Letter from Baghdad, the Progress of Disaster

Christian Parenti

The air in Baghdad is potent stuff. Plastic rich garbage heaps burn in empty lots. Massive diesel generators run round the clock. Over a million vehicles--old cars, trucks and fuel guzzling US tanks -- creep through the streets belching fumes. On the horizon, beyond the looted and bombed out office blocks,looming above the low-rise residential sprawl, is a giant smokestack; its massive black plume hangs over the city constantly. Add to this the haze the soot of building fires, the stench of sewage and the ubiquitous dust from countless rubble heaps; then cap and seal the mixture with the 115 degree hostility of a desert sun. Forget the poisonous air. The really pressing issue in Baghdad, as I learned from two weeks traveling around, is escalating chaos. The six million people living here want electricity, water, telecommunications, and security. As yet have none of these is sufficient supply. The occupying forces - increasingly isolated and alienated from the population - insist that they are making progress on all fronts. But on the ground it seems that this American adventure is spinning out of control. The crisis now has a momentum and dynamic of its own. Most Iraqis adamantly want peace but a terrorist war of resistance requires only small and determined minority.