Iraq children's plight a 'humanitarian catastrophe': aid group

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040512/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_children&cid=1514&ncid=1473

LONDON (AFP) - Iraqi children are living in conditions worse than those endured under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime and US sanctions, a children's rights organization said, warning that they were experiencing a "humanitarian catastrophe".


"Every child has some level of psychological trauma," said Jo Baker, director of the London-based Child Victims of War.


"I have been to Iraq (news - web sites) under Saddam and sanctions -- most people know how bad things were -- but what has happened this year has plunged Iraq into a plight which is actually far, far worse."


"If it is worse than sanctions and Saddam, then we are really talking about a humanitarian catastrophe," Baker said.

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[Maestro]

1. *

[David Zephyr]

2. Kick!

Here's the real story about the "progress" in Iraq.

So much for our "moral leadership in the world".

May the heavens forgive us.

[AnnitaR]

3. This is so sad!

What have we done?

Maybe even sadder than this story is that not one network will carry this story. It's not "sensational" enough.

I'm ashamed to be an American today. I would have never believed that I would ever utter those words.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Rise in birth deformities blamed on Allies' deadly weaponry

same story, but with more detail, in The Independent:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=520733

"Women in Basra are afraid to become pregnant because there are so many deformed babies," she said. "We are leaving a deadly legacy for generations to come."

She made the claims at the launch in London of a new charity, Child Victims of War (CVW), to help Iraqi youngsters "innocently suffering malnutrition, disease, disability and psychological trauma".

The amount of depleted uranium used by coalition forces in the two Gulf Wars is not known, but some estimates suggest it was 300 tons in 1991 and five times as much last year.

CVW says the number of Iraqi babies born with serious deformities has risen from 3.04 per thousand in 1991 to 22.19 per thousand in 2001. Babies born with Downs Syndrome have increased nearly fivefold and there had been a rash of cases of previously little-known eye problems.

[leftchick]

5. The aWol* asshole only cares about a fetus. After it is born.....

He does not give a shit about it. Look at this poor baby... :(




Asraa Haidar, 11, sits on a hospital bed in Najaf. Asraa, who was badly wounded during clashes between militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and US-led forces, lost seven members of her family.(AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

[AliceWonderland]

7. This little girl is what war looks like

This NGO, and any other humanitarian assistance group, will say the same thing. They will be dealing with the effects of this for decades, even generations.

[ze_dscherman]

6. Kick

Sad thing is that many NGOs can't bring in help to many places due to security reasons. Last summer we initiated fundraising for an IPPNW project supplying medicine to Iraqi health centers in the poor quarters.
The training of Iraqi doctors in trauma care and the establishment of specialized centers for traumatized children was planned. However, it seems unlikely that this will realized under the given cirumstances - but will be needed even more than before.

[0007]

8. Does humanity indeed care?

"Malnutrition had worsened since the Anglo-US invasion and unpolluted water was in short supply while standards of hospital care had fallen because of shortages of medical supplies.

Those children who went to school - and a Christian Aid survey showed two-thirds of poor youngsters did not - were "so malnourished they can't concentrate"."

This report has definitely made me more cantankerous than ever.