Iraq War

I have read the particular section on Iraq war in Straits Time for a long period. All of the articles were about the loss of lives and properties, suffering people in Mid-east. And everything is due to the bloody war which the U.S.A. took on Iraq in 2003 and the terrible situation tends to be worse and worse.
I think the first influence towards the whole world is the oil export. During the war, the oil-production declined seriously and caused the rise in the price of oil in world-wide. It somehow increased people’s worry about energy crisis. Up to now, the influence is still there although has been reduced a little by the end of Iraq war and the establishment of the new government which is trying to revive the nation.
Some of reports in the newspaper are focus on the American troops’ abuses. They abused the prisoners as cruelly as they could for their own desire. “In the era of Saddam Hussein, Abu Ghraib, twenty miles west of Baghdad, was one of the world’s most notorious prisons, with torture, weekly executions, and vile living conditions. As many as fifty thousand men and women—no accurate count is possible—were jammed into Abu Ghraib at one time, in twelve-by-twelve-foot cells that were little more than human holding pits.” The material above is extracted from THE NEW YORKER. And moreover there are lots of incredible “punishments” which disturb the law. People all around are demonstrating against the U.S. government’s policy in Iraq and Mid-east. The assumption of U.S. government before the war that Iraq might have nuclear weapons is proved to be a fault after many investigations, but it still pushes orward it policy and the result becomes clearer and clearer as time passed.
When we lie on the sofa watching TV leisurely, can we think of Iraqis’ plight and struggle with survival. Everyday a number of precious lives leave the world and countless properties vanish forever. I saw a report on a website just now, “Iraq war costs could top $2 trillion which is far above the US administration's prewar projections, takes into account the long term healthcare costs for the 16,000 US soldiers injured in Iraq so far. Even taking a conservative approach, we have been surprised at how large they are," the study said, referring to total war costs. We can state, with some degree of confidence, that they exceed a trillion dollars.”
The new Iraq government is reviving the situation under the help from the whole world.If everyone takes an effort to assist the re-establishment of Iraq society so that the process will be faster and more stably.


Reference: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/040510fa_fact?040510fa_fact
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0110/dailyUpdate.html

Global warming

Global warming
One month ago, I saw a report on the global warming in Straits Time and It said the temperature of the last year , 2006, had increased rapidly and achieved a new peak.
Once I read an article on the internet talked about the serious influence of the global warming which was becoming worse and worse , esp. in Asian. “South-east Asia as rising global temperatures bring violent cyclones and more flooding and droughts to the region.” Moreover the impact to people’s lives is a more enormous disaster: “flooding tens of thousands of hectares of farmland and impacting on tens of millions of people.” And “the destruction of crops and to cover insurance claims measuring billions of dollars.”. The global warming causes the decline of quality of people’s lives esp. the environment and hometown they have depended on for thousands of years. Someone doesn’t believe how bad the situation is but the truth from scientists’ research is that everything can’t be reversed if we watch the destruction developing without taking any action .“Bangladeshi Monirul Qadar Mirza, a water- resources expert based at Toronto University said South-east Asia was expected to suffer from higher than average temperature rises and increasingly moody weather swings. Dr Mirza said storm surges would flood inland farms with salty sea water ruining the soil, while rising sea levels would flood delta areas permanently.Sea levels are predicted to rise by between 9 cm and 88 cm by 2100.The migration of millions of people to the urban areas of Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam is expected in future due to the permanent inundation of coastal areas,' he warned.
Any conclusion about the pale future of human beings can be drawn easily from the materials above.Facing to such a challenge, the whole human beings shall and must take actions to prevent the tragic result from happening. “Dr Mirza said Asean should start preparing for the effects of climate change, building it into development plans and even breeding new salt- and heat-resistant crops.”Furthermore, some significant precautions or effort can be taken in the area of Carbon dioxide which is the criminal of the global warming. The vent of Carbon dioxide from industries ought to be reduced. The percentage of plants on the land will increase while turning the gas into useful and harmless oxygen. In fact many governments have realized the situation and started to put in effort, for example Kyoto protocol has achieved an international co-operation against the global warming but it is quite a pity that the U.S.A who produce the largest amount of Carbon dioxide refused to sign up. So it is still a hard work to overcome the problem and conquer the challenge. It needs a lot of efforts and convictions. But I think that if we can recognize the serious problem properly, the prospect of human beings’ future will be splendid and significant.

Reference :website “http://ecologyasia.com”