Unemployment Iraqi Style
Let's put it all into perspective: the U.S. has an unemployment
rate hovering at just above the 5% level (although much higher
in ethnic populations). Iraq has an unemployment rate in the 75%
range.
How on earth do they live?
We are all aware of the difficulties of being out of work -the
financial pressures, the emotional trauma, the ruin of so many
marriages and families, and the overall cost to society. The
effects of unemployment on personal dreams of success wreak
havoc with the self-esteem and self-confidence of those without
work. In a society that glorifies money, power, and celebrity
above all else, the have-nots carry the taint of failure and
view themselves as losers. They can no longer compete with their
peers, keep up with the Joneses, or live the lifestyle to which
they have aspired for so long.
But if 3 out of 4 of your neighbors, family, and friends are
jobless, the equation changes. You may live in poverty, unsure
of when the next meal will materialize, but just about everyone
else is in the same boat. Begging, bartering, and haggling over
the exchange of meager basics becomes the standard lifestyle.
Aspirations of success are tossed aside for the more immediate
goal of survival. It is the few individuals who actually have
work and a regular income who are the aliens in the crowd.
In an economy devastated by war, magnified by an ongoing
insurgency, what does the much-touted western world's democracy
mean: the freedom to starve?
A culture in disarray yearns for "the man on horseback." The
inequities and internal struggles of the Roman Republic gave
birth to a long line of debauched, despotic Emperors. The mass
poverty of Russian serfs opened the door to Lenin and his
monstrous descendant, Stalin. The ruined economy of the Weimar
Republic brought us the order and security, as well as the total
evil, of Adolf Hitler. The hedonistic excesses and widespread
corruption of Havana produced Fidel Castro. The war-ravaged
landscape of Cambodia hatched the Khmer Rouge.
Consider the average Iraqi. Three years ago, there may have been
a muzzled press and sinister whispers of secret executions and
atrocities against minorities, but the electricity and water
systems worked, there was order in the streets, there were
uplifting parades or uniformed troops, a leader standing up to
the might of the western world, and a deep pride in being a
citizen of the arguably strongest Muslin country in the world.
Three years later, men stand in line for the few paltry jobs
available with the security forces, well aware of the
possibility of being blown to bits for the only sin of standing
in that line.
President Bush is on a crusade (that was his word) to rid the
world of terrorism and convert the entire planet to Western
Democracy and his version of freedom (his favorite word).
America will save the world. And if there is nothing left when
the saving is over, can we wring some sense of self-satisfaction
from the fact that no despots are left standing on the
windswept, barren plateau that remains?