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News and Views About the United States
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By Ali al-Jaberi
August 9, 2005
Original Article (English)
By any standards our government
is a total failure. So what is it that prevents its collapse? In the first place,
many question the belief that there is a functioning government in
Nothing seems to function
properly in
They have failed and there
is no sign they will ever succeed.
The equation, many say, is
crystal clear. The government is in urgent need of the occupation for protection.
And despite the daily dose of tragedy faced by occupation forces, they are -
in a way - happy with the status quo, because it gives them some form of legitimacy.
Therefore our prime minister
and his ministers don’t care a whit about the way things are being run. They
don’t care if there is no electricity, and they no longer consider it their
duty to have a functioning food rationing system to help millions of Iraqis
make ends meet. The government ignores our calamities as though they are not
of its making.
No minister has ever leveled
with the Iraqi people and taken proper responsibility for his ministry’s performance
or for the deterioration in public services. More than two years after the occupation,
the Ministry of Oil cannot make enough fuel available, although we are the envy
of the world for our oil riches.
In fact, we have become net
fuel importers these past two years, wasting hundreds of millions dollars. Corruption
and crime are on the rise and stories abound of senior officials giving contracts
to front companies they have set up in
The spate of car bomb attacks,
murders of innocent people and the spread of mafia-like gangs in our major cities
are now fact of our daily lives. And while we bear the brunt of the chaos, many
of our senior officials, including cabinet members and heads of political parties,
either reside abroad or have their families settled in a foreign country.
There is none of the prosperity,
equity and hope that the government promised upon taking office nearly five
months ago. On the contrary, conditions have deteriorated beyond anyone’s expectations.
But still these officials love their chairs and stick to their money-spinning
posts.
This is why we have yet to
see a minister with enough courage to resign in protest over these conditions. The government
and the league surrounding it know that they are complete failures, but have
no intention of acknowledging the tragedy or the fiasco they have created for
us.
A responsible government
would have admitted its blunders, apologized to the Iraqi people and resigned
to give way to more efficient leadership. But performance seems of little interest
to our rulers. Prosperity, stability and security, once achieved, would undermine
their true purpose.
Because if the bombs stop,
food is made available, electricity returns, crime is checked and the country
is back on its feet, the Iraqi people would then turn their attention to the
most pressing issue - how to drive occupation troops out of the country.
It doesn’t take a genius
to understand that both the government and the occupation need each other, and
that both thrive on our misery.
