Answers to Your Questions About Iraq
March 27, 2007 — -- Thank you for submitting questions to ABC's Terry McCarthy as he reports from Iraq. Here are his answers to a selection of the queries posted on the "World News" message board and ABCNEWS.com:
Question: I'm a freshmen in college, and I'm working on a speech about the war and troops being in Iraq. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. Do you feel that the U.S. troops being in the Middle East are doing more good than harm? What are the overall benefits of our troops being over there? What are the cons to the troops being there? In your personal opinion, do you think the government should pass the bill to withdraw troops from the Middle East, or should we continue with Bush's plan to send more troops? -- Laura
Answer: These are big questions, Laura. I think that the troops on the ground are doing their best to help the Iraqis whom they come in contact with, but the political situation is such that many Iraqis are not happy having U.S. forces in their country. We should remember when talking about the U.S. military in Iraq (or anywhere else for that matter) that it is not the military who decides to go in -- that is a political decision taken, ultimately, by the president. The military in the U.S. is under civilian control, so they have to follow orders -- within that frame, I think that the U.S. military is doing the best it can in Iraq.
Iraqis generally oppose the presence of U.S. forces here -- 78 percent in our poll said they were against the presence of the U.S. -- but at the same time the majority of Iraqis do not want the U.S. to leave immediately, as they fear that would leave the country in an even worse state of chaos and outright civil war. Only 35 percent of those we polled called for immediate U.S. withdrawal. So the situation is very complex, and the military is faced with a very tough job.
Question: Why does the hospital in Baghdad not have enough medicine supply? Who is responsible for supplying medicine to hospitals in Baghdad? Is it the lack of money in the country, which I do not believe, or is there still an embargo on importing medicine to Iraq like before the war?
Answer: The problem with medicines in the hospitals in Iraq is not a question of money -- there is a budget for drugs -- nor is it a question of embargo -- the borders are open. Frankly, it is a matter of corruption -- the drugs that should be supplied free through hospitals are diverted onto the black market so that certain people in power can make money from the business.
Question: Where are the revenues in the North of Iraq coming from? What resources do they have up there in order to boom that fast? I understand the Kurds have not put their hands on Kirkuk's oil yet, so where is the money coming from?
Answer: The Kurds make a lot of their money from importing goods from Turkey and distributing them throughout Kurdistan and farther south in the rest of Iraq. They also are seeing a surge in foreign investment, which comes to Kurdistan precisely because it is safe to build and invest there, businessmen are prepared to risk their money in Kurdistan, because they have some confidence in the future. The same is not yet the case in Baghdad.
Question: Where did Saddam's money go? I mean the huge funds that were frozen in Europe's banks after the war? And the truck loads of pure gold bars that were captured by the Americans before being smuggled to Syria after the war? And the millions of the food for oil program that were never returned to the Iraqi in food, and were stolen at the United Nations? Did all these monies return to the Iraqis?
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