ON THE SIXTH DAY OF THIS FALL EQUINOX......
Edward Said (pronounced 'sigh-eed') died today at the age of 67. For the last ten years or so he had suffered from leukemia. He was perhaps the most articulate spokesperson for Palestinian causes, and for their history and their culture and their place in the world.
For the past twenty years or so he has been a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City. He also taught at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Yale.
He was salso the author of numerous books about the Palestinian Diaspora. I first came across Mr. Said while working in Saudia Arabia in 1989-90. His commentary often appeared in the Arab News, the major daily newspaper in the Arab world.
Today's edition (9/26/03) of the New York Times, carries a long obituary on his life and times. His voice about the aspirations and the history of Palestinians everywhere will certainly be missed.
Moving on to the subject of Iraq, the U.N. has just issued a report saying that some 50% of the Iraqi population requires assistance.
According to the report, chronic malnutrition persists for several million people including 300,000, who have been driven from their homes by the U.S. bombing campaign. In effect about one out every eight people in the city of Baghdad do not have a roof over their heads. Six months after the U.S. arrival, three hundred thousand homeless people are still walking the streets of Baghdad. A homeless population that approximates the total size of the city of Fresno, California.
What happens to that many homeless people in a relatively confined area the size of Baghdad? And why do our bureaucrats, the ones who ordered this human tragedy, this incredible devastitation and disruption in people's lives, now keep teling us that "things are going well?" did our so-called "war planning " not include an accommodation for that level of human suffering?
This UN report comes at a time when the UN itself is considering a major reduction in its humanitarian efforts in Iraq. A reduction prompted by a significant lack of security as evidenced by the two recent bombiongs at UN facilities in Baghdad.
And all the while george bush and his we-don't-need-the-U.N-or-anyone-else-to-fight-this war-because-we-can-do-it-ourselves-government keeps whistling in the dark, that now familiar tune, "Things are going well. Great progress is being made. Give us another $87 billion of your hardearned taxpayer dollars so we can show you more progress."
czechmate, 9.26.03
12:50:20 PM 
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