You know what really caused the destruction of the Chaldean Christian community? It was the Iraq War and making Iraq more democratic which in turn made the country receptive to the "Arab Spring." After the invasion by U.S. troops the Muslims there found a scapegoat to blame on who caused Iraq misery and that was the Christians there. Also Saddam Hussein, the man we brought down and had killed, protected the Christians, while the new democratic Iraq, which Mr. Bush never ceased to praise as the highest form of governance, massacred them.
Where is Hugo Chavez when you need him?
Chavez is demonized as the Neo CON Jєωs hate that he stood up to the Oil oligarchs. His accomplishments are legendary.
'One of the main factors for the popularity of the Chávez Government and its landslide victory in this re-election results of October 2012, is the reduction of poverty, made possible because the government took back control of the national petroleum company PDVSA, and has used the abundant oil revenues, not for benefit of a small class of renters as previous governments had done, but to build needed infrastructure and invest in the social services that Venezuelans so sorely needed.
During the last ten years, the government has increased social spending by 60.6%, a total of $772 billion.
Poverty is not defined solely by lack of income nor is health defined as the lack of illness. Both are correlated and both are multi-factorial, that is, determined by a series of social processes.
To make a more objective assessment of the real progress achieved by the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela during the last 13 years it is essential to review some of the key available data on the social determinants of health and poverty: education, inequality, jobs and income, health care, food security and social support and services.
With regard to these social determinants of health indicators, Venezuela Under Chavez had the country in the region with the Lowest inequality level (measured by the Gini Coefficient) having reduced inequality by 54%, poverty by 44%.
Poverty has been reduced from 70.8% (1996) to 21% (2010). And extreme poverty reduced from 40% (1996) to a very low level of 7.3% (2010).
About 20 million people have benefited from anti-poverty programs, called “Misiones” (Up to now, 2.1 million elderly people have received old-age pensions – that is 66% of the population while only 387,000 received pensions before the current government.
Education is a key determinant of both health and poverty and the Bolivarian government has placed a particular emphasis on education allotting it more than 6% of GDP. UNESCO has recognized that illiteracy been eliminated furthermore, Venezuela is the 3rd county in the region whose population reads the most.
There is tuition free education from daycare to university; 72% of children attend public daycares and 85% of school age children attend school.
There are thousands of new or refurbished schools, including 10 new universities. The country places 2nd in Latin America and 5th in the world with the greatest proportions of university students.
In fact, 1 out of every 3 Venezuelans are enrolled in some educational program. . It is also a great achievement that Venezuela is now tied with Finland as the 5t country with the happiest population in the world.
Before the Chavez government in 1998, 21% of the population was malnourished. Venezuela now has established a network of subsidized food distribution including grocery stores and supermarkets. While 90% of the food was imported in 1980, today this is less than 30%.
Misión Agro-Venezuela has given out 454,238 credits to rural producers and 39,000 rural producers have received credit in 2012 alone. Five million Venezuelan receive free food, four million of them are children in schools and 6,000 food kitchens feed 900,000 people. The agrarian reform and policies to help agricultural producers have increased domestic food supply. The results of all these food security measures is that today malnourishment is only 5%, and child malnutrition which was 7.7% in 1990 today is at 2.9%. This is an impressive health achievement by any standards.
Some of the most important available data on health care and public health are as following [iv],[v],[vi]:
*infant mortality dropped from 25 per 1000 (1990) to only 13/1000 (2010);
*An outstanding 96% of the population has now access to clean water (one of the goals of the revolution);
*Barrio Adentro (i.e., primary care program with the help of more than 8,300 Cuban doctors) has approximately saved 1,4 million lives in 7,000 clinics and has given 500 million consultations;
*In 2011 alone, 67,000 Venezuelans received free high cost medicines for 139 pathologies conditions including cancer, hepatitis, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, and others; there are now 34 centres for addictions,
*In 6 years 19,840 homeless have been attended through a special program; and there are practically no children living on the streets.
*Venezuela now has the largest intensive care unit in the region.
*A network of public drugstores sell subsidized medicines in 127 stores with savings of 34-40%.
*51,000 people have been treated in Cuba for specialized eye treatment and the eye care program “Mision Milagro”; has restored sight to 1.5 million Venezuelans.'
Venezuela had Low Debt (Angered the IMF World Banksters), vast Oil Wealth and vast savings, and to all but Jєωs living there, Chavez was a hero to his people.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/12/14/the-achievements-of-hugo-chavez/
Topic: The Church in Iraq (Read 13661 times)