Iraq wants the US to pay for damage to Baghdad:
Iraq’s capital wants the United States to apologize and pay $1 billion for the damage done to the city not by bombs but by blast walls and Humvees since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The city’s government issued its demands in a statement on Wednesday that said Baghdad’s infrastructure and aesthetics have been seriously damaged by the American military.
Harvey zooms in on this piece:
Baghdad’s neighborhoods have been sealed off by miles of concrete blast walls, transforming the city into a tangled maze that contributes to massive traffic jams. Despite a sharp reduction in overall violence in recent years only 5 percent of the walls have been removed, officials said.
Harvey sez:
Baghdad’s biggest problem isn’t secret police, torture rooms, mass graves, or a brutal dictator with a bad moustache, it’s traffic jams.
I think that means we won.
I say: Almost.
We won’t truly have won until Baghdad has built enough bike paths, banned indoor smoking, and issued enough personal diversity statements. And maybe graduated enough comic book historians.
