Daniel Ellsberg once said, and rightly so (and yes I have mentioned this on countless occasions), that foreign policy tends to have more to do with domestic politics than anything else. With regards to the US ‘surge’ in Iraq this year, the results have proven Ellsberg’s analogy true yet again.

Violence is down, reports the administration, and therefore the surge has been successful. But, as is always the case, a myriad of realities are conveniently not presented the average American with regards to what has transpired this year in Iraq. In truth, 2007 has been one of the worst years on record.

Dahr Jamail runs through Iraq’s 2007 realties…

When you’re sitting on your couch in front of your television on a leisurely Sunday afternoon and the news regarding ‘successes’ in Iraq are presented you, these are the details that are not revealed. And because the situation in Iraq is presented the American public in the simplest of terms, the belief that real progress has been made is becoming the norm.

The truth, on the other hand, isn’t as positive, and therefore it’s best not to delve too deeply beneath the surface.

With a day left in 2007, the United States has now militarily occupied Iraq for almost five years, longer than their entire involvement in the Second World War.

The Insititute For War And Peace Reporting brings to light the reality of the child mortality rate in Iraq…

“According to a report released in May 2007 by aid agency Save the Children, “Iraq’s child mortality rate has increased by a staggering 150 per cent since 1990, more than any other country.”

The report, entitled State of the World’s Mothers 2007, said that some 122,000 Iraqi children - the equivalent of one in eight - died in 2005, before reaching their fifth birthday. More than half of the deaths were among newborn babies in their first month of life.

“Even before the latest war, Iraqi mothers and children were facing a grave humanitarian crisis caused by years of repression, conflict and external sanctions,” said the report.

“Since 2003, electricity shortages, insufficient clean water, deteriorating health services and soaring inflation have worsened already difficult living conditions.”

The study listed pneumonia and diarrhea as major killers of children in Iraq, together accounting for over 30 per cent of child deaths.”

Can you fathom a child in our society dying of diarrhea, let alone it being a major cause of death for children under the age of five? Not only that, can you imagine the utter state of emergency that would exist in any Western society if children under the age of five had a one in eight chance of survival?

For the first time in Nobel history, the coveted Peace Prize has been awarded for environmental activism. It was jointly awarded to former US Vice President Al Gore and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Gore, in a brief press conference after receiving the news, said that he would donate his half of the $1.5 million dollar prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

While it is fantastic that this issue has received such attention by way of the world’s most prestigious award, on the US political front, The Nation’s John Nichols makes some very valid points about Gore’s participation in the upcoming Presidential election…

“…the inconvenient truth is that never has the man who might yet be president needed to more seriously consider his personal legacy–not to mention the small matter of his potential to make the world anew–than now.

There is, after all, the matter of the open space at the end of what is now the most remarkable resume of anyone seeking – or considering seeking – the presidency.

Let’s review.

This is how Al Gore’s resumé reads as of this morning:

Son of a great senator.

Harvard graduate, with honors.

Vietnam veteran.

Award-winning investigative journalist.

Congressman.

Senator.

Vice President.

Winner of the popular vote for President of the United States.

Best-selling author.

Environmental activist.

Academy Award winner.

And, now, Nobel Peace Prize winner–he shares the prize with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change–for “their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about manmade climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

As resumés go, that is one for the top of the pile.

But it begs the question: Shouldn’t a man who has gotten this far be thinking about how to finish the journey?

And isn’t the last stop the Oval Office?

To think that Gore is not pondering these questions today would be absurd.”

I whole-heartedly agree. I firmly believe that Mr. Gore has a responsibility to run, especially after this latest triumph. Given the state of affairs in the United States, it seems insane to me that he wouldn’t; that he would leave the fate of the nation to what I consider lesser candidates – perhaps with the exception of Dennis Kucinich, who has really no chance of winning the Democratic nomination anyway.

If ever there was as time for an individual like Al Gore to run, it’s now. Beyond what he could do environmentally as President, given that the United States is one of the world’s foremost polluters, his impact on the disaster in Iraq, not to mention numerous domestic failures, would be, I believe, significantly positive.

There is no question that whomever inherits the mess left by the Bush administration will have their hands full, not to mention be left in the proverbial hot seat because of it, but I think that if anyone can truly handle that challenge, it’s Al Gore.

Benchmarks, troop increases, paying off hostile militias, losing track of 190,000 weapons, 1,800 Iraqi civilian deaths in August, over 4 million Iraqis displaced (within the country and aborad), hundreds of thousands dead since 2003, a massively under-reported air war, members of the House making statements that Iraqi markets are comparable to their Hoosier counterparts, and PR campaigns launched to justify reports that have yet to be made while downplaying reports that have been that are critical of the administration.

Welcome to the rollercoaster ride that is Iraq.

They’re peddling the same shit, just in different coloured bags. The benchmarks set were not attained, therefore the strategy must be re-examined. In fact, forget that those benchmarks were even set in the first place. Or, if you’re so inclined, blame the Iraqis. No matter which, the time has come to re-examine how best to make matters seem better in a situation that refuses to improve.

The surge? Just give it time. And when time’s up, say that more time is required. Better yet, allow members of Congress to visit Iraq and walk through the streets of Baghdad while surrounded by an overwhelming military presence so that they can get a first hand look at how successful it potentially could be. Then put them on national television and allow them to make asinine statements about buying five rugs for five dollars during their visit, as if that’s some indication of stability.

Stability? That’s something that the people of Iraq haven’t enjoyed since March of 2003. You know what’s horrendous about that statement? That they actually had more of it when a tyrant was at the helm.

The Iraqi people aren’t really the concern though. Were they, then those occupying the country would have seen to ensuring that those aspects of their lives that have suffered since the invasion were addressed – such as reliable electricity, sanitation, and a laundry list of other things. Were they the priority then 4 million of them wouldn’t have been compelled to flee the country thus far. But of course, they didn’t necessarily think that far ahead. In fact, they didn’t really ponder the possibility of a viable insurgency rising against them, nor that the occupation of the country, and the instability that it would cause, would lead to violent clashes between groups that have significant histories of mistrust. Besides rounding up a group of people to cheer at the toppling of a statue in an otherwise empty city square for the sake of American television audiences, I’m not sure they actually put much thought at all into what would actually happen once they could promote the affair domestically as ‘a win’.

Stability? Stability is indeed an issue. Not so much for those private contracting companies that have made billions off of the conflict’s continuation, but because it is required to placate the rapid dogs that have been salivating in the wings waiting to sink their teeth into their long promised meal…

“The question is simple on the third and final day of a major Iraqi energy conference where hundreds of hungry oil men and women broke bread with Iraq’s industry chiefs, politicians and technocrats: When will Baghdad set the ground rules for the international oil community’s long-awaited venture into the largest oil prize on Earth?”

When indeed.

It’s been a deadly few days here in the Lower Mainland.

First, a pre-wedding party of 25 to 30 people in the valley was struck by a truck while walking down Lefeuvre Road in Abbotsford at around 11 PM, killing 6 people and injuring a further 17. The driver of the truck, a 71 year old male, was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs according to authorities. The group was walking along the shoulder of the road and was due to attend a Sikh wedding in Mission tomorrow.

In nearby Surrey, 2 people were killed and 11 others injured yesterday when a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed into an RV Park. Three of the injured people remain in serious condition in hospital.

Sympathies go out to all those affected by these tragedies.

In Other Local News

Sam Sullivan’s Yaletown condominium building was struck by poverty activists early Friday morning who dumped garbage in front of it in protest of the city’s ongoing civic strike. Sullivan, Vancouver’s Mayor, said that he wouldn’t be intimidated by the actions of poverty activists, something I find rather funny. It was just garbage, it’s not like they waiting for him to leave so that they could start hurling rocks at him.

Then again, perhaps is was Yaletown residents disguised as poverty activists pissed off at the fact that no one’s cut the grass at their local parks recently.

Personally, I think the action perfectly reasonable, especially given the impact that the strike is having on not only community services on the Lower East Side, but in Vancouver’s elderly community as well – though it should be mentioned that the city has tabled a deal for inside workers that would give them a 17.5% pay raise over a five year term, hopefully allowing community centres, children’s, and senior’s programs to be reopen by the end of the month.

Sullivan also needs to deal with the issue of the Vancouver City Police being understaffed. According to the CBC, the VPD says that it requires 100 new officers next year “just to break even”.

Vancouver’s Number 1, Or Is It?

According to Economist Magazine, Vancouver has, for the fifth year running, been ranked the best city in the world in which to live…

“Vancouver scored a livability index of 1.3 per cent, with zero indicating exceptional quality of living and 100 indicating life there is intolerable or severely restricted.”

You know, I’ll be honest, I find that completely shocking. Living where I do, I see tourists from cruise ships stroll down Water Street on a daily basis. As they wander further east, things dramatically change, transforming from a quaint little cobblestone street populated by tourist shops into one of the most poverty stricken urban areas in all of Canada. It’s sort of humourous, to be honest, seeing the expressions on the faces of those that stray a little off the beaten path and find themselves at, for example, the corner of Hastings and Carrall. You can spot them a mile away – they’re the ones heading back up Water as if the devil himself were after them, their folded maps clutched in their hands, their faces as white as paper, their kids gripped tightly.

They really should have built Canada Place somewhere else.

Of course, the gentrification of this neighbourhood is well underway, and it will most likely resemble Yaletown in the next five years, remembering, of course, that Yaletown used to be nothing more than a rundown warehouse district populated by the homeless not too long ago. In fact, I’m hypocritically sitting in an example of that sort of gentrification as I write this. And while I can’t speak for others who have moved down here into refurbished buildings, I will say that the problems in this part of Vancouver need to be addressed before places such as this, built to facilitate those who can afford Vancouver’s incredulous prices, become the norm. There are plenty of reasons for the city to look at low income housing options in this neighbourhood, something that doesn’t seem to be all that much of a priority (the old Woodwards building is a prime example). There are, of course, certainly no lack of people that would benefit from it, so one wonders why it isn’t more of a priority?

And then, like a blinding light, the image of the 2010 Olympic mascot appears, making it all too apparent why the gentrification of the Lower East Side is of import.

God forbid, given the proximity of GM Place, a neighbourhood such as this is still in the shape that it is when the world comes to visit. God forbid it’s streets are populated by the disenfranchised, the mentally ill, many of them having turned to drugs to deal with their problems. God forbid that the world should get a glimpse of that reality and the reputation of our fair city be tarnished.

Not ten blocks from where I am sitting, Vancouver’s playground of the rich is preparing for another Saturday night. Down here, on the wet pavement, in garbage infested alleys, and in condemned doorways, the poor have no clue as to the time, let alone the day of the week. No matter my living situation, it never ceases to blow my mind when I think on it. And when I do, I will admit to feeling utterly ashamed of myself.

Like many other Vancouverites, I donate to local charities and the food bank. Like some others, I have lived in both of Vancouver’s extremes. One wonders whether the people from Economist Magazine took the time to compare the two, especially given that they’re no more than a 5 minute cab ride apart.

Our Mayor, Mr. Sullivan, credited “the people living in Vancouver — and their strong social and environmental ethic” for the city’s ranking. It would seem Mr. Sullivan needs poverty activists to throw trash in front of his building more often than they have been.

You have to love the summers in Baghdad. Lots of sun, good for tanning, tea on the veranda at night as the cool desert winds blow through the city. Kids running through the streets chasing ice-cream trucks, their parents walking languidly behind them with the family dog on the way to the park to have a picnic or watch the kids swim at the pool.

Did I say Baghdad? Sorry, I meant every major North American city thousands of miles away from the hell on earth that Baghdad has become.

At least the new US Embassy boasts an nice swimming pool, not to mention…

“The complex will include two office buildings, one of them designed for future use as a school, six apartment buildings, a gym, a pool, a food court and its own power generation and water-treatment plants.

The residence of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq will be 16,000 square feet. The deputy chief of mission in Iraq will have a “cozy cottage” measuring 9,500 square feet.”

Throw in a Walmart and a Bed Bath And Beyond and everyone should feel right at home. Crank the air conditioning, put on some Christopher Cross, and just let your worries melt away.

The animals outside the walls needn’t know. After all, they’ve been waiting for power to be properly restored for five years now, they can wait a little longer…

“Simmering in the summer heat, Iraqis now have a dream called electricity.

It is a part of the bigger dream of reconstruction that collapsed. On all measurable levels, the infrastructure is worse than under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, even when it was crippled by the harshest economic sanctions in modern history.

Iraqis lack security, jobs, potable water, and these days when it really pinches, electricity.”

Frappuccino anyone?