
car. I don't have the slightest idea how they're going to enforce that one.
Ghazi Al Yawir, our alleged current president, was giving an interview on
LBC yesterday. Apparently, he and Allawi aren't on the same election list
anymore because they had a falling out as to who should head the list. Ghazi
proposed the president should be the head of the list and Allawi claimed
somebody
Shia (Allawi himself) should head the list. Now, Allawi's group is 285 on the
election ballot and Yawir's group is 288, I think.
My favorite question during the interview was when the reporter asked him
what he thought of Chalabi possibly being arrested. Ghazi looked flustered and
a little bit unsure (apparently he hasn't been watching CNN while abroad). He
actually told her that the person who claimed Chalabi was wanted was
probably speaking his own "personal" opinion and that it wasn't representative
of
the 'government'- never mind the person in question was the Minister of
Defense. To be perfectly fair, he didn't mention which government he was
referring
to- I couldn't tell if he was talking about the US, the UK or the current
group of Puppets. He claimed that for Chalabi to be arrested there needed to
be
'proof' he had actually done something wrong... the Interpol wanting him
really wasn't enough.
It's a bit discouraging to watch the current government so uncoordinated.
It's like they don't even communicate with each other. It's also somewhat
disturbing to know that they can't seem to decide who is a criminal and who
isn't.
Isn't there some "idiots guide to being a good Vichy government"?
They say communications are going to be cut off very soon. Telephones are
often cut off and the mobile network is sometimes inaccessible for days at a
time but we heard there also might not be web access. Students have a mid-year
vacation right now but no one is going anywhere. Almost everyone is trapped
at home because the security situation is quite bad and no one wants to be
caught in an area where an explosion might occur. If the bomb doesn't kill
you,
the Iraqi security forces or the Americans might and if no one kills you then
you risk getting a bag over the head and a trip to Abu Ghraib.
There's an almost palpable anxiety in the air these last couple of weeks and
it's beginning to wear on people- fuel shortages, water shortages and a lack
of electricity. It's like the first days of the war all over again.
_Juan Cole has a "The Speech Bush SHOULD have Given"_
(http://www.juancole.com/2005/01/speech-bush-should-have-given-this-is.html)
and it's quite good.
In my opinion, during this year's inaugral Bush could have summed it up with
the following: "Ha! I can't believe you people actually re-elected me!
Unbelievable! Some people just loooove the abuse!!!"
- posted by river @ _4:29 PM_
(http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#110683333595588226)
>>
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