Yup, the Iraqis sure are better off since the U.S. invaded their country

As if it weren't bad enough that 2 million Iraqis (including Riverbend and her family) have become refugees as a direct result of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, or that Iraqis have less electricity now than before the invasion, now the turning of that country into a third world nation as a result of Bush's utilization of the military to resolve his psychosexual issues with his father is complete.

They now have a cholera outbreak:

The World Health Organization confirmed on Thursday the first cholera case in Baghdad since 2003, raising fears the disease is spreading from the north of the country where it has struck more than 1,000 people.

A 25-year-old woman from eastern Baghdad was found to have cholera after she turned up at a hospital with severe diarrhea, said Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO's representative in Iraq.

Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease that is typically spread by drinking contaminated water and can cause severe diarrhea that, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration.

The disease broke out in Iraq in mid-August, but had been confined to northern Iraq, affecting the provinces of Sulaimaniyah, Irbil and Tamim, which is home to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. At least 10 people have died, according to WHO.

Several suspected cholera cases also have been reported in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, but al-Gasseer said none had been confirmed.

Cholera is endemic to Iraq, with about 30 cases registered each year. But the last time there was an epidemic in the country was in 1999 when 20 cases were discovered in one day, said Adel Muhsin, the Health Ministry's inspector-general.

Al-Gasseer said health authorities were concerned the disease could spread because of the movement of people within Iraq's borders. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have been forced to flee their homes because of violence.

A disease that would otherwise be easily treatable has been made all the more dangerous because of Iraq's precarious security situation following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

And this is what insane Republicans (and cowardly Democrats) are perfectly willing to continue indefinitely.

It's appalling.