Unfinished Business in Iraq & the USA

The consequences of war(s) are well documented over the centuries.   However collateral damage such as loss of economic stability, loss of family, loss of emotional well being and loss of expertise in a society due to death, injury and the brain drain created by those who have means escaping from war, results in long term suffering for the next generation(s). 

Although funding and "trainers" may be allocated to assist in recovery and "capacity building" the gaping hole in the society of those remaining cannot be healed if the attitudes useful as "survivors" in war are not adapted/changed to a longer term view of pursuing an ethically functioning society which continues with a rule of enforceable laws.

The mindset of "getting and hoarding whatever you can regardless of the long term consequences" is understandable, though unsustainable, even during war.   But cheating your own community, your own nation and letting criminals go without punishment whether in war torn Iraq or in the USA, is reprehensible.   A display of criminality with impunity only further encourages criminals.

We see this starkly now in both Iraq and in the USA.   Corruption in government at the local, state/province and national level in organizations supposedly devoted to carrying out the rule of law and justice, is in evidence in both countries. The corruption goes back decades and is intertwined in a symbiotic relationship of dependence on oil, dependence on the military industrial and humanitarian "aid" complexes, criminal networks or individuals (think oligarchs and billionaires) corrupt politicians and government workers supported by a compliant media narrative.

Although technically the wars of 2003 (against Saddam Hussein) and 2014-2018 (against Daesh/ISIS) are over, and billions of dollars in "aid" has been "donated" by the USA, Japan, France, the European Union, NGOs from numerous countries and international organizations...here in Iraq it is difficult to see where much of the money has been diverted to, considering the (still) unfinished buildings, roads in disrepair, lack of adequate health and education, lack of basic electricity and running water, lack of adequate waste treatment, lack of border/immigration control and lack of a working government.  www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/12782.pdf
www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-mosul-official-help/international-help-for-iraq-idUSKBN1GX19I
ec.europa.eu/echo/where/middle-east/iraq_en
http://www.emro.who.int/irq/donors/
However, Americans can't be the ones pointing fingers because our hard earned tax dollars are continually being wasted overseas in countries like Iraq and Ukraine since corruption in their own government, politicians and criminal gangs has been revealed with more indictments to come following the attempted impeachment circus.

No, we  (America) have evidence on display of the machinations and manufactured coups  by American citizens against their own leaders, within their own institutions and legal system; their own life long politicians connected with criminal networks and mercenaries.  A number of American career politicians, court appointees, State Department, Justice Department and National Security Council senior officials were involved in "pay to play" schemes, pay to lie "intel intrigues" and leaking classified information and disinformation to the main stream press.

Meanwhile,  money harvested ruthlessly from American taxpayers supposedly for American betterment, maintenance and infrastructure has been channeled into the bank accounts of American politicians and their family members, to illegal aliens and their family members, as well as corrupt shell businesses.  www.tierneyrealnewsnetwork.com/post/romney-kerry-biden-mccain-pelosi-schiff-mueller-clinton-are-tied-to-sketchy-ukraine-deals
Portions of some states and cities (Detroit, San Francisco and Baltimore in pics) resemble parts of war torn Iraq and Kurdistan.  Compare the photos above and below.

While we haven't had a full on attack by Islamic terrorist groups such as Daesh/ISIS on American soil, or the concurrent attacks on children, recruitment/kidnapping of children into violent extremist groups and sex slavery-America does have the largest criminal "industry" of child sex trafficking in the world, exacerbated by complicity in law enforcement, career politicians, officials and executives in every business and institution (including religious and 'humanitarian' organizations) in the United States.   

Unchecked illegal immigration results in higher numbers of children/minors being trafficked into the USA and exploited.  Corrupt "foundations" such as the Clinton Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and hundreds of "Charities" use children as lures, shields, experimentees and "products".   There is a growing "war" against children and America is considered an "anti-child" nation by millions of people living in other more "child friendly" countries.

Every day I see in my work in Kurdistan, Iraq children who have suffered trauma and sexual abuse yet there will probably never be recourse or therapy for majority of them who are victims of both the wars in Iraq as well as cultural, religious and national taboos.  Girls/females are especially vulnerable and generally considered "less valuable" by these societies.  They are taught from an early age to "submit" and "keep secrets".    

Iraq and the USA, since the 1990s, have intertwined their destinies.   They have shed blood together, inter-married, and tried to exploit each other.   Before either country can shift to another paradigm, albeit a peaceful more productive one for both nation's citizens, they need to "clean house" at home and finish more of the "unfinished business" they inherited from decades past.  This is my observation and considered opinion.  I know some of my local friends and colleagues would agree.

Finishing off these late night thoughts with a song called;  "Let Them Eat War" by the group Bad Religion.   The chorus lyrics are short and incisive:
'Let them eat war [x2] That's how to ration the poor Let them eat war.'  www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4ngeLZX5_M

It's been a tough week already...hope it's better for you wherever you are,

Jo