Labor demonstration in Basra

Litte publicity was given to these early acts to destroy any vestiges of socialism or at least publicly owned businesses in Iraq. One of the results of this plus the disbanding of the Iraqi armed forces has been high rates of unemployment. This feeds the insurgency. There is no magic hand of the market at most times and certainly not in the security situation in Iraq or with the corruption both in US contracted suppliers and in the Iraq government.

There was also a big labor demonstration in Basra on Wednesday by former workers at defunct Iraqi state-owned factories (petrochemicals, steel, etc.) who want the Iraqi government to revive these industries [in Arabic via Sawt al-Iraq]. The Bush administration shut down the state-owned factories as part of its plan to destroy Arab socialism, and appears to have believed that the magic hand of the market would miraculously start back up Iraqi industries. The bankruptcy of American laissez faire as a development tool is pretty obvious in the economic catastrophe that Bush visited on Iraq. This big labor demonstration will not be reported in the American press, which generally is pitched to be about and for people who make at least $80,000 a year.