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FAIZA IN BAGHDAD

Anyway; when the people protested about the increase in the prices of gasoline, they asked the government –why did you decide to increase the prices?
The government said they took the advice of the International Bank; for there are some external debts on Iraq, estimated between $120 to $140 Billion, and the Bank promised the government to omit or reschedule these debts if the government followed the policies and the instructions of the Bank. Well then, and what are the instructions of the Bank?
To lift the subsidizing and governmental support of the local fuels, estimated at $6 Billion a year, and this is one of the items that will decrease the deficit in the budget, or decrease the external debts…
What is the International Bank? I asked myself- I had a curiosity to be closely familiar with it, I put on the internet, and found many sites, in all languages…
Well- its history says it was established after the WW II, meaning; the mid-forties, and its program was to reconstruct the European countries destroyed by war…
But its program now focuses around decreasing the intensity of poverty around the world…
By GOD, this is a nice talk, and a noble goal…
Well, I want to see how this shall be fulfilled?
I went on to other websites, and found the International Bank's conditions to help the poor and growing countries, and among them I found a condition compelling the countries that would receive the loans to follow a policy that wouldn't contradict with the policy of the country that granted the money. Of course, the country dominating that Bank is America, and the present president of this Bank now is an American named Paul Woulfvitz…
And who is Paul Woulfvitz?
I made a search in the internet, and found out that he was the deputy American Defense Secretary before assuming the presidency of the International Bank, and that he was one of the most enthusiastic people in the Bush administration for the idea of the war on Iraq after the September 11th events.
Hummm, useful information….
I found an interview of him with some Iraqis living in America before the war on Iraq, in which he explains for them the future of Iraq after Saddam….
I wish everyone would read that dreamy, romantic article, and think how much of it was fulfilled? And how much truth there is in it?
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Then I went back to read on more internet websites, some economic reports about the facilities presented by the International Bank to some Arabic states, which depended on the idea of the reward and the punishment; meaning- these states who would be in harmony with the American policy get a bigger share than those who rebel…
Huh?
By GOD, how amusing these informations are…
Any way, the writer of the article gave a realistic example and in numbers, as follows: of what could be explained by the development of the share of some of the Arabic states of these facilities and loans, in the period from 1973 until 2002…
For example; we notice that the share of a country like Egypt pf the financing of these funds didn't exceed 1.1% of the total funds, after the conclusion of the Egyptian peace treaty with Israel, while Syria's share was 27.1%, and Jordan's 26.1% at that time. But in 1990, and after the Egyptian stand of the second gulf war (between Iraq and Kuwait), Egypt got the lion's share, and her share –in the period 1990-1999-, was about 39.5%, while Syria's share became 4.7%, and Jordan's share was 6.2%, besides; the Gulf states ceded their debts with Egypt, that were some 6.2 Billion dollars at the end of the second gulf war.
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Then I read about the procedures of implementing the conditions of the Fund and the International Bank, which were:
Freeing the prices, the policy of Privatization, freeing the External Trade, and achieving more mergers with the capitalist international Economy. That means, part of these procedures are increasing the prices of fuels, increasing the taxes on citizens; every day some kind or another of a tax, of course while the wages would remain the same, and also eliminating the principal of a minimum wage-limit, as I read in the report.
Then, at the end of the report, I read the positive and the negative results…
The negatives would be: an increase in the unemployment rates, the deterioration of the poor or limited-income families' conditions, the negative influence on the middle classes, the emergence of social problems, and the retreat of the state's role and the reinforcement of the privet sector's role…
While the positive points would be: the decrease of the deficit in the general budget of the state, the decrease in the external debts percentage of the state, and some other points relative to the state's economic system…
Well then, I am not an economic expert, but I do think we can all deduct what is going on… this means that people shall endure the sufferings and sacrifices in order to solve the state's problems, and at the same time, a rich class of merchants, private sector men, and finance men will be the beneficiary class, which-as a result- shall mean a weak state, a marginalized public sector, poor people, increasing unemployment, increasing taxes to fill the deficit gap in the budget, and increasing fuel prices to redress the deficit. Then, what would be the result?
And here I saw the explanation of the common phrase: the poor get poorer, and the rich get richer… meaning- the states patch up their problems and incapacity from the people's pockets, and of course, the pockets that would be hurt the most are those of the poor…
Hummm…
We have a saying that says: knowledge is enlightenment…. It means you would be enlightened, and your view of the world would get clearer when you learn what is going on around you…
Should I get back to the International Bank's website, and send them an e-mail asking – how come you say that you are working for the poor, but destroying the lives of the poor?
I do not know if anyone will answer the question?
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And going back to miserable, sad Iraq… here they are, the people in the whirlpool of the conflict about the results of the elections and the stories of forgery, the increase in the prices of gasoline, then the transportations, then the commodities…
And, another story on the screens… the trial of Saddam and his men…
A British radio station called me yesterday, asking my opinion about the Saddam trial, if it is an indication of justice in the new Iraq, and if it is an indication that the Iraqis regained the rights for the victims of the former regime?
I laughed… by GOD, these people are living in another world…
I said to her- my dear, who cares now about the story of Saddam's trial? People are cursed by poverty, unemployment, the lack of security and settlement, the results of the forged elections, and the increase in the fuel prices, Saddam Hussein became an object from the past, we are busy with the present problems, and we think how shall the future be….
She said- but the settlement of Saddam's story is a leap from the past to the future…
I said – yes, that would have been true if we had a real sovereignty in Iraq, a state and a government about which the people are content, and then, yes, perhaps after 4 or 5 years of settlement, then the trial of Saddam could be an important issue in the lives of the Iraqis, with lessons and examples for those who rule after him, but now, what does it signify? Do you think it signifies justice? Are we taking the rights of the Saddam's regime victims who were imprisoned, tortured, and killed? And who shall take the rights for the victims of the present regime, the detained, tortured, and assassinated?
We understand right and justice as being balanced principals, not exclusive for some people, while others are exempted from them…
We see this trial as a mere silly play, meaningless… perhaps the occupation and the Parties in the present government see it as a victory, and a political gain, but for the ordinary Iraqi on the street, it is a silly story, and meaningless.
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My son wondered; why didn't they try Saddam for his war with Iran? For the chemicals he threw at the Kurds? For killing the Iraqis in the south after the 1991 uprising? For entering Kuwait and his war against it?
There are some agendas more dangerous than the issue of Dejail, so, why did they choose this one precisely?
Yesterday, I understood…
The victims were from Al-Da'awa Party , and the witnesses now are from Al-Da'awa Party, and Al-Da'awa Party now is the government, meaning; getting personal scores even, not achieve justice for the Iraqis.
And why didn't they start an inquiry in the other files?
The answer, of course, is- because it would expose everyone, and reveal everyone's involvement in those criminal acts, embarrassing the American administration and the British government, and some other European and Arabic governments who formed the coalition to wage the war on Iraq in 2003, and that's why they chose that small agenda; which is an internal Iraqi issue, and that's it, this material is enough for a play of that limited size.
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Iraq today is surrounded by a lot of dangerous challenges…. Challenges about the unity of its people… its wealth… the independence of its political decision… and its future….
All these are in danger….
This is what reality says…...................
May GOD help the people of Iraq.
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