So Much For The Rape Of Iraq Being Over

The familiar signs, long-since vanished from Baghdad, are all still here: the towering concrete blast walls, the dirt obstacles piled in the centre of the roads to slow down racing attackers, the buildings wrecked by the impact of shells.
Razor wire is rampant like a weed, shrapnel crunches under foot and the garbage lies rotting in heaps, because war makes basic civic duties like cleaning the streets seem like lunacy.
This is not the Iraq that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government is touting now that U.S. troops have pulled out and oil billions are rolling in. Hundreds of millions have been spent smartening up the capital for this week's Arab League summit. New lines have been painted on the pavement and palms planted in the highway dividers. READ MORE