UN report finds US war in Iraq yields a social “tragedy"

[undeterred]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/iraq-m18.shtml

By David Walsh
18 May 2005

A new study issued by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reveals what the Iraqi Minister of Planning Barham Salih describes as “a rather tragic situation of the quality of life in Iraq.” What this minister in the Baghdad puppet regime did not care to say, unsurprisingly, is that this disaster for the Iraqi people is attributable overwhelmingly to the unrelenting assault by US imperialism over the past 15 years and more.

The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, a conflagration over which Washington warmed its hands; the Gulf War of 1991; more than a decade of sanctions; and the US invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq have resulted in the death of untold numbers in that country, laid waste its infrastructure, health and education system and generally brought about a regression in the lives of millions. Oil-rich Iraq now suffers from some of the region’s highest rates of unemployment and child malnutrition and debilitating problems with electric power, sewage systems and other public services.

Among the indices of social misery contained in the report are the following:
* Nearly a quarter of Iraq’s children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
* The probability of dying before 40 for Iraqi children born between 2000 and 2004 is approximately three times the level in neighboring countries.
* Three out of four Iraqi families report an unstable supply of electricity.
* 40 percent of families in urban areas live in neighborhoods where sewage can be seen in the streets.
* More than 722,000 Iraqi families have no access to either safe or stable drinking water.
* The jobless rate for young men with secondary or higher education stands at 37 percent.

The study, entitled Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004 (ILCS), was organized by the UN development agency in collaboration with the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation and conducted by a Norwegian-trained team from the Central Organisation for Statistics and Information Technology in Baghdad. It drew its conclusions from interviews carried out in April-August 2004 with members of 21,688 households in Iraq’s 18 provinces.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Hey, wait... I thought freedom was on the march....

Oh that's right, it's COMMERCIAL freedom for US corporations and the ruling elite!

[DoBotherMe]

2. I cried on the way to work today

thinking about this immoral war and how we have been complicit in the suffering of the Iraqi people for so long (as well as our other and manifold destructions across the globe). Jesus wept. Dana ; )

[getmeouttahere]

4. I feel you, DanaM

I often find myself crying for what appears to be no reason

[DoBotherMe]

6. The lump in my throat will not go away.

I try to go on with "business as usual" (and I can accomplish brief periods of self-delusion) but it all seems so counterfeit knowing the real cost of "our American way of life." D ; )

[getmeouttahere]

7. I find myself....

looking back with fondness at the 70's...a time when we were finally winning hard fought freedoms, and celebrating them, not just civil rights or women's rights or gay rights, but just the freedom to express yourself...we were finally free of the shackles of the 50's and before...plus the middle class was growing, the labor movement was still strong, etc (despite a sluggish economy and an energy crisis). But because this administration wants to take us back to the 50's (the 1850's!) I sometimes find myself crying just thinking about where we've been and where we're headed.

[undeterred]

3. sewage in the streets and unsafe water alone make life miserable

Add to that the constant danger people are in just looking for a job... we have devastated this country, and they will never forgive us.

[getmeouttahere]

5. This is where the Human Development Index....

comes from, the report from the UNDP...the U.S. is ranked below several countries in the HDI. But Iraq doesn't even appear in the index...could it be because of the foreign occupying force that is causing humanitarian atrocities on a daily basis?