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Lets look at the BBC. (All these reports are dated April of this year).
Iraqi oil production has increased from zero straight after the war, to current levels of 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). This figure matches pre-war production levels.
The health picture indicates improvement, even if there are problems,
A year on, the BBC has seen chronic problems in Baghdad's hospitals, with doctors lacking basic supplies such as oxygen and painkillers as they struggle to treat the city's sick and injured.
USAid says it has vaccinated three million children and bought 30 million doses of vaccine, although Unicef says poor security is limiting access to immunisation services in some areas.
Unicef says services at about 80% of Iraq's primary health centres have been restored or improved, including major reconstruction work at about 50 centres.
Before, a lot of these people couldn't get anything at all unless they paid through the nose
Dr David Nabarro, WHO
The country's health care system was one of the best in the Middle East before the first Gulf War, but suffered a massive decline in funding under Saddam Hussein and sanctions in the 1990s.
What about power?
In 2003, peak generation reached the pre-war level of 4,400 Megawatts, after dropping to 3,300MW after the war.
Production has declined to around 4,000MW in recent months as some functioning power plants have been taken off-line to allow upgrades to be carried out.
The CPA says it aims to increase generation to 6,000MW by June.
Iraqis still suffer frequent power cuts, sometimes two or three a day in Baghdad, but the CPA says the whole country is now getting 12 - 16 hours of power a day.
"For the first time in 30 years, the power is being distributed fairly," a CPA spokesperson said, stating that before the war Baghdad had round-the-clock power while other areas had none.
Education,
Iraq's education system was one of the best in the Middle East in the 1980s, but spiralled downwards as investment dropped from $620 per year per student in 1988/89 to $47 in the late 1990s.
Sanctions hit the economy and schools were left short of basic supplies such as chalk and blackboards, and poverty forced many children out of education.
The Coalition Provisional Authority says 2,500 schools across the country have now been rehabilitated, with work on a further 869 underway and a target of a total of 4,000 set for the end of the year.
Water,
About half of Iraq's waste water flows untreated into the country's streams and rivers.
Water treatment facilities are currently operating at about 65% of their capacity, due to years of neglect, power cuts and post-war looting.
Iraq's water and sanitation systems were ailing even before the 2003 war after massive underinvestment in the 1990s.
Bomb damage, looting and shortages of electricity, spare parts and chemicals have worsened conditions further since the 2003 war.
Work is under way on the southern canal system
A World Bank assessment in October 2003 concluded that only 6 out of 10 Iraqis in urban areas had safe drinking water, and, with leaks taken into account, Baghdad's water system was only meeting a third of the city's need.
The picture is fairly consistent. Iraq suffered horribly under the sanctions regime, and things got worse during and after the war. At the moment things are improving, but the country is still in pretty poor shape.
Essentially, we imposed dreadful sanctions on Iraq and bombed it a little. Saddam, to our horror, made the Iraqi people suffer while looking after himself. And we are in no way culpable, even though it was predictable. It was an "acceptable price", in fact.
Subsequently, we invaded, killed about 10,000 civilians, and lifted the sanctions. Despite the continuing human rights abuses, things are still probably better. As Calvin said to Hobbes, if you set the bar low enough, being a success needn't require any effort. |
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