I'm Back

For those who have been making comments about my most recent disappearance, Crystal, I'm very sorry. I've been recovering from the plague. The chest cold and fever would have been bearable, but apparently going out in the cold with wet hair after swimming is a good way to get ear infections. I finally caved in and went to the doctor (yuck!) where they gave me lots of drugs that made me dizzy. So after two weeks of being sick and dizzy, I think I'm finally well enough that I no longer require 16 hours of sleep a day and I am renewing my effort to keep up with my blog.

Today's topic: war and the environment
I write a lot about the environmental realities of nuclear weapons, but these are not the only environmental concerns involved in war. In Iraq, the most immediate concern was getting clean water to the people. Two years after the US government contracted a company to do this, the job is still not done. Next is clean electricity. Then the effort to reverse all of the prewar damage done by Sadam. So who's going to do it? International law offers no answers here. So far, the US has been fairly resopnsible and honorable in making a reall effort, if not reall progress, in Iraqi environmental matters, but now we are coming to the issues that do not affect the present quality of life. Apparently it would be acceptable for the US to leave these issues to the new government, but there is no new government yet, and when there is, I'm sure the environment will have more demanding concerns. I'm stuck on this one. Who is responsible for the state of the Iraqi environment? If international law doesn't make any specific country responsible for it, who can help? Who should pay for the necessary efforts? Where do they get the money for it? Any thoughts?