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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIraq: A Nation Destroyed by American Contempt
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/06/16/iraq-nation-destroyed-american-contemptDr. Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization Director-General stated recently, The situation is bad, really bad, and rapidly getting worse, as she launched a new humanitarian plan for Iraq. If they dont receive appropriate support, 84% of all health projects and centers run the risk of closure before the end of June.
It is estimated that since January 2014, 2.9 million people have fled their homes, 6.9 million Iraqis need immediate access to essential health services, and 7.1 million need easier access to water, sanitation and hygiene assistance. Presently, 8.2 million people in Iraq need immediate humanitarian support.
Women and children have not been spared the brutal consequences of the war. Survivors of gender-base violence and rape experience trauma and depression, and suicides among women and girls have risen markedly in recent years. Childrens health status has deteriorated markedly in the last 12 years. In addition, they have been used as suicide bombers and human shields and have been killed by crucifixion or buried alive.
Iraqis health status is a reflection of the deterioration of the countrys health system. Medical facilities, which in the 1980s were among the best in the Middle East, have deteriorated significantly after the 2003 invasion. It is estimated that during the war 12 percent of hospitals and the countrys two main public health laboratories were destroyed.
Sanitary conditions in hospitals remain unsatisfactory, and medications and trained personnel are in short supply. Even basic health care is unavailable in regions of the country under armed conflict. As a result of the collapsed sanitation infrastructure, the incidence of cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever has increased. Malnutrition among children and other childhood diseases have also increased.
Doctors in the thousands have been leaving the country and those that remain are under constant threat to their personal safety. As Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) stated, Until now, it is extremely difficult to find Iraqi doctors willing to work in certain areas because they fear for their security.
madokie
(51,076 posts)as they were referred to as, something like that anyway, should all done made the trip to the Hague by now for a whole host of crimes committed in Iraq alone.
WE can never have peace until we do this, never can we.
What have we allowed to happen?
I seen what went on in Vietnam and still to this day 45 plus years later carry that burden on my shoulders. it was wrong then and what we did in Iraqi was/is wrong now.
malaise
(269,054 posts)as long as they are in charge of the planet.
They are brazen enough to ask folks to vote for another Bush. Go figure.
Martin Eden
(12,870 posts)That's what the brain-dead Faux News voters on the right have been told to believe, and they believe it.
There are many lessons to be learned here, but we as a country have learned little or nothing.
One is the utter folly of thinking we can change things for the better with military force in places like Iraq. I'm not saying bringing democracy and freedom to the Iraqi people was the motivation of the architects of this war, but that (along with lies about a bogus threat) is how they sold the war to the American public.
Another is that we have the right to bomb or invade any country without justifiable grounds for war. This was a war crime from the start, with many more committed throughout. If the perpetrators are not brought to justice the USA is a steaming pile of hypocrisy when we lecture the rest of the world about the rule of law.
I fear we are doomed to repeat this.
johnnyreb
(915 posts)Let us always remember and teach about the dark spell that the war criminals put our friends neighbors and families under.
Audio collage with heads of state and Iraqi Woman during U.S.bomings describes Damage, interview audio off Flashpoints radio during aftermath of bombings.
http://santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8140/index.php