Dr. Sabah Sadik, the Iraq Ministry of Health’s National Advisor for Mental Health and Baghdad University, appeared on C-Span this morning and said survey after survey shows that Iraqis overwhelmingly support the invasion and occupation.
This is earth shaking news and eager to hear more about the surveys (pdf), I searched for “Iraqi Mental Health“, a 27 January National Press Club panel on which Dr. Sadik appeared. But apparently it’s available only to members.
These same words introduce him on several internet pages:
In 1979, Sabah Sadik, MBCHB, FRCPsych, DPM, a doctor with 3 years of experience in general practice and 1 year in psychiatry, left his native country of Iraq. Twenty-five years later, in December 2003, he returned to visit relatives in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad. What he saw saddened him profoundly, and he resolved to do all he could to assist in restoring mental health and rebuilding the country’s mental health service system.
Three months later, Dr. Sadik was appointed National Advisor for Mental Health to the Iraqi Ministry of Health.
Today on Washington Journal, Dr. Sadik blamed the tyranny of Saddam for the wretched state of Iraq’s health care system. No reputable source, supportive of Operation Iraqi Freedom or not, would dare deny three wars and 12 years of sanctions devastated the once prosperous country.
Iraq surveys show ‘humanitarian emergency’:
“Even if not all suffering in Iraq can be imputed to external factors, especially sanctions, the Iraqi people would not be undergoing such deprivations in the absence of the prolonged measures imposed by the Security Council and the effects of war.” –UNICEF, 1999
“Since the war in Iraq started in early 2003 the situation for much of the country’s population has deteriorated significantly due to the ongoing insecurity in many parts of the country. This has had a severe impact on the economy, with increased unemployment, and a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups. There is a strong feeling among different groups of the Iraqi population and international observers that the vicious circle of violence will continue to strongly affect all aspects and spheres of life during 2006.” – International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2005
“So many kids have bed-wetting, nightmares, panic attacks, many kinds of psychological disturbances and disorders.” – Child psychiatrist Dr. Ali Hameed, Iraq’s Children In Shadow Of War, 11 March 2005, CBS News
“Living conditions for the people of Iraq, already poor before the war, have deteriorated significantly since the US invasion. This is confirmed in a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation. Based on a survey of 21,000 households conducted in 2004, the study shows that the Iraqi people are suffering widespread death and war-related injury, high rates of infant and child mortality, chronic malnutrition and illness among children, low rates of life expectancy and significant setbacks with regard to the role of women in society.” – Iraq: The Human Toll, 24 July 2005, The Nation
Audit Describes Misuse of Funds in Iraq Projects
25 January 2006, James Glanz, New York Times
A new audit of American financial practices in Iraq has uncovered irregularities including millions of reconstruction dollars stuffed casually into footlockers and filing cabinets, an American soldier in the Philippines who gambled away cash belonging to Iraq, and three Iraqis who plunged to their deaths in a rebuilt hospital elevator that had been improperly certified as safe.
The audit, released yesterday by the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, expands on its previous findings of fraud, incompetence and confusion as the American occupation poured money into training and rebuilding programs in 2003 and 2004. The audit uncovers problems in an area that includes half the land mass in Iraq, with new findings in the southern and central provinces of Anbar, Karbala, Najaf, Wasit, Babil, and Qadisiya. The special inspector reports to the secretary of defense and the secretary of state.
Agents from the inspector general’s office found that the living and working quarters of American occupation officials were awash in shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills, colloquially known as bricks.
One official kept $2 million in a bathroom safe, another more than half a million dollars in an unlocked footlocker. One contractor received more than $100,000 to completely refurbish an Olympic pool but only polished the pumps; even so, local American officials certified the work as completed. More than 2,000 contracts ranging in value from a few thousand dollars to more than half a million, some $88 million in all, were examined by agents from the inspector general’s office. The report says that in some cases the agents found clear indications of potential fraud and that investigations into those cases are continuing.
So violence, poverty and corruption have all escalated since the U.S. “liberation” but the majority of Iraqis love the U.S., according to Dr. Sadik. Does he charge by the hour for his services?