Jeebus, this could very well be a huge disaster. Cholera is some nasty shit. In the absence of modern medical care, it's a highly efficient killer.

It's worth pointing out that, prior to modern sanitation, European cities had death rates far in excess of their birth rates: populations were only maintained by the influx of people from the countryside. Cholera was one of the major reasons for that. There were other diseases at work as well, and with deteriorating conditions in Baghdad, there's good reason to expect some of them to reappear as well.

People who think wars are a good idea would do well to remember that our cushy civilized existence is both fragile and the result of an enormous, complex, coordinated effort -- exactly the sort of thing war disrupts. They should also remember that in most wars, disease has killed more people, military and civilian, than combat. Sometimes, I think that Americans have based all their ideas of war on WW2, which was highly atypical in almost every respect.

---Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?

Hey there StevenD- I am trilled that you have picked up on the Cholera situation. May I point out one thing. way back, I posted a comment regarding this potential horror and included one additional point. When this disease raised its ugly head, there were report that at that time, the border between Iraq was closed to shipments of Chlorine destined for Iraq! This closure was initiated by the US Military because at that time, if you remember, there had be a couple of bombs that had exploded and had claimed to contain chlorine gas. As usual, this story got very limited exposure. In any event, Please stay with this story because as this disease spreads, and i find it hard to believe that it won't, then This is an example of what we went looking for as our excuse for the invasion. WMD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The strain on the infrastructure and the opportunity for this disease to take hold will certainly be added to by the Iraqis attempting to return to their homeland now. And since we never seem to get a sufficient qty of flu shots back here at home, I'm betting the markup on any medicines will make that $600 toilet look like chump change. That's what this war is all about, eh?

No Hillary, you were outspent by the people not the Obama campaign.

It should really come as no surprise that this issue is completely unknown to virtually everyone in this country.  This, right along with Scott Pelley's absolute shock to find that there has been a religious purge in Iraq are indicative of a press which in not only unwilling to see reality but are, in large part, unable to cover the real stories in Iraq.

From Reporters Without Borders:

205 journalists and media assistants killed since the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003, two still missing, 14 are kidnapped.

The American people typically will never hear about these stories in the traditional media.  They have been there, though, for years for everyone to see.  If you only take the time.  But, unfortunately, stories like these only take away from the grand shining American exceptionalism we want to be so evident in our great Middle Eastern misadventure. The traditional media want so badly for this to be another feel-good, Americans-in-the-white-hats, coming to the rescue, that  they refuse to report the facts, warts and all.

The whole story is there.  It has been all along.  Unfortunately, we will probably only read about it in the history books, long after it is over and well past the time we can do anything to effectively improve it or avoid it.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity"

According to our intrepid MSM stenographers, the "war" in Iraq is over, the terrorist/insurgent/Islamofascists have been vanquished, hordes of refugees are returning to The New Iraq, oil is flowing.......even Peter Beinart in today's WaPo piece says Iraq is a "non-issue" for the Prez candidates of BOTH parties.  

Wow.   Sometimes it really does feel like I'm in some bizarre parallel universe.

The cholera now spreading thru parts of Iraq is a predictable consequence of our wanton destruction of its' infrastructure.  But then, the Americans "in country" aren't really impacted by this, are they?  Journalists live in the protected Green Zone, the contractors have their own insulated encampments and the military have their giant home-away-from-home bases.  The only people really affected by a disease like cholera are the Iraqi people.  Particularly the very young & old.  Unfortunately, we've seen how little these people matter in this Grand Scheme to Americanize a crucial part of the Middle East.

Kudos StevenD for keeping the horrors of Iraq front & center.  We cannot let the clusterfuck that Bushco wrought on MILLIONS be re-written by the revisionist-spinners who dominate the MSM.