Репортаж корр. Би-би-си Руперта Уингфилда-Хейза:
General Brims was adamant. There is no humanitarian crisis in Basra, he said. People have enough to eat and water and electricity is being restored to more parts of the city by the day. If there is a crisis, he said, it is of a society deeply traumatised by twenty years of abuse at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime, and that, thanks to the British troops, he said, has been stopped.
He did agree that there are some black spots, in particular with providing clean water, and at the city's hospitals, many of which are completely without medicines. But he again said the old regime was to blame for the situation, not British forces.
Nevertheless, out on the streets of Basra, there is growing impatience with the speed of change, or rather the lack of it. Faces that a week ago smiled in welcome are now turning increasingly surly. Such impatience may be unfair, but if they hope to win the peace, coalition forces are going to have to move fast to do something tangible to improve the lives of people here.
- adamant
- непреклонный
- humanitarian crisis - гуманитарный кризис
- deeply traumatised - глубоко травмирован
- at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime -
зд. совершенный режимом Саддама Хусейна
- black spots - районы, вызывающие опасения
- was to blame - зд. виновен
- surly - угрюмый, мрачный
- to move fast - действовать быстро
- tangible - ощутимый, заметный