Former regime was a better provider of food rations!

By Abdulsattar Ramadan

Azzaman, November 13, 2005

A courageous Iraqi viewer the other day bluntly told the trade minister that the former dictator had filled Iraqi households with food while the new government has failed to even meet their basic needs.

The minister, Abdel Basit Mawloud, was shaken by the comment which drew praise from most viewers.

The minister’s embarrassment was not because the viewer had the guts to compare between the former leader whom he called Haddam (Arabic for destroyer) instead of Saddam and the new government.

Mawloud was shaken simply because the viewer, Abu Nazar, was saying nothing but the truth.

Since the downfall of the former dictator, Iraqi families have rarely received their full food rations. Under Saddam Hussein, families occasionally were handed out the complete rations of three months in advance.

Abu Nazar’s comment is at the tip of every Iraqis tongue. Low-income Iraqis, and these make the bulk of the population, are suffering.

In the past they relied on food rations for a living. Now most of these food rations, which once included flour, sugar, rice, tea and legumes, among other items, have almost disappeared.

Why is it that Saddam Hussein, who was under punitive U.N. trade sanctions for invading Kuwait, managed to make the rations available on a regular basis and the new elected government cannot?

Today’s trade minister has more resources at his disposal, whether from Iraqi oil revenues or donations, spends more money on food imports, but only a trickle of food reaches Iraqi homes.

Most viewers were indignant and furious because Mawloud began his television interview with a long statement detailing the “achievements” of his ministry.

It was a hopeless attempt by the minister to justify why Iraqis have become poorer, with less access to subsidized food items than the time of Saddam Hussein.

We have a government of the so-called technocrats who are traveling the world and have the freedom to strike deals without the restraint of sanctions.

Still these technocrats, as Abu Nazar said, cannot make available one third of the food rations Iraqis received when Saddam Hussein was in power.

We add our voice to Abu Nazar’s. His was an honorable, honest and credible voice, warning the current and future governments of consequences of neglecting the people’s basic needs.

If conditions go on like this, I believe the time will come when millions of Iraqis will look backward to the “better days” they had under “Haddam” and his regime.

Our two elected governments have done nothing to solve any of the issues plaguing the society.

They have cited “terrorism and corruption” as pretexts for their failures. And they say these are the legacies of the former regime.

But having an efficient food distribution mechanism was also part of the legacy of the former regime. This legacy, a rare bright spot, they do not want to emulate.

Iraqis are getting poorer. And I do not need to remind the government that poverty is a monster which no one can restrain.

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