from the poem "Freedom's Panorama"
by Muthana Mudher Mohammed.

In Iraq, everywhere you can see the destruction from the U.S.-U.K. invasion, Baghdad is a highly polluted city; hot air mixed with dust from the destroyed buildings and auto pollution makes everyone very uncomfortable. Half of the city's utilities have been destroyed by the war which was never able to rebuild after Gulf War I because of sanctions. June to August is the hottest period in Iraq, everyday over 100 degrees dry heat. Everywhere there are poor people without clean running water or electricity to run air conditioning in this summer heat making it feel as though they are living in hell. Respiratory disease and heat stroke are very common, especially for the old people, and heat-related deaths have increased into alarmly high level.

The U.S. military has imposed a curfew at 11:00 PM in Baghdad and many other Iraqi cities, with American Humvees and tanks speeding across the city with machine guns and a license to do whatever they want to do. This is a country without a government and people feel without hope, this is the reality of Iraq today.

Many Iraqis are angry that while the U.S. occupiers have enough advanced technology to deploy their missiles to hit exact targets, they cannot fix the city's power and water lines. Three months after the invasion there is still almost no U.S. public assistance to help suffering Iraqis, and no rebuilding efforts by the US administrators or military in Iraq.

With over 150 thousand U.S. troops (what they call "coalition forces") in Iraq, the U.S. military has overwhelming fire power in Iraq. But they are only concerned to use their power to hunt Saddam and his followers and those whom they call "very bad people," or protecting Iraqi oil industries. They care less about social crimes. Ironically, security on the street has completely deteriorated.

Since end of the major battles in May, unofficial accounts say that there's been up to 2,000 people murdered in Baghdad alone, according to human rights workers. In some ways, the streets of Baghdad remind me a lot of life in the 'hoods' of Los Angeles.