The Widows and Orphans of Iraq

The American invasion of Iraq in 2003 has led to the destruction of the Iraqi society, physically, economically, politically and sociologically. All of this was the result of President Bush’s deceptive political policy and the manufacturing of false intelligence reports to use as justification for the invasion of Iraq. Not only should Bush be tried as a war criminal, but so should the majority of the members of the American Congress, who failed to demand valid intelligence reports that Iraq posed a threat to the U.S. Nevertheless many of these members who are under the thumb of lobbyists were pushing for the invasion to start with that will meet their objectives. Among the many negative consequences of the American invasion is the destruction caused to millions of Iraqi families who are paying heavy price at the present because Bush wanted to prove to everyone, especially his father, that he was a tough man. After all, he stated publicly that Saddam Hussein tried to kill his father. It is a cowboy type of mentality. This reckless policy lead to, among other things, the deaths of more than 4,400 American soldiers. Furthermore, there have been many reports published about the Iraqi causalities that exceeded more than 1.2 million people. Also, there are millions of Iraqi widows and millions of orphans.

Recently, the UNESCO issued a critical report about the dangerous living conditions of Iraqi children. The report noted that more than 15 million children have been impacted by the war and are suffering deprivation of many of their basic needs. The report noted that more than 360,000 children are suffering from psychological personal problems. Furthermore, more than 50% of school age children are not attending schools and more than 40% can’t get clean water to drink. In addition, many of these children are put to work to help support their families. It has been stated that due to economic hardship some families resort to selling their children to strangers who smuggle them out of Iraq. The tragedy is that some of these children are used for prostitution. (al-jazeera.net, 10/19/10).

The dilemma of Iraqi children also extends to the period of the 1990s when the U.S. through the U.N. imposed an economic embargo against Iraq which lasted until the U.S. invasion of 2003. According to another UNESCO report, the embargo caused the deaths of more than 500,000 Iraqi children due to shortages of medications for their basic needs. During the Clinton administration, when Secretary of State Albright was asked about the UNESCO report, her response was, “Go and blame Saddam Hussein for it”. The tragic thing is when people die due to American policy, the deceased are viewed as collateral damage in order to implement their policy.

Unfortunately, the Iraqi government is not extending enough assistance to the millions of widows and their children who have lost the heads of their family. The present government of Iraq is driven by corruption and very few get benefits from the sales of Iraqi oil.