Test your knowledge of Iraq:
1) Hepatitis is on the march, spread by sewage-contaminated water.
2) Freedom is on
the march, spread by the U.S.-led coalition.
Correct answers:
1) True
In 2003, 70 percent more cases of hepatitis of all types were reported across
Iraq than in the year before. During the first six months of 2004, as many cases were reported as
in all of 2002. In yet another indication of the deteriorating safety of water and food in Iraq, the
number of reported cases of typhoid fever is up sharply this year. …
Those reports come as the Bush administration has proposed shifting $3.46 billion in
reconstruction money for Iraq to programs that would train and equip tens of thousands of
additional police officers, border guards and national guardsmen in hopes of regaining control of
the security situation. The shift, which needs approval by Congress, would gut what had been an
ambitious program to rebuild Iraq’s crumbling water and sewage systems.
…
2) False
“We are succeeding in Iraq,” Dr. Allawi boldly announced to the Congress,
describing the rebels as a desperate bunch on the run.
[But] American troops leave their forts only in armed convoys. Simply to hand out food and
candy in a relatively quiet neighborhood in Baghdad the other day, they felt compelled to first set
up a defensive perimeter.
Score: 100% = informed. 50% = uninformed. 0% = neocon.
