www.roanoke.com

Imagine you are driving along Williamson Road just past Preston Park heading toward the Roanoke Civic Center. Imagine all the shops on the right and left without glass in their windows, their exteriors scarred by munitions damage.

In front of and around the shops lie trails of trash; open spaces are completely covered in debris. Piles of rubble from construction or ruins. Rusting frames of burned-out cars and trucks. Tires. The stinking detritus from a family's kitchen.

It may be hard to imagine in Southwest Virginia, but that's what you see in the areas surrounding Baghdad. The landscape is covered with litter.

The roadsides themselves are not a problem. Those are relatively clean because the U.S. military keeps debris away to eliminate potential hiding places for improvised explosive devices.

But the fields just off roadways and extending into the distance do not receive as much attention. Instead of looking out the car window and seeing farmlands of alfalfa, soybean or grazing cattle, Iraqis are more likely to see fields of trash.

Before 2003, the Iraqis had a system of waste management. But that broke down in the wake of the invasion. A faction of Iraqis eliminated the public service as a power ploy.

One way to make the general population disdain the controlling government and build support for an insurgency is to bring hardships and suffering. Food, water and public works become sources of power.

That's what happened to the waste management system. Today, at best, it's typified by a man from a neighborhood with a riding tractor pulling a trailer full of trash. That's carted to the nearest open space and dumped.

The U.S. military has done wonders building infrastructures of electricity, water and security. Still, for decades Iraqis did not have a government that was for the people and by the people.

Iraq is a rich and potentially powerful country. Living conditions will turn around. The Iraqi economy will be vibrant. Over the course of perhaps a decade, the "land of the two rivers" (the Tigris and Euphrates) will become a jewel of the Middle East. In the meantime, the lower classes will live in filth.

Readers' Note:  This is the first installment in a series of three articles discussing the effects of war on  litter, children, and women.

This is one street off the major road leading south of Baghdad. The scene is quite average for this area.

A typical shop along the main road heading south of Baghdad and its surroundings.

From the front, passenger's seat of my vehicle this is the average scene along the pominent road heading south of Baghdad. The small shop is typical.