One child at a time. Via Cookie Jill at
skippy the bush kangaroo:
in 2002, a united nations emergency preparedness report estimated that roughly 1.26 million iraqi children would die in the event of a conflict there. just how many children have died as the result of the war in iraq is unclear, but what of the ones who live? what sort of life, if any at all, awaits them?
according to dr. abdul kareem al obaidi, who is the chairman of the iraqi association for child mental health, iraqi kids are suffering serious psychological and behavioral problems (depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, substance abuse, high rates of truancy, etc.) that weren't common in iraq's roughly 16 million children prior to the war.
....what can be salvaged for those children is uncertain. but while we're liberating their country and spreading democracy there, perhaps we should give some thought as to what sort of future we're mapping out for iraq by leaving its people with a population of damaged children who will one day become broken, angry adults with clear memories of how they came to be so.
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