This could be a long, hot summer. I don’t only mean that literally. In the most figurative way you can imagine, this could be a summer for the ages. In the classic 1958 film, “The Long, Hot Summer,” Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward depicted an excruciating season in Mississippi. This year, in addition to Louisiana, the heat is going worldwide.
America is emerging from the fog of war in Iraq, but no one is quite sure what will happen next. The United States’ nation-building apparatus has sputtered a few times off the start, but by mid-summer it should be at full throttle although, it won’t be smooth sailing. According to CNN, Saturday’s surprise resignation of the Baghdad police chief caught the highly-calculated Bush administration off guard. The chief claimed he did not want to enact American laws in Iraq.
This theme persists throughout coverage of the rebuilding efforts. The May 3 New York Times highlighted ongoing U.S. frustrations, as well as ones it will face through the summer.
“This is insulting,” said Imam Husham al-Husainy, an Iraqi Shiite leader who runs the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Detroit, a group kept at arm’s length during the government-building efforts. “We don’t follow others,” Husainy said, dismissing the Pentagon-assembled team. “Where is the democracy if you’re just dictating our ideas? That’s not democracy.”
The Iraqi people will continue to struggle with the American administration as long as Iraqis perceive the United States as the controlling influence in their country. Lives will be lost and resentment will grow on both sides amid arguments of a secular versus religious Iraqi state, the form and function of the government, equal representation for the many Iraqi minorities; and the list goes on. The uncertain near-term in Iraq will confound the daunting summer and haunt President Bush in his re-election bid.
And then there’s SARS. In case you’ve been under a rock, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is the virus frightening the world and crippling economies. SARS has provided us with a delectable Chinese cover-up, in addition to worldwide irrationality. Two weeks ago, the World Health Organization began dabbling in global economic politics when, in a fire-storm of criticism, it issued travel warnings. The Canadian government was awfully riled when the WHO placed a travel restriction on Toronto, decimating tourism in that city.
How worried should we be about SARS? Globally, infections are hovering about 6,300 with the death toll at 449. This means you have about a 7 percent chance of dying if you are infected. Of course, you have to be infected first, which is about as likely as winning the lottery at this point. What action is the world taking? The worldwide prevention and treatment efforts have uncovered SARS’s genome, but despite our best technology, SARS is still on the loose and no one seems to know what to do about it.
Contributing to the intensity of this summer is the elusive West Nile Virus. Remember West Nile from last year? It killed 24 people and sickened 329. If you thought it was gone for good, you were wrong. It’s baaaaaacckk and operating just below the radar. According to the Baton Rouge Advocate, infected dead birds have been found this year in 24 of 64 Louisiana parishes, compared to 5 of 64 at the same time last year. While dead birds may not be the most effective means of judging this year’s outbreak, I’d say it ain’t lookin’ too good.
The other killer in Louisiana contributing to the length of this white-hot summer is the evasive serial killer. He, too, is operating undeterred beneath the proverbial radar.
This summer will be long and hot, both literally and figuratively. Hopefully Iraq will cool off, SARS will chill out, the serial killer will be iced and West Nile will just go away. On the other hand, the sun is still shining, the wind is still blowing, and we still have finals to take … good luck!