Iraq Teens turn to prostitution in Syria. Thanks George
The are 2,000,000 teen refugees, 4,000,000 in all


Iraq refugees are not allowed to hold 'regular' jobs.
Interesting law which forces them into prostitution
"The younger the flesh, the higher the price"

23/03/08
School Girl in Baghdad: By BBC
Noor Salman is 16-year-old Iraqi girl living in Baghdad. She writes about her experiences of life in the five years since the US-led invasion.

LOST LIVES
The last five years have passed by so quickly and so much has happened. I can't believe it's been five years since this all began. Baghdad has changed so much and so has my life. Up until two years ago we had a big house and had plenty of money and my father looked after us.

Now we live in a small rented two-bedroom house with my mother, my brother and his wife and my seven sisters. But my dad is no longer with us. In August 2006 a group of militia men got out of a car and forcibly entered our home. I cannot describe these people, they are not human beings. They broke the front door of our home and stormed into the house and kidnapped my dad.

They pulled him while aiming their guns at him. When he tried to defend himself they knocked him unconscious and put him in the boot of the car. I was very frightened and I lost faith in everything and everyone. I wish they had taken everything, our car, our home, but left my father alive. The next morning we were informed by the police station that they had found his body, it had been dumped in a side street with his hands tied behind his back. He had been shot in the head.

I could not believe that I had lost him forever. Many other teenagers like me have also lost their fathers in Baghdad, killed for no apparent reason.

REFUGEES
My dad used to do everything for us. He used to turn on the generator so that we had electricity at home and he would do all the hard jobs. Even to this day we only have two hours of electricity a day so we need to get the extra energy from the generators. Now that my dad is gone we have to do these things ourselves. After my dad was murdered the violence meant we had to leave our home. In early 2003, when I was in school, everyone was talking about the possibility of war. As school children we did not understand the implications.

The day Baghdad fell, I started to understand. We saw many of our relatives and friends getting displaced. Many fled to neighbouring countries. My dad, however, was adamant. He said he would never leave his country and would prefer to die here rather than for us to live as refugees in another land. After my dad was murdered the violence meant we had to leave our home and we became displaced and other people came and squatted in our house.

I lost my home, my childhood memories, my bedroom, my toys and my beautiful garden with all its flowers. My dad used to call me Dr Noor when I was young - he wanted me to become a physician. I am still hoping to fulfil his dream. Our city is not what it once was and studying is not easy. Walking to school became a dangerous journey, although recently things are better. I wonder, how many school children in the world have to go to school fearing they may not make it home. That's what we had to do.

I'm so happy that things are better on that front - but we are all aware that they could easily change again.

COPING WITH FEAR
Today I had Dolma, one of my most favourite dishes, it's basically stuffed vegetables, it's a very traditional Iraqi dish. After the war began, getting food was very difficult and people were living off the basics. Even to the go to the market was very difficult. It's only recently that people feel it's a bit safer to go to the markets - there have been bombings in these places and that makes people think twice - but you have to live.

After the fall of Baghdad Iraqi children learned very quickly the meaning of destruction and war. I remember at dawn time, instead of hearing the call to prayer we woke up hearing the noise of blasts. Baghdad became like a ghost city. There was no law and order and an increase in crime so people were afraid to go out.
We learned to cope with fear and after time we started going back to school.

We got used to living in a city were violence was everywhere and random bombings could happen anytime and in every place. We experienced the brutal nature of this new Iraq when my father was murdered.
If you can't get support by being nice...
How Bush coerced our 'Allies' into supporting the Iraq invasion / occupation read

Who is despicable enough to deny the right of having water in a UN resolution?
oops, it's the US and Canada ... read
From Markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com

Political War Means Spraying Representative Boxer's Constituents!

BushCo dumping poison on Bay Area

Plan To Spray Toxic Biological Chemicals Over San Francisco
Announced (March 11, 2008) read

(NaturalNews) People of the world, the US Government is planning to poison more than two million people, in California, using an untested biological "pesticide" this summer. The chemical to be sprayed is classified by the EPA as a "pesticide" and the plan is to douse cities with this chemical designed to stick on everything for 90 days or longer. This application is not a one time event, but will continue every 1-3 months for as long as five years. The pesticide to be sprayed is not designed to harm the light brown apple moth's who it is designed for, but merely to confuse its mating habits. While harmless to moths, the pesticide has been documented to harm humans. Side effects range from vomiting and flu like systems, to male and female reproductive cycle disruption. One child nearly died from the exposure, and some people have developed asthma from being exposed to this chemical concoction. It is cause for alarm that a chemical being labeled as harmless and "safe" even in minute doses, causes severe health effects in some people. The government is racing to cover up and hide the dangerous health effects so that they can continue their aerial spray plans this summer. Your attention and action on this subject is needed in the most important way.

Bush Administration to Blue-State California: Drop Dead!
By Paulina Borsook
Posted March 20, 2008 | 04:37 PM (EST)

In a joint action, the USDA (United States Department ofAgriculture) and the CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) have declared war on the home base of Senators Boxer and Feinstein, house speaker Pelosi, the founders of Moveon.org, gay-marriage-friendly Mayor Gavin Newsom, Code Pink, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Aerial spraying with a pesticide which has never been tested for human or environmental safety is planned starting this summer, month after month, year after yeas, in an area stretching from Carmel to Marin County, San Francisco to Berkeley, in pursuit of the eradication of the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), a rather wimpy exotic pest originally from Australia.

A state of emergency was declared for this pest on paper, abrogating the need for any kind of environmental impact --- when folks like James Carey, professor of entomology at UC-Davis and Dan Harder, director of the UC-Santa Cruz Arboretum, maintain eradication won't work; the LBAM is a nuisance at best; and this ill-conceived attack on the people, environment, and economy of California is about trade wars and not about actual threats to agriculture (Fodor's is already advising tourists to stay away from Santa Cruz, because of the spray).
Obama: Clinton lied about NAFTA more and here
WASHINGTON - White House documents reveal that Hillary Clinton lied to voters about her opposition to a trade pact blamed in industrial states for killing jobs, Barack Obama's campaign said Thursday. A trawl through more than 11,000 pages of schedules from Clinton's time as first lady fueled friction between the two Democratic White House contenders, as they also brawled over holding new contests in Florida and Michigan.
What is Political Corruption? more
Three major areas of political corruption are worth noting. First, bribery is clearly an example. Second, some people claim that certain government practices such as patronage, while legal, might be suspect. This definition sets a very high standard for political propriety. The conflict-of-interest definition—use of public office for personal gain, usually money—is a third aspect of political corruption. This is an ethical issue dealing with the premise that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Corruption, therefore, is a catchall expression for illegal as well as ethically questionable behaviors. Ironically, the very nature of federalism contributed to the potential for corruption. Since power corrupts, the challenge is to require accountability at all levels of government and to create virtuous and ethical citizens.