Violence Haunts Iraq's Youngest Victims Of War

[unhappycamper]

Asma Karim (far left), headmistress at a primary school in Baghdad for children who have lost at least one parent, sits with students in March 2008. Iraq lacks the resources to take care of children left orphaned by its brutal civil war and ongoing insurgency.


Violence Haunts Iraq's Youngest Victims Of War
by Kelly McEvers
August 13, 2010

The war in Iraq has taken a heavy toll on children, many of whom saw their own family members kidnapped, tortured and executed during the brutal sectarian fighting from 2006 to 2008.

More recently, orphanages are filling up with children left without parents after attacks from insurgent groups, including al-Qaida.

But there are very few services for Iraq's estimated 4 million to 6 million orphans. Plans to open the country's first ever child-psychiatry clinic have been approved. But the project has stalled because there is still no government amid political wrangling after the March election.

Hamid Abid Ali is a handsome little 12-year-old, all freckles and teeth and shiny brown hair. But he also has scabs on the side of his face, from picking and scratching when he gets nervous or sad.

Hamid says his mother went out for a walk one day 2 1/2 years ago and ended up in a hostile neighborhood of Baghdad. A few days later, the phone rang in Hamid's house.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. K and R. What else can one say? nt

[madrchsod]

2. Sunshine`s Days of My Life....

one of the last iraqi bloggers left that dares to tell the truth. scroll to may 22 2010...

http://livesstrong.blogspot.com/