That’s right. The United States of George Bush, Don Rumsfeld and Condi Rice has destroyed the health care system — in Iraq and Afghanistan, both!
THE United States has botched efforts to improve public health in Iraq and Afghanistan, missing a chance to gain support in those countries, an independent report said.
US reconstruction efforts in Iraq following the 2003 invasion failed to maintain and improve basic sanitation and provide safe drinking water in heavily populated areas, the RAND Corp report said.
This may have encouraged anti-American sentiment and sympathy for the insurgency, the non-profit research organisation said.
This isn’t some liberal think tank, mind you. This is the R-A-N-D RAND Corporation talking, folks. The same Rand corporation that used to employ Herman Kahn to think of new and useful ways to wage a Winnable Nuclear War.
This ain’t no Brookings Institute, baby. This is a hard-core, traditional US military think tank. If they claim we screwed the pooch, even the dyed-in-the-wool-bring-me-home-to-Jesus crowd ought to pay attention. And this is what they have to say . . .
“Nation-building efforts cannot be successful unless adequate attention is paid to the health of the population,” said Seth Jones, a RAND political scientist and a lead author of the report.
“The health status of those living in the country has a direct impact on a nation’s reconstruction and development, and history teaches us it can be a key tool in capturing the goodwill of a nation’s residents.”
US efforts to rebuild the public health and healthcare systems received too few dollars, and the projects that were carried out did too little to improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis and Afghans, according to the report. […]
Researchers unfavourably compared health reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan to post-World War Two efforts in Japan and Germany. However, while those countries remained calm under foreign occupation, violence in Iraq and instability in Afghanistan have hindered reconstruction projects.
The inevitable result of failing to invade with sufficient forces to provide security. Failure to secure a country leads to failure in every other sector. And we Americans will be hated for it in the Arab world for decades to come.
Like I said: Big F***ing Surprise.