A Failed State

A CBS story on homeless veterans might seem to Christopher Griffin like an attempt to undermine public confidence by suggesting that there's been a catastrophic moral failure at the highest levels of government. But since the only veteran profiled is a Muslim (a fanatic!), who became homeless only after going to jail for robbery (a criminal!), I think it'll be pretty obvious to the astute reader that like most homeless Americans, he brought his troubles on himself.

Speaking of homelessness, The Economist reports on Iraq’s refugees:

It takes money and connections to make it out. So many of those who have left are from Iraq’s middle and professional classes, leaving crucial shortages of doctors, for example.

This adds to the misery of Iraq’s poor and displaced:

Dr Aziz Ali Baroud, a physician at Najaf Main Hospital, said the region’s hospitals cannot cope with the increase in people seeking medical treatment since the beginning of 2007. As a result, there are severe shortages in specialists and in medical essentials such as paediatric needles and heart disease drugs, he said, adding that abortions have become common among displaced women unable to cope with their situation.

It's not a choice, it's a child! And given that these hussies have manifestly refused to join the Culture of Life, you can hardly fault the US and Iraqi authorities for failing to provide them with humanitarian aid:

Neither Iraq’s American overseers nor the Iraqi government recognise their plight as a humanitarian emergency, requiring the direct and immediate attention of specialised agencies dealing with refugees, food or children. Instead, Iraq is seen as a development matter. Thus aid is channelled through government ministries the way it might be in the average poor country trying to get somewhat richer. The trouble is that Iraq more closely approximates to a failed state.

Personally, I’d question whether post-invasion Iraq is a failed state, but only because failure implies that there was an honest attempt to succeed.