What we have accomplished, one

The June 13 edition of the Iraqi Press Monitor (IPM) of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), quotes an item from Al-Mutamar, issued daily by the Iraqi National Congress:

Most of the young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years, which represent 5 percent of the Iraqi population, do not have jobs, a Labor Ministry official said.

[N.B.: To go to an item from the Iraqi Press Monitor, follow the link to its index page and then click on the link there for the particular date.)

What's more, unemployment in Iraq stands at 30%, according to an editorial in the Iraqi daily Al-Sabah, says IPM's June 10 edition. In calling for public works jobs as a response, the editorial notes that

Sadr City, for example, suffers the utmost percentage of unemployment. Its population is more than 2 million, yet no public services are available in the city. [emphasis added]

In fact, garbage-collection services in Baghdad, of which Sadr City is part, have collapsed, leading to

a dangerous increase in the amount of hazardous materials being burned on the capital's streets.

Baghdad health officials are now warning residents not to burn household rubbish as it is causing pollution and other health hazards.

Since the fall of the Saddam regime, municipal services, such as garbage collection, have struggled because of staffing and financial problems, prompting residents to dispose of waste themselves. ...

[S]ome residents who have tried to stop people from burning garbage have been shot or received death threats. ...

In addition to burning garbage, residents are also littering and many parts of the city have been turned into makeshift landfill sites. Even areas near schools and mosques are surrounded by trash.

Meanwhile, an opinion piece that appeared in Al-Adala, the daily paper of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq on June 7 (reported in IPM for June 10), refers to the continuing dependence of Iraqis on food ration cards. It notes that while the Ministry of Trade has made much about items being added to the ration card - making those, supposedly, more available to the people - since the beginning of the year other items have been taken away, including staples like rice and flour.

But don't worry, all will be well: We've introduced the free market!

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'afari has opened the door wide to the privatization of companies and projects in Iraq. Iraqi interests should be given first priority in providing investment chances to foreign companies, he said.

That from Al-Mutamar, issued daily by the Iraqi National Congress, quoted in IPM for June 27.

And indeed, the free market has brought all sorts of opportunities for people with sufficient backbone and entrepreneurship to not depend on big government largesse.

There are terrific opportunities in, for example, the health industry.

Standing in line in front of a blood bank, Salim Ahmed haggled in whispers with a broker over how much the latter was willing to pay him for his blood.

Jobless Ahmed said he needed to sell his blood because he was the only breadwinner for his 11-member family, which includes his elderly father and sick mother. ...

The high rate of unemployment is forcing many Iraqis to sell their blood to shadowy brokers who supply people whose relatives are in need of transfusions. ...

A bag containing 350cc of blood is usually bought by a broker for ten US dollars, then resold for five times the price. The high demand stems from the fact that official stocks are running low.

Omer Najeeb, also unemployed, said after selling most of his furniture, he had no other option except to sell his blood. "I have got a sick child and she needs medicine," said Najeeb, a former officer in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein. "I'm tired of looking so hard to find a job but not getting one."

Abdul-Waham Ameen owned a grocery store that was destroyed by a car bomb explosion. He didn't have enough money to repair the shop, so he has been selling his blood for more than six months to pay for rent, food and other living costs.

"I may sell my kidney, too," said Ameen. "Living conditions are extremely difficult. This is the only option for me." ...

Maha Muhammed, a gynecologist and obstetrician, said family members of her patients often do not give her an honest answer when she asks them who they got their blood supplies from. Muhammed says she now avoids asking the question....

Not interested? How about travel and tourism?

Buying fake passports has become a booming business in Iraq, as people try to leave the country to escape violence, unemployment and other problems. Even in Sulaimaniyah, which is considered to be one of the safest and economically stable places in Iraq, residents are still looking to move abroad.

But escaping from Iraq by illegal means comes at a high price, as the cost of fake travel documents is around 8,500 US dollars - and there is always a chance of getting caught.

One man who forges passports, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that in his seven years in the business he has sent nearly 500 people to different European countries through Damascus airport in neighbouring Syria. He buys passports from Kurds returning to Iraq from Europe and who have no plans to return.

"Though my job is risky, I make boundless economic profit from it," he said.

The endless joys of the free market. Unemployment, hunger, desperation, disappearance of public services - but so many opportunities. Thank you, USA.