NGOs report humanitarian crisis in Iraq

[jordi_fanclub]

Source: Associated Press via Yahoo

LONDON - About 8 million Iraqis — nearly a third of the population — need immediate emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, relief agencies said Monday.

Those Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, said the report by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq.

The report said 15 percent of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat, and 70 percent are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. It also said 28 percent of children are malnourished, compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070730/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_oxfam_iraq

[sabra]

1. k & r

:-(

[Barrett808]

2. k & r

[Barrett808]

3. 8 million Iraqis in need of emergency aid: Oxfam

AMMAN (AFP) - Almost eight million Iraqis are in need of immediate emergency aid with children the hardest hit by worsening conditions, according to a report released Monday by Oxfam and a coalition of Iraqi NGOs.

The figure includes four million people who are "food-insecure and in dire need of different types of humanitarian assistance," more than two million who are displaced within the country, and more than two million refugees, said the report, released in Amman.

Most of the two million refugees have fled to neighbouring Jordan and Syria in what the report called the "fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world."

The influx of refugees has placed a growing strain on health, education and social services in the two countries, and the United Nations refugee agency earlier this month urged the international community to "put its money where its mouth is" and provide Syria and Jordan with more financial assistance.

Many of those fleeing are professionals whose exodus leaves Iraqi services in an ever more precarious state, said the report by international relief agency Oxfam and the NGO Co-ordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI).

"The brain drain that Iraq is experiencing is further stretching already inadequate public services, as thousands of medical staff, teachers, water engineers, and other professionals are forced to leave the country," it said.

"Iraqis are suffering from a growing lack of food, shelter, water and sanitation, health care, education, and employment," as violence continues to rage in the country more than four years after the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, it added.

Forty-three percent of Iraqis live in "absolute poverty" and of the four million people who depend on food assistance, only 60 percent have access to rations from the government-run public distribution system, down from 96 percent in 2004, the report noted.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070730/wl_mideast_afp/iraqaidoxfamncci

[trashcanistanista]

12. Horrific.

K&R

[indepat]

14. Wonder whose feet does the responsibility for this horror lie under international law?

[tom_paine]

19. One hint: It rhymes with Nuremburg

(metaphorically speaking)

[Mark Twain Girl]

4. K&R. n/t

[glitch]

5. K & R nt

[demgrrrll]

6. k and r

.

[RestoreGore]

7. This is Democracy to the Neocons

This is their idea of freedom. The bastards.

[groovedaddy]

8. We just need to give "THE SURGE" a chance to work

Rome wasn't built in 4 years, you know...
Oh yeah, we're the ones who tore it down!
Sorry!

[bdamomma]

9. this is a country that did not do anything to us.

:banghead:

http://www.oxfam.org/en/

[orleans]

10. jeeze. k&r n/t

[bonito]

11. K & R

[ooglymoogly]

13. Oh they must just be tired from throwing flowers at our feet

Oh wait all the flowers are dead along with so many of their fellow travelers on this earth...why not just give them some cake and look over there at all that manna from heaven....everything is just fine stop whining, stop second guessing and look at the good things...the oil co's are getting richer and richer and the pipelines are getting built...the ayrabs they nothin but brown gooks anyway...long live Murka yaaaaay. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE SHIT AND THE ROTTING CORPS OF THIS ONCE GREAT COUNTRY...ALL THIS MISERY IS COMMITTED IN OUR NAMES AND WE ARE ALL GUILTY FOR LETTING IT HAPPEN WITHOUT FIGHTING THESE BASTARDS AND YELLING IN THE STREETS!!!!! None of us can even begin to imagine the horror this country has put these people through to steal their oil.

[SunDrop23]

15. k&r

[Luke_R]

16. You know, with the statements the Bush Admin and the Generals

have said about "winning the hearts and minds", you'd think they'd first ensure that people have basic necessities. What would you rather have, a occupier killing your neigbor, who might be bad, or an occupier that gives you food and water?

This is ridiculous. Fucking ridiculous.

[superkia]

17. the Bush Admin and the Generals

should watch a news piece called "Iraq: The Hidden Story", after seeing it, I believe what I thought to be true, that they don't want us there and they hate us or well our government. Horrible mess in our name!

[Luke_R]

18. I'm in the Army, so I have a little first hand knowledge. That sounds cheesy and arrogant. Sorry.

Anyway, I think that, at first, they supported us. But, the longer we're there, lying to them, the more they learn the truth. So, I believe you're right.
Them hating us reminds me of being in Germany. When stationed there, if someone would ask if I'm from the U.S., I'd say, "no, Canada". If I said U.S., there was often the chance they would start on either a political discussion/attack, or sometimes a flat out physical attack. Other times, it was just embarassing to say that I'm from the U.S. Like right after that prison/torture thing.
It really sad that a soldier stationed in a friendly foreign country can't say he's American.