Jabouri’s sentiments are the consensus among Iraqis who would have liked the US President to see for himself the daily challenges they face. News from common Iraqis concerning everyday life in Baghdad, and elsewhere in Iraq, flies contrary to some of the reports found in most North American media. It is true electricity has been restored to pre-war levels. However, pre-war levels were dismal at best due to years of constructional defects thanks to the US-sponsored economic sanctions on Iraq (which prohibited the import of raw and spare parts and materials), and bombings in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998. In fact, pre-war levels mean that only 50 per cent of the country is supplied with working electric power, which is non-sustainable and known to disrupt for several hours a day. The power situation in Iraq is so dire that the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) considered importing electricity from neighboring Syria and/or Turkey.

The medical situation in Iraq is also in peril, having dropped somewhat from pre-war levels. Iraqi doctors have told international relief organizations that maternal mortality is significantly up, as is the number of children who are still born. Water-related diseases have risen 50 per cent since the Iraq invasion and an April 29 UNICEF press release warned, “UNICEF warned today that rapidly dwindling supplies of chlorine gas in southern Iraq will leave drinking water untreated within weeks, with potentially calamitous effects on the lives of Iraqis.”

The water situation has improved somewhat in some parts of the country - 50 per cent of Iraqis have access to clean water now as opposed to 11 per cent in 2002 - but experts agree that more resources need to be dedicated to water sanitation projects.

With all of the above taken into consideration, international humanitarian agencies, most of which have already pulled out of Iraq, are warning that Iraqi children will suffer long-term adverse effects.

According to the BBC, “Medical charity Medact says this year’s conflict disrupted immunisation programmes and destroyed water systems, increasing levels of disease. Environmental degradation and smoke from oil fires are adding to the health problems of Iraqis, it reports. Continuing insecurity in Iraq, along with the breakdown of public health services, are exacerbating the problem.”

The general mood of the Iraqi street is one of frustration at the seemingly everlasting problems. Many have resigned themselves to a sense of hopelessness, preferring to hold no positive outlook of the future for fear of having their aspirations dashed again.

“There is no Iraq to talk about anymore,” said a female Iraqi living in London. Although she refused to give her name, she was forthcoming in her opinions: “Yes, we are rid of Saddam, but the country we loved is gone now. It will never stand up on its own feet again.”

The feelings of loss and hopelessness, however, seem to be oddly lost on members of the IGC. Last month, sitting next to Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) head Paul Bremer, current rotating President Jalal Talabani chastised world press for not speaking the truth on Iraq. “There is good news here, very good beautiful things; why don’t you report on them,” said an irate Talabani.

Concerning the secretive Bush visit, Talabani spoke volumes on the “great courage” of President Bush in visiting Iraq. “Everyone was happy he came,” Talabani told CNN. Talabani said that all the people were happy to take pictures with the US President and that everyone he spoke with was overjoyed at such a great visit.

It remains to be seen to whom Talabani was referring. According to the White House, President Bush met only with about 600 US troops and five members of the IGC. President Bush did not leave the security of the US compound at the airport, formerly called Saddam International Airport. Nor did the US President meet with any Iraqi civilians.

“Hatha mkhabaal (This man is demented),” said Walid Jasem, an Iraqi living in Vancouver, Canada.

If Talabani’s statements are to be taken seriously, then they will go a long way to further alienating the IGC and the CPA who supports them from the Iraqi people. The IGC have suffered numerous setbacks since they were appointed by US authorities in Iraq. The IGC is not considered legitimate by Iraqis in the country. It is not considered legitimate by the Shiite powers in Iraq, who say only a popularly-voted governing body can speak on behalf of the Iraqi people. Most Arab countries have refused to deal directly with the IGC, while others have done so only reluctantly and after much-vetted American pressure.

Iraqis have taken to the internet to voice their dissent to the IGC. After Talabani’s CNN interview, pictures of the rotating Iraqi president donning a US soldier’s hat quickly spread among the Iraqi online community. The pictures were nicknamed “The Clown,” a derogatory transliteration of a common Arabic insult.

In related news, some media circles have questioned whether the Bush visit was contrived to pre-empt a similar visit by US Senator Hillary Clinton, who arrived in Baghdad from Afghanistan only a day after the US President.

In Baghdad, Senator Clinton was harsh in her appraisal of the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq situation.

“I’m a big believer that we ought to internationalize this, but it will take a big change in our administration’s thinking. I don’t see that it’s forthcoming,” she told reporters.

While the Bush visit is sure to stir up emotions in the bitter US Presidential campaigns just beginning to unsheathe, it has unnerved Iraqis.