Since the post-war media has been focusing so much on the US presence in Iraq, there seems to be an abundance of information about which US company gets which contract to rebuild Iraq. On the other hand, it is incredibly difficult to get hold of detailed information about what the UK and Australian governments are doing in Iraq and what sectors each country is interested in rebuilding. This type of information is important because it can provide an indication of the long-term plans of each country in Iraq and raises issues such as those of land-ownership, privatisation of services, foreign exploitation not only of Iraqi oil but of other resources such as agricultural land, installation of military bases, long-term effects on peoples health and the environment etc.

For this reason, the past few days I have regularly been checking the UK, Melbourne and Sydney Indymedia sites in the hope of finding detailed information about what the UK and Australian governments are up to in Iraq. Specially since the mainstream media tends to sporadically provide some very general information. Since your taxpayers money was spent on invading Iraq I was assuming that at least some of you might be concerned about the long-term implications of the war, that you helped to fund, will have on Iraq and its neighbouring countries.

Unfortunately, I came across the realisation that you seriously lack awareness and debate in your countries. For example, by midnight yesterday, Athens Indymedia (Greece) had debated the war in Iraq and its implications in 14 articles followed by a total of 124 comments. In contrast, UK Indymedia had 13 articles followed by only 16 comments, 6 of which were by the same person (someone called Ram). In fact Ram even posted one of the articles himself and one was posted by me. Melbourne and Sydney Indymedia together also posted few articles (probably no more than 10) with hardly any comments. Bearing in mind that the Greek government did not even send troops to invade Iraq and seeing how much debate is currently taking place in their country, one can only realise that you have some serious issues to deal with in your countries let alone go and patronise Iraqis about democracy.

So, is anyone interested in posting detailed information on this site about what sectors of Iraq your governments are interested in rebuilding? Do you have any information about how long your governments plan to stay in Iraq? Is your local media explaining to you why your countries went to war and what they expect to gain from it?

Since I am from the Middle East I would like to get hold of this type of information that will help me assess the long-term implications of the presence of your armies and governments in the part of the world where I live.