Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Spillover

Patrick Cockburn:

Governments and the media crudely evaluate human suffering in Iraq in terms of the number killed. A broader and better barometer would include those who have escaped death only by fleeing their homes, their jobs and their country to go and live, destitute and unwanted, in places like Kalawar. The US administration has 18 benchmarks to measure progress in Iraq but the return of four million people to their homes is not among them.
And, as Cockburn also notes, we'll probably continue hearing more about refugees from Africa, all the while the administration goes out of its way to avoid doing anything of substance to address the calamity born of Iraq.