Iraq’s secret war of widows deepens - At least my husband was alive then and we were living in peace

[NNN0LHI]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20080510-135743/Iraqs-secret-war-of-widows-deepens

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 13:36:00 05/10/2008


BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Ducking bullets and dodging car bombs may be part of daily life for millions of Baghdadis but behind black veils yet another struggle is being waged -- the battle of war widows -- to keep young families alive.

Iraqi housemaid Um Haidar wears a black scarf as a sign of mourning since her shop-assistant husband was gunned down two years ago. Their 10-year-old son is now working and out of school.

Um Haidar, 35, is among an estimated one million Iraqi war widows trying to eke out a living. Official figures estimate that one in six women aged 15- 49 is widowed. snip

"I was against the war and I will be against it always, I hate the war because it made many women lose their husbands, and many Iraqi children became fatherless," Faraj said.

She is also bitter with US forces, who number more than 150,000 deployed across the country and are still battling militiamen, amid increasing sectarian violence that is also taking a heavy toll among civilians.

"The US forces came to Iraq to make us live in freedom, but we didn't find freedom, we find killing and bloodshed every day and everywhere," she said.

Faraj said she believed she had a better life before the US-led invasion of March 2003. "At least my husband was alive then and we were living in peace," she said.

[KG]

1. sorry, Ms Faraj, the US forces were never there to make live in freedom, only to

steal your countrys resources and subvert your culture. what you got was a dead spouse and foriegn tyranny to replace you native one..