Who's the number one liberator of oppressed developing nations in the whole wide world? Put this in your red, white and blue pipe and smoke it: There's a yearly survey ranking the cities of the world in terms of quality of life. This year's results were announced this month. Guess which city is now ranked as the worst in the world? Baghdad. That's right--the capital of the country the US "liberated" three years ago. We're number one! We're number one!

The survey in question, conducted by London-based Mercer Human Resource Consulting, is based on 39 different factors, ranging from political stability, education and environmental considerations to the availability of restaurants, transportation and health facilities. Baghdad ranked dead last for a third consecutive year--note that uncanny time frame--with a total score of 14.5. (Zurich, if you're curious, ranked first with a total score of 108.2 points.)

A group of Baghdad residents, interviewed by IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, corroborated the survey results, implicating the US invasion and occupation in their lamentations. Among the residents was Fadia Ibraheem, a senior official at Iraq's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, who told IRIN:

"What makes Baghdad so bad is the peoples' fear to venture out into the streets. ... There's also the sectarian violence and poverty. ... We have to admit, this city is getting worse everyday in regard to the quality of life. ... As long as US troops remain, the city will continue to deteriorate."

Those of us in the US who are fed up with the deterioration of our own country under the divine rule of frat boys can, and should, use the Mercer survey results as political ammunition in the battle for regime change here at home--especially with November in mind. Quick, think of a public official who supported, and continues to support, the "liberation" of Iraq--even despite strong opposition from his or her constituents. Are you thinking, like me, of a certain junior US senator from Washington state? No WMDs, no al-Qaeda link, no meaningful reconstruction in Iraq three years after, and now this. It's now high time for Sen. Maria Cantwell to explain once and for all her support for the Iraq debacle. And if she doesn't by November 7? If her constituents can't distinguish her from the War Party on the most crucial issue of the election? Sorry, Maria--no explanation, no re-election. --Jeff Stevens

Speaking of holding Maria Cantwell accountable... On Tuesday, April 25, seven anti-war activists, including the local father of a soldier slain in Iraq, occupied the downtown Seattle Federal Building offices of Sen. Maria Cantwell. At press time, at 7 PM on Tuesday evening, six of the seven remained in Cantwell's office after the building's 5:30 closing, and were being allowed to remain in the office so long as a Cantwell staff member was there--which will apparently be all night, in an effort to avoid the bad publicity of arrests. The group spent 90 minutes on the phone with a senior Cantwell aide in D.C., listening to the usual apologetics. "When Cantwell stands up, we'll stand down," says Howard Gale, one of the office occupiers. He notes that Cantwell will be back in Seattle on May 6. Be there.