War Kids Relief

Iraq boy has Country's 3rd Bird Flu Case

2006-09-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

GENEVA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A three-year-old Iraqi boy in Baghdad has been confirmed as having survived a mild case of bird flu last March, the first official human infection in the capital, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

"The Ministry of Health in Iraq has retrospectively confirmed the country's third case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus," the WHO said in a statement.

Initial testing on samples taken from the boy had been inconclusive, possibly due to their deterioration during shipment, but repeated tests using different methods has confirmed the presence of the virus, according to the United Nations health agency.

"An investigation revealed there was exposure to sick birds," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.

Iraqi officials said in March that the H5N1 virus had been found in poultry in Baghdad, but to date there had been no human case confirmed in the war-ravaged capital.

An Iraqi teenage girl and her uncle, both of whom died in January in the northern province of Sulaimaniya, were the country's first known human cases.

The WHO said on Tuesday that Iraq's outbreak was "now considered over".
The disease affects mainly animals but experts fear the virus could mutate into a pandemic strain capable of killing millions of people.

The latest confirmed case brings the global total to 247 cases in 10 countries since 2003, with 144 deaths, WHO said.

The toll is heaviest in southeast Asia, but also includes fatalities in Turkey, Egypt and Azerbaijan.

War Taking Toll on Marriage, Too

2006-07-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD -- Ten years in the making, the marriage of Raad and Nidhal Khalil was undone in less than 10 minutes of courtroom formalities. Furious when he took a second wife four months ago, she moved out and refused to return until he granted a divorce.
"The social worker's report shows no possibility of reconciling," Family Court Judge Salim al-Moussawi said sternly, his disappointment palpable as he rifled through the thin case file. She shook"Are you pure today?" the judge asked Nidhal, who nodded her assent to the standard question about whether she was not menstruating. Shiite Muslim women cannot participate in court proceedings during their periods.
As he dismissed the former couple, both in their forties, Moussawi reminded Nidhal that she was forbidden to remarry for three months. She didn't seem to mind.
For a growing number of Iraqi couples like the Khalils, including the dozen or so others waiting in the cramped and steamy hallway of the Kadhimiyah courthouse one recent afternoon, marital bonds are proving ever more fragile. At least 301,446 divorces were registered in Iraq during the past two years -- nearly half the number of marriages recorded during that time -- according to statistics compiled by the Justice Ministry.
More than twice as many marriages are ending in divorce as before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to ministry and court officials, social workers and divorce lawyers, though no reliable data are available from the earlier period. The twin stresses of perpetual violence and a stagnant economy -- along with the loosening of certain social stigmas -- are taking a toll on one of Islamic culture's most sacred institutions.
"It is an explosion of failed marriages. It has never been like this," said Moussawi, who has sat on the bench for 40 years and said he now spends nearly as much time ending marriages as he does formalizing them. He called divorce "the most despicable hallal," meaning the worst thing permissible under Islam.
Marriages are governed by Iraq's 1959 personal status law. Long considered among the most progressive in the Middle East, it does not adhere solely to Islamic law, which favors men in nearly all matters. But a recent visit to the Kadhimiyah court showed that religious influence remains pervasive.
Rules governing divorce vary by sect. While Shiite women were asked about their "purity" and required to bring two witnesses, Sunni Muslims needed no witnesses and were spared the intimate questions.
Moussawi and other court officials spent much of their time trying to keep couples together. One woman appearing before him sputtered with indignation about the mother-in-law who shares her tiny marital flat.
"No one can endure this," she told Moussawi. "I want some kind of independence and to not be under the thumb of my husband's family's oppression."
But Moussawi urged the husband to try to win her back. He made his pitch. "Think of college, when I chose you from among all the students," the husband reminded her softly. "I can balance you and my family. I will."
After a tearful, and perhaps only temporary, reconciliation, the case was called off and the two shared a taxi home. "That is a good ending," Moussawi said, smiling.Before taking his current post, Moussawi sat on Iraq's main criminal court, a job he found less troubling.
"Signing death sentences is easier than signing divorce orders," Moussawi said during a recess in his spartan courtroom. "In executions, it is just a single person punished for maybe a single crime. In divorce, you are collapsing and destroying a whole family and a whole society, because family is the nucleus of society."
As a last-ditch effort to save a marriage, Moussawi said, he often sends couples to meet with Sundis Ghazi Hassan Habash. A social worker assigned to the Kadhimiyah court, Habash said she has seen and heard all of the "excuses" for divorce. She accepts some: physical abuse (which she says is on the rise), adultery or the taking of a second wife -- Iraqi men are allowed up to four -- without permission from the first one.
But she has little time for squabbles over money, quarrels with each other's relatives or what she calls "tiny problems," like bed-wetting, an issue in a recent case.
The husband "complained to the judge that he had to change the mattress every morning," Habash said. "When the judge said this is no reason for divorce, he cursed him. Really, now they want to divorce over anything."
Habash, a trained psychologist who works in a crowded conference room adjacent to Moussawi's chambers, said her main strategy to thwart divorce is to "threaten them and make them afraid of the future."
"I tell the wives no one can care for them and their children as well as their husbands can," she said. "I make the husbands think of their kids so they can see how miserable they will be without them. Sometimes they even cry."
One recent afternoon, she counseled a young couple through what she called "a particularly sensitive problem."
"He wants her to do sexual things not approved by our Muslim and Arab society," she said, declining to explain further. Lawyers said that because women are forbidden to discuss such issues, they turn an empty cup upside down on a table when appearing before a judge, a sign understood to mean they have been subjected to illicit acts.
"If this doesn't stop, the marriage should stop right away," Habash said she told the couple.
Family court officials said that while some aspects of Iraqi society have grown more conservative in recent years, women have been empowered to end marriages that they previously would have been required to endure. Saed Chokhchi, 70, a lawyer at the family court, said that five years ago he worked on one or two divorce cases a month. Now, they take up his entire caseload.
"The way society looks at divorced women is changing. It used to be something disgraceful, but it has become something ordinary," he said. "You have TV and radio promoting independence."
But his colleague, Sara al-Tammimi, 24, said the law was still stacked against female plaintiffs.
While men can bring divorce proceedings for any reason, women can divorce only under certain conditions, such as physical or sexual abuse or abandonment. Absent such mistreatment, a woman can divorce only if her husband consents, and in such cases she forfeits legal benefits such as compensation for the three-month post-divorce period in which remarrying is prohibited.
Since finishing law school a year ago, Tammimi, who is unmarried, said she has handled at least 75 divorces. "It can be depressing," she said. "But I am hoping to get experience from all these cases, so I can do marriage 100 percent right."

For more information on War Kids Relief visit, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

The doctors who are too afraid to care for patients

2006-07-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Many of Iraq's wounded can no longer be saved as the healthcare system collapses amid violent intimidation.
THE number of violent deaths in Iraq topped 100 a day last month as the country descended into open sectarian warfare.
Almost as shocking is that the number killed in May and June was greater than the number of injured: Iraq’s health care system is close to collapse and can no longer care for the wounded.
The statistics were compiled by the United Nations mission that monitors Iraq from outside the country because its headquarters were blown up by terrorists almost three years ago.
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They show that the death toll reached 2,669 in May and 3,149 in June, and that 14,338 civilians have been killed this year.
“The emerging phenomenon of Iraqis killing Iraqis on a daily basis is nothing less than a catastrophe,” said Ashraf Qazi, the UN envoy to Baghdad.
The figures also show that in May and June 5,762 civilians were wounded, fractionally less than the number killed.
The reason, according to Iraqi medical officials, is that doctors are too terrified to do their jobs following a deliberate campaign of murder, kidnap and intimidation.
Baghdad’s medical facilities are simply overwhelmed by the daily carnage. They were stripped down by a decade of UN sanctions, looted after the US invasion and then slowly rebuilt to cope with a peacetime city than never materialised. There are only 30 intensive care beds in the capital.
The Ministry of Health has been taken over by supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, the rebel Shia cleric, who have little medical experience.
Adel Abdel-Mohsin, the Deputy Health Minister, told The Times that 190 medical staff had been murdered and 400 doctors kidnapped and that 1,000 doctors had fled the country.
“They are soft targets, easy to get and that’s why the hospitals are out of control in some areas. There have been raids or insults by gunmen or security forces storming the place and beating the doctors because there is no proper protection,” Mr Abdel-Mohsin said.
Doctors have been kidnapped for money by criminals, murdered by insurgents because they are viewed as government workers, or shot by militias because they work in hospitals in areas dominated by a different sectarian community, be it Sunni or Shia.
In this country full of guns, grieving relatives or angry comrades-in-arms have been known to beat or even murder doctors when a patient dies on the operating table.
“Doctors are all afraid of showing up in the wards because of the recent threats to us,” a doctor from Baghdad’s main hospital complex at Medical City told The Times yesterday.
“I have started telling families after surgery that their relative will die soon because there is no proper follow-up,” he said. “I can’t do anything about it. At least I am honest.”
Doctors in Baghdad’s hospitals no longer even wear white coats or carry stethoscopes for fear that gunmen might storm their hospital. Instead they try to mingle with relatives whenever armed men enter the building. “We are afraid of going near a patient because if he dies we’ll be kidnapped or killed,” said the doctor, who wished to remain anonymous.
Last week the Medical City administration received a threat that any staff going to work would be kidnapped — a clear attempt by militants to bring the service to its knees.
Two days later, a woman doctor who ignored the alert was kidnapped with her father, who was driving her to work at Medical City.

Since then, few have shown up for duty. Yesterday in the hospital canteen, 15 medical staff were present where once 500 would have gathered to eat.
Alaa Muti, a Sunni doctor working at a hospital in the Shia area of Qaddumiyah, recently discovered that his name was on a list of 35 doctors marked for execution by a local Shia militia. In the previous months two Sunni specialists have been killed and two resident doctors have fled after receiving similar threats.
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“When I saw my name I didn’t hesitate for second, I just rushed to my room at the doctors’ accommodation and packed all my stuff, and left the place because I know they are serious. Now I’m leaving for Kurdistan as my friends told me I can find a job there and it’s safer.”
Ziyad, an anaesthetist who declined to give his surname, said that nothing was being done to protect the country’s vital health workers. “It’s unbelievable. Every day we lose another doctor and neither the Health Ministry nor the Government does anything. They fail to provide protection [for doctors] while they managed to provide their illiterate MPs with 30 guards each.”
Doctors have frequently staged strikes in the past to protest about beatings by government security forces, who often insist that their wounded are treated before anyone else. Now, with death threats proliferating, the doctors are simply getting out.
As medical staff flee they are often replaced by barely qualified workers affiliated to powerful militias. The doctor at Medical City said that he was too scared to reprimand subordinates for failing to do their jobs properly, for fear of violent reprisals.
“The Ministry of Health collapsed ages ago, but they are afraid to admit it,” he said.
VOICE OF DESPAIR
“I’m working on getting a passport for me and my wife because leaving the country is the only solution for the next five years”
Omer Salah, 36. Sunni Engineer. Lives in Amariyah, west Baghdad
“I had to send my family 200 miles away to keep them safe and I’m in hiding here with the Americans because it’s the only place I feel safe from the Shia militia . . . If this is freedom and democracy then all countries should start looking for a dictator”
Mahmoud Mowafaq. 27, a Sunni in the Green Zone because he works for a foreign contractor
“The situation is miserable and it’s getting worse and worse every day. There is complete absence of government and law. I doubt there’s a single Iraqi in Baghdad nowadays who feels safe”
Ahmed al-Iqabi. Shia, 37, telecoms worker
“We live in a prison. My family is not letting me go outside because they are worried that I might get killed or kidnapped. I also stopped going to work because it’s not safe any more. I don’t know how long we will be able to carry on like this”
Inas Al Azawi, 29-year-old woman living in Mansour, Baghdad

Baghdad’s Class of ’06 eyes uncertain future

2006-07-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At last, the time for learning has come to an end and I have completed my four years of study at Baghdad University. I packed up my books, papers and pens on the last day of finals and have pinned on the wall the only memento I have of the Class of 2006 -- a group picture on graduation day. One question hangs over every face. Do we stay? Or do we go abroad, hoping for a better life? Studying in Iraq was never easy. When we began our course in 2002, Saddam Hussein was still in power, and years of oppression and sanctions had taken their toll on the education system. The looting that followed the U.S. invasion in April 2003 wreaked further damage; books and furniture were stolen and some libraries and classrooms burned. I recall the sweltering heat of July 2003, doing exams with no electricity to power air conditioning or fans in temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit). As I juggled my English degree with a job as a Reuters reporter, there were other hardships too. Black banners mourning a student or a professor, killed "perfidiously" in a violent act, were scattered on most of the department's walls, serving as a reminder that death is near. Last year, a 23-year-old classmate was shot and killed in front of his house for no clear reason. The next day, Akram's gloomy fellow students mourned his death with a strike. This year, on the eve of a linguistics exam, a brother of Zahraa, another classmate, was snatched from outside his home. His weeping sister said the kidnappers made a mistake. A few hours later, he was released. For a ransom of $2,000. Many other burdens shadow you. Living on the far bank of the Tigris from campus has stopped many students from attending classes and sometimes made them miss an examination or two. I've been stuck for hours on bridges or in slow-motion traffic. Once it made me miss a test on the poet Shelley. As life gets harder, the psychological impact cuts deeper. Maiss, a hard worker, lost her father this year. He was gunned down on his way to work. As a result, she missed the second semester. Shadows of death and horror are prevalent. But the rhythm of life continues. Last month, the "War Class" of 2006 celebrated their graduation. Smartly dressed students with smiling faces, holding roses, posed for pictures; moments in which laughter and tears are chronicled. The English faculty's corridors were decorated with balloons and colored banners. The favorites were those with comic drawings of professors and their famous quotes in class. A wooden plaque above the main doorway bore a few promising words written in bold: "Life goes on." Despite an atmosphere plagued by fear, the sign summed up the hope of a better future. Hit songs by Western and Arab singers could be heard, while fresh graduates danced in a cautious carnival under tight security. For hours everything went well, until a loud explosion nearby muddled the air. But the blast could not stop me from asking: "What's next?" Zina replied that she would leave for Jordan "for good". Ali was undecided on his future. I plan to leave my country. But as the party went on, hope seemed to rise for some. Teeba said she would apply for a masters course next year, then pursue an academic career in Baghdad: "I'll stay right here," she said.

For more information on War Kids Relief visit, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

Revenge cycle fragments Iraqi capital

2006-07-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD – In the month since a new security plan was unveiled in the capital involving 10,000 Iraqi soldiers and police, sectarian murders and tit-for-tat mosque bombings by Shiite and Sunni militias have surged. A visit to Baghdad's Yarmuk Hospital reveals how far the capital has been thrust into civil war. In a 30-minute period Tuesday, the stream of tragedy through its doors included both Shiite and Sunni victims of rival killing squads, civilians and soldiers gunned down at work, and a fiercely angry boy who had just lost both parents. There is still hope that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will be able to stem the tide by getting the Army and police to act as peacekeepers between warring Muslim sects. But it appears that his political honeymoon, in Baghdad at least, may be over. "We have Iraqis killing Iraqis every day and the police do nothing,'' says Imad al-Zekki, waiting at the hospital to collect his murdered cousin's body for burial. "Where is Maliki? Is this what his security plan is all about?" Serial atrocities against Shiites and Sunnis in recent days, all in close proximity to police stations and US and Iraqi Army installations, are undermining confidence in Mr. Maliki's vows to restore stability quickly to Baghdad. "The country is sliding fast toward civil war," said Dawa parliamentarian Ali Adib during a contentious parliament session Tuesday in which the prime minister was attacked by members of his own Dawa Party for the sharp decline in basic security. The massacres - like the two-hour spree of a Shiite gang who roved over the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Jihad Sunday, killing about 50 Sunnis in a reprisal attack for the bombing of a Shiite prayer room Saturday evening - are now clearly being carried out by Iraqis, not the "outside forces" that so many here prefer to blame. Fitnah, a catch-all Arabic word for civil war and sectarian discord, is now on many Iraqis' lips. Police and Iraqi Army checkpoints have been more visible on Baghdad's major roads, but security forces have yet to patrol deeply into troubled neighborhoods, drawing complaints from both Shiite and Sunni politicians. They say that security forces are aiding the "other" side. US officials here admit that infiltration of the security forces by both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias remains a major problem.
Sectarian divide widens While there are no precise measures for sectarian hatred, the subjective evidence points to communal trust being at its lowest ebb since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003. The bitterness of three years of political competition and occupation has made the city ripe for the spread of sectarian militias, leading to countless murders and personal tragedies. The destruction of the Shiite Askariya Shrine by Sunni insurgents last February, and the attacks on dozens of Sunni mosques by Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen afterward, further widened divisions and fed the current cycle of gruesome revenge attacks. In recent weeks, sectarian tension has risen to new heights. Baghdad's Yarmuk Hospital provides the grimmest of evidence of that. Tuesday evening, Iraqi soldiers roared up and carried a wounded comrade inside, shot in the leg in a firefight with Sunni insurgents in Dora; then Iraqi police commandoes arrived, bearing the wounded and the dead from a suicide car bomb on Karada Meriam street, a block from the protected Green Zone; then wailing was heard inside as an extended Shiite family learned their relative had died on the operating table. Two sedans pulled up with three Sunni victims of a shooting in Mansour - two dead men and a middle-aged woman, breathing but in shock. Hamid Khadim, a nurse, shrugs when asked how he copes with the daily toll. "You get used to it - today is about average for the past month,'' he says. "It's been like this since the new government was formed."
Massacre in Jihad Sunday's massacre in Jihad - three miles from the airport and the US military's sprawling Camp Victory - shows how Baghdad's seemingly random violence is spreading hatred and institutionalizing atrocity. Tensions in the area - which is mostly Sunni but, unusually for suburbs west of the Tigris, still has many Shiites - have been running high all year. Until recently, the violence had been confined to assassinations of Shiite residents in ones and twos, notes slipped under doors warning Shiite residents to move or else, and roadside bombs. But, recently, Shiite residents have been getting organized into their own militias, with the help of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, according to two residents of the area - one a Shiite, the other Sunni. Since the Askariya shrine bombing on Feb. 22, locals deemed to be salafiyah - a rigid Sunni ideology that has much in common with the Wahabbism of Saudi Arabia - have been taken away at night and murdered, though not as often as Shiite residents, they say. After a recent string of explosions at Shiite mosques and Hosseiniya (Shiite prayer halls) to the west of the river, local Shiites have reportedly mounted their own intimidation campaign, with notes slipped under doors and murmured promises of revenge for future attacks.
Fleeing to safety On Saturday night, a bomb planted at the garage of the Zahra Hosseiniya, founded after the fall of the regime in a building confiscated from Mr. Hussein's Baath Party, killed eight worshippers leaving evening prayers. By 9 o'clock the next morning, revenge attacks were in full flow. One Shiite man, called by his brother to take two nieces and a nephew to a safer area, recalled the harrowing trip. After passing an armory for the national in a compound once used to train Hussein's domestic spy agency, he turned onto National Security Street, which marks the area's eastern edge, and found militias in control. A mile to the north, gunmen were manning a road block. Another gang stood watch a half-mile to the south. He darted into a residential street between their checkpoints, passed three bodies, and arrived at his brother's house. After talking with a Sunni neighbor who also wanted to move his children to a safer place, his brother loaned him a second car and they began to make their way from the neighborhood - past more bodies, with the witness ordering his young relatives to duck their heads beneath the seats, but too late to stop their tears. In front of the Zahra Hosseiniya - half a mile from Jihad's main police station - he saw gunmen roughly hauling blindfolded men - presumably Sunnis - into a waiting minibus. He called the police emergency line on his cellphone, but there was no answer. Finally back at the small side road he'd used to get into the neighborhood, the way out had been blocked with tires and concrete. He ordered his 12-year-old nephew, Haider, to hop out, "quick as you can," and remove the obstacles. The gunmen took little notice, and they sped off. "After about five minutes, we came to a police commando checkpoint. I told them, 'I'm a Shiite, but people are being slaughtered over there, do something,' " he says. "But they looked at me like I was crazy. 'If we go over there, they'll just run away. Why bother,' one of them said. I was there for over an hour - shooting was almost nonstop - and I didn't see a single police, Iraqi Army, or US Army patrol."
Hoping for justice Back at Yarmuk Hospital, bad news unleashed a cacophony of grief for Haider Abdel Satah and his family. The 13-year-old's father had just died in the operating room, joining his mother and 10 other relatives killed about an hour earlier. Haider said gunmen in uniforms opened fire on the minibus carrying the family and a dead relative - killed in a terrorist attack the day before - to the holy city of Najaf for a funeral. The attack happened on Mechanic's Bridge in Dora, a Sunni stronghold on Baghdad's southern edge. Insurgents and Iraqi soldiers have been holding prolonged firefights there all week. The bare-chested boy, his right bicep bandaged where a bullet fragment was extracted, stormed out of the emergency room when a group of Iraqi soldiers arrived with a wounded comrade. His grief became anger. "You killers and cowards,'' he shouted, an aunt trying to shush him. "You murdered my whole family!" Haider insisted that the army opened fire on the minibus, though an AP report Tuesday quoted Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud as saying 10 members of the family were killed by unknown gunmen. Surrounded by extended family members, Haider was almost chillingly lucid, perhaps a byproduct of his childhood on Baghdad's Haifa street, where hundreds have been killed since the start of the war. He said the family was attacked with an RPK, a heavier variant of Ak-47 that fires 10 rounds per second. "I've seen the bodies of the wahabbi victims, I've seen the drill holes in their foreheads, but I've never seen as many bodies as I have of my family," he said. "The car came to a halt and they just kept shooting. I was reaching for my Dad's mobile when I got hit." "I want justice but I know I'm not going to get it."

For more information on War Kids Relief visit, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

IRAQ: Low-quality food rations pose health risks, officials concede

2006-07-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Following complaints over the quality of state-distributed food rations, the Ministry of Trade plans to boost quality controls and acquire food items from alternate sources, say officials. The decision to boost the quality of state food rations was taken after doctors in several local hospitals reported numerous cases of food poisoning and malnutrition. A subsequent investigation found that cases were largely the result of spoiled or inadequate rations. According to Dr Khalil Mehdi, a spokesman for the health ministry’s Nutritional Research Institute, tainted or inadequate food rations can cause malnutrition, particularly in children. Many of the rationed food items, meanwhile, such as beans and biscuits, lack the vitamins and essential proteins essential for children’s growth. “Some families depend entirely on food rations to survive,” said Mehdi. “If these aren’t nutritious, they’ll suffer from malnutrition and other diseases.”

To read entire article: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54520&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ

For more information on War Kids Relief visit, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

New wave of attacks hits Baghdad

2006-07-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

Earlier on Monday, a series of explosions in Baghdad killed at least 10 people and injured more than 40.
Our correspondent says Monday's blasts appear to be reprisals for Sunday's bloodshed when Shia gunmen roamed the Sunni neighbourhood of Jihad in the west of Baghdad, dragging Sunnis from their cars and shooting them. Many were shot execution-style in the street. Police maintain that more than 40 died, disputing a claim by a senior government official, Haidar Majid, that only nine people were killed. Hours after the shootings, a double car bomb attack near a Shia mosque in Baghdad's northern Kasra district killed about 20 people and wounded dozens of others.
Women and children were among the casualties of the Jihad attack

To read entire article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5164082.stm

For more information on War Kids Relief visit, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

IRAQ: Children suffer from dearth of entertainment, say health experts

2006-07-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, 10 July (IRIN) - Bedi'a Mahmoud, 20, does not have any options for entertainment other than going to the cinema every week. "Cinemas are very bad places, and some people go there to find prostitutes," said Mahmoud. "But even this is better than staying at home listening to the same political and religious arguments."
According to health experts, the lack of entertainment is one of the biggest problems afflicting Iraqi youth. "Iraqis have to be careful in whatever they do," said Maruan Abdullah, a spokesman for the Association of Psychologists of Iraq. "They're often afraid that doing this or that might be against religious laws."
Mahmoud recalled a recent incident in which he and his friends were berated by a group of Islamic extremists for sitting with girls in a restaurant. "When my friend tried to explain that we were just college friends, they shot him dead and warned us that we would be the next if we didn't change our ways," Mahmoud said.
Psychological effects
Dr Lamia'a Ibraheem, a health ministry psychiatrist, pointed to an increase in the number of young people suffering from serious depression and stress since last year. Ibraheem added that these symptoms have, in some cases, resulted in cardiac and pulmonary diseases. "I've found hundreds of cases of people who were psychologically stressed due to the lack of entertainment for all genders and ages," she said.
Ibraheem went on to say that the constant insecurity that has come in the wake of the US-led invasion and occupation of the country has only worsened a problem already present during the regime of former President Saddam Hussein. "During Saddam Hussein's time, there were few places for us to go to have fun," said Hiba Rabia'a, one of Ibraheem's patients who has been suffering bouts of depression ever since she witnessed the death of a friend at the hands of religious zealots. "But at least we were safe, and we weren't afraid to meet our friends."
Today's Iraq has very few places available to the public for diversion. The capital boasts about ten cinemas that screen old movies and two dilapidated public parks, while restaurants generally close at 8:00pm. There are also two night clubs, but these are about to be shut down after having received threats from religious extremists. While there are two theatrical troupes working with children in Baghdad, both have received threats from extremists.
Children, meanwhile, express exasperation. "I need to go out, I need to have fresh air, I need to play," said Barak Muhammad, 13. "I prefer to be killed having fun than die in my home between these four walls."
Ibraheem warned of the possible psychological consequences if the situation does not improve. "It's a critical problem," she said. "If it continues, it could cause retardation or incurable depression."
Suffer the children
It is young children, however, that are most affected by the dearth of amusement. "I'm sad because we're now in the summer holidays," said 10-year-old Baghdad resident Mounir Zuheir. "At school, we had fun – but now my parents are afraid to let me play football outside my home."
While Zuheir suffers from regular bouts of depression, his mother has rejected a psychiatrist's suggestion that she take him to play in public places, saying that she would not expose him to danger. According to Ibraheem, however, such a degree of "overprotection" can also have negative effects on the child and make the learning process more difficult when he or she returns to school.
"The holidays should be a time for children to play," said Saleh Muhammad, a spokesman for the Baghdad-based Children Saving Association. "But in Iraq, it's like prison, because children are over-protected by their parents. If security doesn't improve, children's mental health is going to get worse by the day."

For more information on War Kids Relief visit, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

IRAQ: Insecurity, under-funding threaten children's health in Basra

2006-07-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

BASRA, 9 Jul 2006 (IRIN) - NGOs devoted to health issues in southern Iraq say that dozens of children have died of relatively common diseases since January due to a lack of medicine.“There are no official statistics about the number of children who have died in Basra since January,” said Hassan Abdullah, a senior official in the Basra governorate. “But local health department employees and volunteers from some NGOs have collected information suggesting that about 90 children have died as result of the lack of medicine.” According to Abdullah, this is worse than the same period last year, when some 40 children died for similar reasons.Marie Fernandez, a spokeswoman for Vienna-based aid agency Saving Children from War, said that the agency – which has been working with local doctors – has noted a lack of essential supplies, especially intravenous infusions and blood bags. “There’s a lack of everything. Children are dying because of bleeding because there are no blood bags available,” said Fernandez. “Antibiotics, Pentostam [an antimony compound used in the treatment of parasite infection], special milk for dehydrated children, and almost all medical material for emergency conditions aren’t available.” In Baghdad, Ministry of Health officials say they are struggling to acquire the required medicines, but noted that their efforts were largely impeded by security issues and official corruption. “Because of security problems, it’s difficult to have a complete picture of the problem,” said senior ministry official Ahmed Saleh. “We’re going to conduct a thorough study on the cases in the south – especially on the lack of medicine, because corruption is complicating the problem.” Rising mortality ratesFernandez noted that about 40 children per day had been admitted to the children’s hospital in Basra since May, due to high temperatures and poor water quality. “Children between the ages of one and three years are the most affected by problems of dehydration and pneumonia, meningitis, malnutrition and typhoid,” she said. “And some cholera cases have also been reported.” According to doctors at Basra’s Maternity and Child Hospital, about 14 to 16 new cancer and leukaemia cases have also been reported among children each month. “It’s painful to see so many children dying of cancer as a result of inadequate treatment,” said Dr Ali Hashimy, an oncologist at the hospital. “If there was medicine, they would have been saved.” Two weeks ago, Saving Children from War sent a consignment of medicine worth 250,000 euros to the only two hospitals specialising in child care in southern Iraq. “We’re very happy that some organisations are helping us, but the consignment isn’t enough,” said Hashimy. “We urge all international organisations to give more assistance to these innocent victims of war.” Specialists also note a disturbing increase of cases of Kala Azar among children, especially at the height of summer and under deteriorating sanitation conditions in Basra. Kala Azar, transmitted by the sand fly, is a chronic and potentially fatal parasitic disease that preys on the internal organs. “There are about 40 to 50 cases of Kala Azar per month in Basra’s Maternity and Child hospital,” said Fernandez. “Kala Azar can be completely cured if treated by Pentostam, but it can be fatal without treatment.” Pentostam has not been available in southern Iraq for several months – not even on the black market, where the drug had been available last year. A waning professional classA concurrent shortage of doctors and nurses has also been reported in Basra. According to Abdullah, there are no reliable statistics on how many doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses have left the area, but unofficial data suggests that at least 200 health professionals have left since January. Health ministry statistics also suggest that an average of 30 doctors and nurses per month have left Iraq over the past year after being targeted by criminal gangs.The emergency unit in the Teaching Hospital was closed for five months after a number of doctors were killed by unidentified attackers while working there. Now many doctors and nurses refuse to go to work, fearing for their lives. “I have a family to look after,” said one paediatrician from the Teaching Hospital, speaking anonymously. “Even though it’s my responsibility to look after my patients, I can’t risk turning my sons into orphans – their father, also a doctor, was killed while doing his duty at the hospital.” Nurses earning the equivalent of between US $150 and $200 per month say these salaries do not justify the tremendous risks they take. “We’ve asked the central government to review their salaries,” said Abdullah. “If salaries aren’t increased, we’re going to lose the nurses.”

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Bomb targets Iraq shrine pilgrims

2006-07-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

At least 12 people have been killed and about 40 others wounded in a car bombing at a Shia shrine in the Iraqi city of Kufa, Iraqi police say. Police said the bomb blew up two buses carrying the pilgrims. Witnesses said the vehicles were burnt out by the explosion. A number of children were also caught up in the blast, reports say.

To read entire article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5152930.stm

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US ‘finds Iraq killing failings’

2006-07-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

US marine officers at all levels failed to investigate conflicting reports of killings in the Iraqi town of Haditha, a report quoted by US media says. Twenty-four civilians died in the incident in November. The US military initially said they were killed in a bomb blast and exchange of fire. But reports subsequently emerged alleging that US soldiers killed them. A number of women and children were among those killed in an incident that has become the most serious allegation against US troops in Iraq since the invasion.

To read entire article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5160276.stm

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Suicide bomber hits Iran pilgrims in Iraq, 12 dead

2006-07-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

-A suicide car bomber blasted two coaches carrying Iranian pilgrims outside a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Iraq at dawn on Thursday, killing 12 people and wounding 41, police and health officials said. Police said several Iraqi children, who make a living wheeling invalid pilgrims in carts at the shrine, were also caught in the blast. Many sleep there, waiting for business. Eight of the dead were Iranians, three of those women, the head of Najaf's health service, Munther al-Athari, said. Men, women and children were among the 41 wounded, 22 of whom were Iranian, he added. Earlier, doctors put the death toll at 13.

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUALS COVERAGE OF SCENES OF DEATH OR INJURY A boy receives treatment from a hospital after he got wounded by a suicide car bomb attack outside the Maithem al-Tamar shrine in Kufa, a religious centre on the outskirts of the main Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, July 6, 2006. A suicide car bomber blasted two coachloads of Iranian pilgrims outside a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Iraq at dawn on Thursday, killing 13 people and wounding 41, police and hospital sources said.

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Military Claims Gains on Iraqi Terrorists

2006-06-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

- In the northern city of Kirkuk, a suicide car bomber struck the funeral of a Shiite soldier in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing four people and wounding 27, police and hospital officials said. Police in Kirkuk also found the body of a 15-year-old girl who had been kidnapped five days ago in the oil-rich city.

To read entire article: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2137247&page=2

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IRAQ: Concern over reports of child trafficking

2006-06-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, 29 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - Local officials and aid workers have expressed concern over the alarming rate at which children are disappearing countrywide in Iraq's current unstable environment.“At least five children are disappearing every week,” said Omar Khalif, vice-president of the Iraqi Families Association (IFA), an NGO established in 2004 to register cases of missing children. “And the number could be much higher as we don’t have access to government statistics. In some cases, we’ve received information that they were trafficked to Europe through neighbouring countries.” According to local investigators and the IFA, unconfirmed information suggests that children are being sold to many countries in Europe, particularly the UK and the Netherlands. However, there is no detailed information on who is buying them and for what reason.Officials confirm that there are organised international gangs carrying out the trafficking in collaboration with Iraqis who are arranging the abductions from their own country.Desperate families will often approach the IFA weeks after the disappearance of a child because police – who are usually contacted first – are unable to locate the child in most cases. “My three-year-old daughter was abducted by armed men,” said Baghdad resident Sahar Ibraheem. “We thought it was a kidnapping, but we later received a letter saying that someone had given our child to a rich family in Europe.” Interior Ministry officials said they had also received numerous complaints from local families about missing children. “It’s a very complicated situation,” said Fatah Hussein, a senior ministry official. “False documents are being used, and we know that many families who cannot have children look to Iraq and Afghanistan for children because it’s cheaper. Some children are sold for US$5,000, others for 10 times this.” In some instances, families voluntarily sell their children because they need the money. “Sometimes we receive claims from relatives or friends that children have been sold by their own fathers,” said Hussein. “We can’t do anything in such cases, because it was their decision.”One Baghdad family interviewed by IRIN said that unemployment and poverty had pushed them to sell their child in order to support the rest of the family. “It’s hard to watch your children without anything to eat,” said Abu Karam, a father of nine who sold one of his children for US$60,000. “We sold our child to a foreign family because they paid very well, and he’ll have a good life there. In the meantime, the other children will have some thing to eat.” UNICEF has begun discussions with the ministries of labour and social affairs to address the issue. “The protracted and escalating civil unrest in Iraq is having an extremely adverse impact on Iraqi civilians,” said UNICEF-Iraq Child Protection Officer Patrizia Di Giovanni. “On a daily basis, Iraqi children are directly and indirectly affected by ongoing violence.”

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US military admits killing “non-combatant” in Iraq

2006-06-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

-A statement said U.S.-led forces killed the civilian near the violence-racked city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, as troops were securing the house of the alleged militant. The statement said: "Multiple women and children were present at the raid sites. None were harmed and all were returned to their homes once the troops ensured the area was secure."

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U.S. Says Baghdad Crackdown Moving Slowly

2006-06-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

-The Justice Ministry said 453 more detainees were released from U.S. detention centers across Iraq, part of al-Maliki's plan to free 2,500 by the end of June as a goodwill gesture. The ministers said they will allow freed students to return to school and take final exams, and that their absence in the 2005-2006 academic year will not be held against them

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Car bomb kills three in Iraq’s Baquba

2006-06-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

-A car bomb killed three men in a group of Iraqis lining up for day labouring jobs in the city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday, police said.
A further 12 people, including children, were wounded in the early morning blast. The attack was typical of sectarian attacks common in Diyala province, although the religious identity of the victims was not immediately clear.

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Iraq Christians flee Baghdad for peace and hardship in Kurdistan

2006-06-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

By Abdel Hamid ZebariJun 26, 2006"We don't have any choice," says a squatter gesturing to the new home he has made for his family in a Christian cemetery in Iraqi Kurdistan, after fleeing violence-plagued Baghdad."We are afraid of the snakes and scorpions, especially with the children, but it's better than sleeping without a roof," says Imad Matti who has just moved his wife and children into the Inkawa necropolis outside the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil.Iraq and the rest of the world are rightly worried about Shiite and Sunni Muslims forced to flee their homes around the country because of raging communal violence.But the exodus of Christians from the capital, which Kurdish officials say has seen 70 families arrive in Inkawa in recent weeks, has not received the same attention.The families cite the same dire situation in Baghdad, where threats from armed groups and attacks on businesses from drinks shops to hairdressing salons are rife.Now Matti lives in a room that used to be the cemetery watchman's hut, while nearby Haval Emmanuel's family has improvised their home in adobe among the tombs."Living in an adobe hut in oil-rich Iraq," says Emmanuel, observing the irony of his family's predicament. "But as difficult as the conditions are we accept them -- because we can't endanger the lives of our loved ones."But Christian leaders are reluctant to speak out about the problems faced by their congregations. The head of the Chaldean Catholic church Emmanuel Dely refused to discuss the issue with AFP.It was the Arab League's representative in the war-torn country, Mokhtar Lamani of Morocco, who drew attention to a problem which he said affected all of Iraq's religious minorities, not just Christians."During a recent visit to Kurdistan, I found out that all members of the Mandaean community in Baghdad... have asked for mass migration to the region," Lamani told AFP.The Mandaeans, followers of a monotheistic religion which reveres John the Baptist but does not recognize Jesus, Mohammed or Moses, once lived mainly in southern Iraq and neighbouring Iran but many fled to Baghdad after Saddam Hussein suppressed a Shiite uprising in the marshlands in the early 1990s.Lamani said that 3,500 Christian families who had received threats had also fled the capital for the relative safety of Kurdistan.The sudden influx of Christians to Inkawa has made it increasingly difficult for families of modest means to rent accommodation. A two-room apartment now costs at least 500 dollars a month, with more spacious properties costing double.Kurdish authorities give some families 100 dollars a month, but that is not enough for Imad Matti to rent a home.Mazen Francis has an apartment, thanks to getting his son to work in the blacksmith's he has just opened rather than sending him to school.Other families share a single apartment, while the demand for even meagre homes from Inkawa estate agents remains high in this town of 30,000, almost all Christians."Three to six heads of families come here every day looking for lodging, and it's more and more difficult to find something for them," says estate agent Kameran Matti.Father Saliwa Hibi of the town's Saint Joseph church says his parish is trying to help those who arrive daily from Baghdad but also increasingly from the main northern city Mosul.There are believed to be around 800,000 Christians still in Iraq. Chaldean Catholics form the largest community. Many of those who could afford to do so have already fled the country since the fall of Saddam's regime in April 2003.

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Violence in Iraq leaves 25 dead

2006-06-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

-A bomb strapped to a motorcycle killed at least seven in a village near Baquba, north-east of Baghdad. Hospital sources say many of the dead were children. The mixed Shia and Sunni region is one of the parts of Iraq hit hardest by sectarian violence.

To read entire article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5118932.stm

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2006-06-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

To view pictures,
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL667369.htm

Children of a displaced Shi'ite family play outside their tent at a refugee camp in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, June 26, 2006. Iraq's sectarian violence of the past four months has pushed the number of displaced people to above 130,000, parliament heard on Monday as members urged ministers to give more aid and security to contain the crisis.

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Iraqi market bombings kill at least 15

2006-06-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

-Gunmen abducted 10 young men, all students from Sunni towns near Baghdad, from a building in the capital, police sources said. Sunnis say pro-government Shi'ite militias are targeting the minority Sunni Arab community, once dominant under Saddam.

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Amid Iraqi Chaos, Schools Fill After Long Decline

2006-06-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

At Least 25 People Found Executed in Mosul

2006-06-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

-225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has a mixed Kurdish and Sunni Arab population and a tradition of bad blood. The Kurds, who are largely Sunni Muslim but not Arab, have formed a prosperous autonomous region nearby after decades of oppression and mass killings under the Sunni Arab minority that ran Iraq until Saddam Hussein was ousted three years ago. Police said they were not sure if the attacks were carried out by the Sunni Arab-led insurgency, common criminals or sectarian death squads. Increasing numbers of Iraqi deaths over the past months have been attributed to revenge killings carried out by Shiite-backed militia organizations or Sunni Arabs who have banded together in retribution. The outburst of killings was first reported Tuesday morning when police found the bodies of a husband and wife both Kurds shot to death in eastern Mosul, according to police Capt. Ahmed Khalil. Before the day was out, 10 people were either killed in shootings or found dead. The killings persisted Wednesday, with eight people including a child and a college student shot to death by nightfall. The violence continued Thursday, said police Brig. Abdel-Hamid Khalf, with a policeman killed in a firefight with gunmen early in the day and six civilians shot to death before sunset.
- The police raid north of Baghdad that freed the 17 captives came a day after the mass kidnapping, believed to have been organized by Sunni extremists at the close of a factory shift. Initial reports said as many as 85 people, including women who had taken their children to work, were initially taken. But Industry Minister Fowzi Hariri told state-run Iraqiya TV on Thursday that 64 people were abducted, two of whom were killed trying to escape. Thirty people, mainly women and children, were freed shortly after the kidnapping, leaving 15 still believed in captivity.

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Suicide blast kills 2 at Iraq elderly home

2006-06-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

-Police: U.S. bombing kills 13

The U.S. military bombed a poultry farm early Tuesday 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Baquba, north of the capital, killing 13 people and wounding four, police said. A journalist hired by CNN said at least three children and two elderly men were among the dead. It appeared that those killed were guarding the farm, and some of them were sleeping inside and on top of a chicken house, said the journalist, who was at the scene. The U.S. military did not respond to CNN requests for comment, but did issue a statement about raids in the area early Tuesday. It said coalition forces killed 15 terrorists and captured three other suspects during simultaneous raids north of Baquba.

Read entire article: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/20/iraq.main/index.html

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Bodies of 2 Missing GIs Recovered in Iraq

2006-06-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

-In the bombing of the home for the elderly, an 18-year-old Sunni wearing an explosives belt blew himself up as senior citizens were lined up to collect monthly pensions. Two elderly women were killed and three people were wounded. Police said the motive was unclear, but sectarian tensions have been worsening in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra.

Read entire article: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2100898&page=3

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US says 15 insurgents killed in Iraq firefight

2006-06-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

-U.S. forces hunting insurgents linked to al Qaeda in Iraq killed 15 gunmen in raids north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said. Residents of Qaduri Ali al Shahin village 13 km (9 miles) north of Baquba said the men were employees of a nearby poultry farm, not rebels. The Sunni Muslim Scholars Association, which is sharply critical of the U.S. occupation, condemned what it called "this crime". U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell insisted no civilians were killed in what he described as an "extremely long firefight". Reuters footage showed 13 male bodies covered with blankets lying on open trucks. A police source said one was a 12-year-old. Reuters footage showed a bloodied mattress on the floor of one house. Two spent bullet casings lay nearby. Residents said the 12-year-old had been asleep on the mattress when he was shot.

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Americans, Iraqis Push Into Area of Ramadi

2006-06-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

The U.S. military fired on suspected militants from an AC-130 gunship above the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi on Monday while hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi troops punched into an eastern section of the violent city. U.S. troops throughout the eastern Ramadi neighborhood peered over rooftop parapets of commandeered homes in temperatures that soared well above 100 degrees, watching for insurgent reconnaissance teams posing as pedestrians. A handful of children rode by on bicycles and a few civilians roamed the largely empty streets. The city was unusually quiet as troops watched out for "peekers," residents who might be peering out of windows as spotters for insurgent gunmen. Residents told U.S. soldiers that they had no electricity for three days and complained that children would miss exams. Loudspeakers on U.S. Humvees instructed residents to stay in their homes. Most people did.

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Young Soldiers Used in Conflicts Around the World

2006-06-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

P. W. Singer:
When we think of warfare, children rarely come to mind. But while warfare has long been the domain of adults, juveniles have been present in armies in a number of instances in the past. For example, young pages armed the knights of the Middle Ages and drummer boys marched before Napoleonic armies. Child soldiers even fought in our own civil war, most notably when a unit of 247 Virginia Military Institute cadets fought with the Confederate Army in the battle of New Market (1864). More recently, U.S. forces fought against small numbers of underage Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) in the closing weeks of World War II. However, these were the exceptions to what the rule used to be, that children had no place in war. Throughout the last four thousand years of war as we know it, children were never an integral, essential part of any military forces in history. But the rules of war have changed. The participation of children is now not a rarity, but instead a growing feature of war. The practice of child soldiers is far more widespread, and more important, than most realize. There are as many as 300,000 children under the age of 18 presently serving as combatants around the globe. Their average age is just over 12 years old. The youngest ever was an armed 5 year old in Uganda. The youngest ever terrorist bomber a 7 year old in Colombia. Roughly 30% of the armed forces that employ child soldiers also include girl soldiers. Underage girls have been present in armed groups in 55 countries. Children now serve in 40% of the world's armed forces, rebel groups, and terrorist organizations and fight in almost 75% of the world's conflicts; indeed, in the last five years, children have served as soldiers on every continent but Antarctica. An additional half million children serve in armed forces not presently at war. The children are often abducted to fight and participate in all the full horrors of war; indeed they are sometimes forced to carry out atrocities that adults shy away from. The result is that war in the 21st century is not only more prevalent, but more tragic. With children's involvement, warlords, terrorists, and rebel leaders alike are finding that conflicts are easier to start. In turn wars are harder to end, such that the wars drag on, consuming societies and childhood itself for literally hundreds of thousands of children. A particularly troubling aspect then is not only what happens during the fighting, but the legacy it leaves for children after the fighting is done. That is, recovery from the traumas of war is hard enough; it's all the more difficult when the soldier in question is a child.
Washington, D.C.: How many child soldiers are being used currently in Iraq and Afghanistan? P. W. Singer: The overall numbers of Iraqi children involved in the fighting are not yet known. But the indicators are that they do play a significant role in the insurgency. For example, British forces have detained more than 60 juveniles during their operations in Iraq, while U.S. forces captured 107 Iraqi juveniles determined to be "high risk" security threats, holding most at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Its important to note that with the global deployment of U.S. force after 9-11, from Afghanistan to the Philippines, child soldiers are present in every conflict zone U.S. forces now operate in. Indeed, the very first U.S. soldier killed in the war on terrorism was a Green Beret killed by a 14 year old sniper in Afghanistan. At least six young boys between the ages of 13 and 16 have been captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in the initial fighting and were taken to the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They were housed in a special wing entitled "Camp Iguana." As the Pentagon took more than a year to figure out whether to prosecute or rehabilitate them, the kids spent their days in a house on the beach converted into a makeshift prison, watching DVDs (their favorites were Castaway and Call of the Wild) and learning English and math. Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq built up an entire apparatus in the 1990s designed to pull children into the military realm and bolster populace control. This included the Ashbal Saddam ("Saddam's Lion Cubs"), a paramilitary force of boys between the ages of 10-15 that acted as a feeder into the noted Saddam Fedayeen units that proved more aggressive than the Iraqi army during the invasion. During the invasion, American forces engaged with Iraqi child soldiers in fighting in at least three cities (Nasariya, Mosul, and Karbala). This is in addition to the many instances of children being used as human shields by regime loyalists during the fighting. The implications of this training and involvement in military activities by large numbers of Iraqi youth was soon felt in the guerilla war that followed. Beaten on the battlefield, rebel leaders sought to mobilize this cohort of trained and indoctrinated young fighters. A typical incident in the contentious city of Mosul just after the invasion provided a worrisome indicator of the threat to come. Here, in the same week that President Bush's made his infamous aircraft carrier landing proclamation, an Iraqi 12 year old boy fired on U.S. Marines with an AK-47 rifle. Over the next weeks and months, incidents between U.S. forces and armed Iraqi children began to grow, to the extent that U.S. military intelligence briefings began to highlight the role of Iraqi children as both attackers and spotters for ambushes. Incidents with child soldiers ranged from child snipers to a 15 year old that tossed a grenade in an American truck, blowing off the leg of U.S. army trooper. In the summer of 2004, radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr directed a revolt that consumed the primarily Shia south of Iraq, with the fighting in the holy city of Najaf being particularly fierce. Observers noted multiple child soldiers, some as young as 12 years old, serving in Sadr's "Mahdi" Army that fought pitched battles with U.S. and British forces. Indeed, Sheikh Ahmad al-Shebani, al Sadr's spokesman, publicly defended the use of children, stating, "This shows that the Mahdi are a popular resistance movement against the occupiers. The old men and the young men are on the same field of battle." A 12 year old fighter in the group commented, "Last night I fired a rocket-propelled grenade against a tank. The Americans are weak. They fight for money and status and squeal like pigs when they die. But we will kill the unbelievers because faith is the most powerful weapon." Coalition forces also have increasingly faced child soldiers in the Sunni Triangle as well. Marines fighting in the battle to retake Falluja in November 2004 reported numerous instances of being fired upon by "children with assault rifles." So one of the many, many difficulties of Iraq is the presence of children.

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UN official Briefs, United States, Iraq also Address Council; Steps Being Taken to Improve Security, Promote Inclusion Highlighted

2006-06-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

-While the United Nations did not have precise information about the numbers and breakdown of the victims of violence and the perpetrators, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) had concluded, in its latest bimonthly human rights report, that “hundreds of civilians are reported killed or wounded weekly, including women and children, as targeted or unintended victims of violent attacks”.

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Violence Dips as Baghdad Crackdown Begins

2006-06-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

-The only reported clash between army troops and gunmen in Baghdad occurred just before noon in the Azamiyah neighborhood, when heavy exchanges of gunfire shattered the late morning quiet and sent residents, including women and children, scurrying for cover.

-Al-Maliki pledged Wednesday not to negotiate with those who had shed innocent blood, the latest in a series of tough statements he has made since American bombs killed al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. But he said he would be unveiling a new national reconciliation plan in the coming days that could include a pardon for some prisoners. A top al-Maliki adviser told The Washington Post the plan could include pardons for those who had attacked only U.S. troops. Adnan Ali al-Kadhimi told the Post "there is a patriotic feeling among the Iraqi youth and the belief that those attacks are legitimate acts of resistance and defending their homeland. These people will be pardoned definitely, I believe."

Read entire article: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2078421

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Iraq launches Baghdad sweep, offers dialogue

2006-06-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

-In northern Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two people and wounded seven. A Reuters photographer who was 10 metres (yards) from the blast saw a man and a teenager burning amid the wreckage after the bomb caused a big fireball.

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Nine killed in US raid near Baquba

2006-06-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

-Also on Monday, a member of the Iraqi parliament said he visited an interior ministry prison in Baquba and found inmates, including women and children, had been tortured. "Detainees have been tortured and abused inside to get declaration of guilt by force and to confess crimes they have not committed," said the legislator, Mohamed al-Daini. "Among the prisoners were women and children."

Read entire article: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B7143197-A9F9-4692-B9E7-F74103B0AD31.htm

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US forces kill 7 militants in Iraq, 2 children die

2006-06-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

-U.S.-led forces in Iraq killed seven militants with links to senior al Qaeda leaders in a raid on Monday near the area where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed last week, the U.S. military said. Two children were also killed, including a 6-month-old boy, it said, adding there were several women and children at the scene. A senior U.S. military spokesman, Major General William Caldwell, said the gunmen had had the children with them on a roof and described their deaths as "extremely unfortunate". Coalition aircraft supporting the ground force immediately suppressed the enemy fire, killing seven," it added. "Following the assault, coalition troops discovered two children had been killed."

Read entire article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12610257.htm

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12-year-old wounded Iraqi girl gets new nose

2006-06-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES - When 12-year-old Marwa Naim took off the bandage from her nose earlier this month, she smiled in a handheld mirror. Her face, damaged when a missile attack in Iraq caused her to lose part of her nose, was reconstructed. On Monday, Naim showed off her face to others. Dressed in a light green burqa, she hugged and thanked the doctors who performed the operation and said she looked forward to reuniting with her father and three siblings in Iraq when she returns there later this month. “They helped me a lot and they treated me well,” Naim, speaking through an interpreter, said of the doctors. Naim lost a chunk of her nose and her right thumb when a coalition missile struck her home in northern Baghdad in April 2003 in an attack that killed her mother, according to several humanitarian groups that arranged for the girl’s trip to California. This year, Naim was flown to UCLA Medical Center, where plastic surgeons agreed to rebuild her nose without pay. Doctors faced a daunting task: Naim was missing the bulbous tip of her nose and there was a lot of scar tissue from the injury. During four operations, doctors removed a rectangular skin flap from her forehead and rotated it 180 degrees to fashion a new nose. Then they took cartilage from her ear to rebuild the tip and “to give it a shape,” said Dr. Timothy Miller, chief of plastic surgery.
'A great spirit'
Miller showed a video of Naim’s last visit earlier this month in which she took off the bandage from her nose and smiled into a handheld mirror. But she still faces a long recovery. Her face is swollen from surgery and there’s a scar that runs down the middle of her forehead where doctors removed skin for the nose. Although the scarring may never fully heal, it will likely take between six and nine months for the scars to lighten up, doctors said. Miller described the surgery, which costs about $12,000, as cosmetic because Naim was never in danger of dying because of her missing nose. She could still breathe and smell normally, but doctors decided to fix it partly because she was taunted in school for her disfigurement. “She’s got a great spirit,” Miller said. While in the United States, Naim stayed with four Arabic-speaking host families in the Los Angeles area. She started learning English and visited tourists attractions including Universal Studios and SeaWorld. Besides Naim, a handful of other war-wounded children have been flown by various humanitarian organizations to the U.S. for treatment of disfiguring injuries. The nonprofit Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which paid for Naim’s stay in California, estimated that since 1991, the organization has sought medical care for about 700 Middle Eastern children who suffer from mostly war-related injuries. Plastic surgeon Dr. George Rudkin said he would welcome the chance to help another war victim. “It’ll be an honor to do it again,” he said.

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Link to article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13290241/

Coalition: Dozens of Afghan insurgents killed

2006-06-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

-Taliban militants set fire to a school on June 3, in Uruzgan, the coalition command said, noting that "Taliban extremists have been implicated or have claimed responsibility for damaging more than 45 schools, assassinating teachers and intimidating school aged children in the past year."

Read entire article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/06/10/afghan.killings/index.html

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At least 11 dead as Iraqi official expects reduction in US forces soon

2006-06-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

-A gun battle erupted as British troops came under fire in a vegetable market in southern Iraq on Sunday, leaving two people dead and a 7-year-old boy wounded, police said.

Read entire article: http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/199252

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Authorities Release 200 Iraqi Prisoners

2006-06-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

-The 230 detainees being released Sunday from U.S.-run prisons around the country were among 2,500 detainees that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had promised to release by June 30. The first batch of 594 was freed Wednesday. Arkan Abdullah, 17, from the strife-prone province of Salahuddin, said he was arrested Feb. 21 and accused of illegally possessing a weapon, but he was willing to give the new government a chance.

Read entire article: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2064693&page=3

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IRAQ: The need for public first-aid training as violence continues

2006-06-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

-Despite a horrendous deterioration of security, the government has done little to promote first-aid and emergency awareness among the citizenry. “We Iraqis never receive first-aid lessons – not in school or at our jobs,” said Mashhadanny. “For this reason, we’re not prepared for saving lives.” There are no government agencies involved in the dissemination of first-aid information and only very few local NGOs doing it. NGOs, however, tend to focus attention on volunteers and not the general population. “The best way to teach people is by introducing it as a discipline in schools and universities,” said Dr Muhammad Jarnoon, a teacher at Baghdad University’s medical faculty. “This way, children will teach their parents about first aid.” Nevertheless, the ministries of health, education and the interior are taking steps towards introducing first-aid to primary- and secondary-school curricula. “We know that first-aid is essential in a country where security is deeply compromised,” said education ministry official Sharkis Yehia. “But we also need time to introduce it to the school system.”

Read entire article: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53854&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ

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Fourteen killed in Iraq as violence rages on

2006-06-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

-Two separate bombings killed at least nine people in downtown Baghdad and wounded more than 40, after the government lifted a daytime traffic ban it imposed on Friday amid fears of al Qaeda reprisals for the Zarqawi killing. "A bomb was left in a plastic bag here and many people were wounded, including a child," said a boy standing near the site.

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IRAQ: Athletes targeted for sectarian, religious reasons

2006-06-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

-There is little doubt that, for 25-year-old footballer Salman Obaid, sport means health, vitality and integration. But for some extremists, sport means disrespect for modesty and the adoption of western values. “My dream since childhood was to be a football player and this dream came true,” said Obaid. “Unfortunately, it hasn’t been easy – I’ve received three threats accusing me of being a betrayer of Muslims.” On 14 May, 19-year-old Mannar Mudhafar, one of the best soccer players on the popular Zawra team, was shot to death in the streets of the capital.

Read entire article: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53813&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ

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IRAQ: Babil residents protest poor services, demand official resignations

2006-06-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

-Nearly 1,200 angry residents of Babil province, some 100km south of the capital, Baghdad, took to the streets on Wednesday to protest poor services and demand the resignation of several local officials. Last Saturday, a chlorine gas canister exploded at a water purification station in the Aufi district, poisoning more than 104 Babil residents, according to police Capt Muthana Khalid. Casualties reportedly included children, women and elderly living near the station.

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Zarqawi raids uncover new leads

2006-06-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

-Jordanian-born Zarqawi was said to have been in a meeting with associates at the time. At least five other people were killed in the raid, including spiritual adviser Sheikh Abd-al-Rahman and an unidentified woman and child.

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Arabs say insurgency will continue after Zarqawi

2006-06-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

-Several ordinary Arabs expressed hostility towards Zarqawi and welcomed his killing. But just as many others said they saw him as a martyr who died fighting for the noble cause of ending the U.S. occupation of a leading Arab and Muslim country. "We should have no regrets over the killing of a terrorist like him. He was mutilating the image of Islam. Hopefully bin Laden is next," said Lebanese Shi'ite student Sana Abdul-Nabi, referring to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

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U.S. forces show picture of dead Zarqawi

2006-06-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

-Iraqi children stand on the rubble after a U.S. raid, which killed Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the town of Hibhib near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad

--A boy walks through the rubble where Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed after an U.S. raid, in the town of Hibhib near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad

View pictures and read entire article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08252209.htm

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Qaeda’s Iraq leader Zarqawi killed by US forces

2006-06-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

-U.S. warplanes killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's Iraq leader who masterminded a campaign of bombings and beheadings, in a strike that President George W. Bush said could help to turn the tide against the insurgency. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters 10 people, including Zarqawi, had been killed in the strike. Earlier, officials said six people including a woman and a child had been killed. "I think arguably over the last several years no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands than Zarqawi," said Rumsfeld.

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Salvaging Iraq

2006-06-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

By David Ignatius
The images from Iraq are of hell on earth: On Sunday 12 Iraqi students traveling to Baqubah to take their final exams were dragged from a bus and killed because they practiced the wrong religion. The next day gunmen dressed in police uniforms kidnapped 56 people near the bus station in central...
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Violent Baghdad deaths top 6,000

2006-06-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

-Three British soldiers are cleared at a court martial in London of killing a 15-year-old Iraqi boy who drowned in a canal in Basra three years ago.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5053134.stm

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PM vows Baghdad security crackdown

2006-06-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

-A roadside bomb exploded at Allawi bus station in central Baghdad, killing a woman and wounding a child, Iraqi police said. Police said the blast was targeting a passing U.S. military convoy.

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Iraq to free 2,500 but no “Saddam loyalists”

2006-06-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

-Bush has said he was troubled by media reports about the Nov. 19 killings of men, women and children in Haditha.

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Iraq: 50 people kidnapped as US fire kills five civilians

2006-06-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

-Also on Monday, gunmen in a car killed two Sunni brothers as they were driving to college in the neighborhood of Sadiyah in southwestern Baghdad, police Lt. Maitham Abdul Razzaq said. The victims, Ahmed and Arkan Sarhan were in their early 20s.

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http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/198962

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Gunmen kidnap 50 Baghdad transport workers

2006-06-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

-STUDENTS KILLED
Gunmen dragged 24 people, mostly teenage students, from vehicles and shot them dead in a small town north of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

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Gunmen kill 11 Iraqi students, kidnap transport workers

2006-06-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

Gunmen killed at least 11 college students after stopping a bus in Baghdad and kidnapped up to 50 transport company employees in the Iraqi capital on Monday, Interior Ministry sources said. The sources said the bus was carrying 20 college students in Baghdad's Dora district. Police had no immediate information on the attack, which took place a day after 24 people, mostly teenage students, were dragged from vehicles in Iraq and killed. Police said the abductions appeared to be a coordinated operation against firms offering transport to Syria and Jordan. "It took them about five minutes to take people away. One, two, three, four -- one after another," said witness Hamza Ali, adding the gunmen were armed with rifles and grenades and had arrived in 10 pick-up trucks.

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Police imposters kidnap 50 in Baghdad

2006-06-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

A Shiite man and his three sons were shot to death Sunday evening while returning home from a doctor's visit in the town of Khan Bani Saad, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Baghdad, an official with Baquba police said. The mother was wounded in the drive-by shooting, he said.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/05/iraq.main/index.html

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24 Iraqi civilians “executed”

2006-06-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

Gunmen in Iraq dragged 24 people, mostly students, from vehicles and shot them dead as violence raged across the country Sunday.

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http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/05/255.html

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IRAQ: More than 30 dead as PM fails again to name security chiefs

2006-06-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

-At least 21 Iraqis were shot dead by gunmen targeting minibus passengers. The gunmen near the village of Ayn Layla northeast of Baghdad stopped vehicles along the road and shot at their occupants, killing 21 people including seven minibus drivers and seven students, police said, according to AFP.

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IRAQ: Premier declares state of emergency to maintain security in Basra

2006-06-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

caption, “Armed guards protect children as they arrive at schools in Basra.” * “Some 1,200 Sunni Muslim families have been forced to leave Basra as a result of threats by militant groups,” said Sheikh Abdul-Razaq al-Dosari, a senior AMS cleric.

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21 Shias and Kurds taken off bus and shot at fake checkpoint

2006-06-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

A group of students on their way to end-of-year exams were among 21 people massacred by gunmen at a bogus checkpoint in Iraq's restive Diyala province yesterday, in one of the most shocking sectarian attacks in the country in recent weeks. The 12 students, who were studying at al-Yarmouk University in Baquba, 40 miles north of Baghdad, were among passengers who were hauled by the gunmen from their convoy of three minibuses early yesterday morning.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1790426,00.html

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Masked gunmen kills 21 Shiites in Iraq

2006-06-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

On Monday, gunmen in a car killed two Sunni brothers as they were driving to college in the religiously mixed neighborhood of Sadiyah in southwestern Baghdad, police Lt. Maitham Abdul Razzaq said. The victims, Ahmed and Arkan Sarhan, were in their early 20s. Two of the victims were high school students, ages 17 and 18, and nine were students at al-Yarmouk University in Baqouba, ages 21-22, said Qara Tappah's mayor, Serwan Shokir. The rest were men in their mid-to-late 30s, who worked as laborers or for the power company, the mayor said.

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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2039538

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At least 20 Iraqi motorists killed

2006-06-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

Children, students and elderly men were among those shot dead in the volatile Diyala province, north of Baghdad. The violence comes as a parliamentary session, which was due to vote on three crucial cabinet posts, was postponed.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5045608.stm

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At least 40 killed in Iraq

2006-06-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

At least 40 people -- some of them high school students -- were reported killed Sunday across Iraq, as the new government failed to name security ministers to deal with continuing violence. The dead included seven students and five elderly men. Two other people were injured. The victims were Shiites and the incident was thought to be the result of sectarian hostilities.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/04/iraq.main/index.html

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Iraq gunmen kill 24 civilians at checkpoint

2006-06-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Gunmen dragged 24 civilians out of their cars at a makeshift checkpoint in a town north of Baghdad on Sunday and shot them "execution style", a senior police official said. The victims included students, children and elderly men, said the senior police official in Diyala province.

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Students “executed” as Iraq violence rages on

2006-06-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

Gunmen in Iraq dragged 24 people, mostly teenage students, from vehicles and shot them dead, police said, as violence raged in the country on Sunday. The victims included youths of around 15-16 years who were on their way to the bigger regional town of Baquba to write end of term exams. "(The attackers) dragged them one by one from their cars and executed them," said a police official. Some tried to flee but were gunned down, a police source said. Reuters photographs showed six men shot in the chest, including one old man and five young men.

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO443052.htm

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Iraqi PM says Haditha killings a terrible crime

2006-06-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

Many Iraqis believe unjustified killings by U.S. troops are common, but few have been confirmed by investigations. "The crime and misery of Haditha … is a terrible crime where women and children were eliminated," Maliki told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

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http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2029231

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US probes new Iraq massacre claim

2006-06-07T07:25:00.000-07:00

According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire killing four people - a suspect, two women and a child. But a report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building. The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5039714.stm

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Killings, abductions in Baghdad leave Palestinians in Iraq scared and angry

2006-06-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

A total of 212 Palestinians, including children and pregnant women, have fled Baghdad since May 10 and are stranded at the Syria-Iraq border. The UN refugee agency and the Syrian Red Crescent are providing food, basic items and medical care to the group, who are refusing to return to Baghdad.

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Bombs kill at least four, wound 50 in Baghdad market

2006-06-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

Another witness said: "Many young men were wounded."
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Unemployment in Iraq is over 60%

2006-06-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

IRAQ: Citizens chafe under rising unemployment

BAGHDAD, 1 June (IRIN) - For Abbas Mohamed al-Sakri, the 20 years he
spent studying Arabic literature was "a big mistake" because he remains
unable to get a job with his degree.

"For the past three years, I sent dozens of job applications to
government ministries," said the 28-year-old al-Sakri. "But all were in
vain. Members of influential political and religious parties are given
preference, even though they aren't qualified."

According to Mohamed Taha al-Mousawi, an adviser at the Ministry of
Labour and Social Affairs, the national unemployment rate surpassed 60
percent last year. "And the rate rose further in the first quarter of
this year, as many policemen and army members quit their jobs due to
threats by militants groups," al-Mousawi said. He added that his
ministry had no plans to promote employment until the security
situation had improved.

Iraq's high unemployment rate was also recently acknowledged by the
First Lady. Speaking at an international conference devoted to women in
business in London on 23 May, the wife of President Jalal Talabani
stressed that high unemployment levels made disaffected youths easy
targets for recruitment by extremists.

Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, a respected businesswoman and founder of the
Kurdistan Women's Union, agreed. She warned that that joblessness could
be expected to increase further, especially in central and southern
Iraq. "Unemployment levels have exceeded all limits," she said.

Locals, meanwhile, especially those with big families, complain
bitterly about job scarcity. "I can work only two or three days a week
due to the huge labour pool," said Ahmed Fiza'a, a 25-year-old day
labourer, as he stood amid a group of about 100 workers in Baghdad's
northern Kazimiyah district. "I earn about US $8 a day, and I'm the
eldest in an eight-member family...I have to feed them all."

Last month, a top US General in Iraq said that the only way to defeat
the insurgency and bring stability to the country was by boosting the
economy and creating hope among disaffected young people. "A prosperous
Iraq will be a peaceful Iraq," said Lt. Gen. Pete Chiarelli, commander
of the Multinational Corps in Iraq. "By creating jobs and opportunity,
the government would take away a major source of support for violent
movements."

In the meantime, 28-year-old Omar Salah Jassim has despaired of
government promises, deciding instead to earn his living selling
cigarettes from a wooden stall in a bustling bus station in Baghdad.
"Earning about US $10 a day this way is better than begging at the
government's door," said Jassim, who holds a degree from Baghdad's
University's education faculty.

Iraqi Boy Mutilated and Killed

2006-05-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

Mutilated and Killed, Iraqi boy is sectarian victim - 5/23/06

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD, May 23 (Reuters) - Baghdad's sectarian hit squads don't spare the young.
The family of 12-year-old Hani Saadoun has been traumatised by that reality since his tortured body, mutilated by electric drills, was found on Tuesday. They had been in a state of fear since he failed to return home for lunch a day earlier.

It seems gunmen in three cars cornered him as he headed to work, helping out at his father's parking lot, Interior Ministry sources and relatives said.

The Shi'ite family started panicking when he had not turned up by Monday evening. By the time they learned of his fate on Tuesday he was just another statistic in Iraq's packed morgues.
The sense of loss mixed with shock as details of his brutal ordeal, shared by many dozens every day, became clear.

Saadoun's body was found dumped in southern Baghdad's violent, mostly Sunni Arab, district of Dora. It bore the hallmarks of sectarian tit-for-tat killings that have exploded since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February.

The youngster, with a bullet hole in his head and another through the chest, was blindfold and his hands bound. He had been whipped with cables, tormented by electric drills and his body dragged through the streets behind a car.

There was no way of ruling out other possible reasons for his death. He could have been the victim of one of Iraq's bloody tribal feuds or criminal gangs. But one conclusion predominates in a country becoming familiar with corpses dumped by the road.

"This was definitely a sectarian killing," said the boy's uncle, a freelance journalist well known to Baghdad media, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

"Witnesses told us that gunmen in three Opel cars grabbed him at a checkpoint. We know he was tortured and we know they dragged him through the streets by a rope and dumped him."

NEW RUTHLESSNESS?

While thousands of young children have been kidnapped for ransom or blown up in bombings, few appear yet to have been caught up in planned tit-for-tat sectarian abductions and killings that have been described as a dirty war.

If Saadoun's death was a sectarian slaying, it raises the possibility of a new level of ruthlessness.
It was also appalling bad luck. On a day off from school, eager to earn some pocket money, he set off to work at his father's lot. Normally his father or older brothers would have gone with him but, for the first time, they had pressing business at home and the youngster set off alone.

That cruel combination of circumstances may haunt his loved ones forever, another Iraqi family still waiting for their leaders to deliver on promises of stability.

At Saadoun's funeral, women in traditional black Shi'ite shawls wailed as his mother Fatima Oraybi stared up at his crude wooden coffin on the roof of a car.

"Oh my son," she cried.

Others could not understand why he was targeted. Drilling victims of kidnappings and killings is not unusual in Iraq but the torture of such a young boy left his relatives shocked.

"What did he do? He was 12. He was not a general or a minister," said his cousin Amir Mohammad.

Saadoun's family are not taking any chances. They moved the mourning tent to a Baghdad district far from their neighbourhood for fear they will now be targeted.

"We are afraid we will be next," said the uncle.

New tough talking Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to use maximum force to crush the men of violence. But his security forces can be hesitant. Saadoun's uncle said police and troops refused to help recover the body because Dora was too dangerous.

"His father had to round up relatives and people from the neighbourhood to get the body," he said. "He had nothing to do with sectarianism or politics. He was just a boy." (Additional reporting by Lutfi Abu Oun, editing by Dominic Evans)

The following is a link to the article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO347014.htm

Reviving Iraq's Economy May Cut Deaths

2006-05-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

Accoring to an AP story by Robert Miller, Lt. General Peter Chiarelli said the key to reducing American casualties in Iraq is getting a government that can revive the economy, "take the angry young men off the street" and give them an alternative to violence.

"I honestly believe that as this government begins work on the policies that will be required to put people to work and make use of the vast resources of Iraq that you're going to see a decrease in violence," Chiarelli, commander of Multi-national Corps Iraq, said in a video teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon'

This is the key element of War Kids Relief's Youth Center Work/Study Program. This effort will employ and educate over 28,000 Iraqi youth in 24 months. By keeping the young men and women engaged and enabling them to become part of the reconstruction effort we will help save lives.

To learn more about War Kids Relief, a program of the VietnamVeterans of America Foundation, visit our website http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

Students Fleeing Iraq with Parents

2006-05-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

As Death Stalks Iraq, Middle-Class Exodus Begins
NY Times - Sabrina Tavernise

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 18 — Deaths run like water through the life of the Bahjat family. Four neighbors. A barber. Three grocers. Two men who ran a currency exchange shop.

But when six armed men stormed into their sons' primary school this month, shot a guard dead, and left fliers ordering it to close, Assad Bahjat knew it was time to leave.

"The main thing now is to just get out of Iraq," said Mr. Bahjat, standing in a room heaped with suitcases and bedroom furniture in eastern Baghdad.

In the latest indication of the crushing hardships weighing on the lives of Iraqis, increasing portions of the middle class seem to be doing everything they can to leave the country. In the last 10 months, the state has issued new passports to 1.85 million Iraqis, 7 percent of the population and a quarter of the country's estimated middle class.

The school system offers another clue: Since 2004, the Ministry of Education has issued 39,554 letters permitting parents to take their children's academic records abroad. The number of such letters issued in 2005 was double that in 2004, according to the director of the ministry's examination department. Iraqi officials and international organizations put the number of Iraqis in Jordan at close to a million. Syrian cities also have growing Iraqi populations.

The following is a link to the whole article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/19/world/middleeast/19migration.html?ex=1148702400&en=86624c6bc0361733&ei=5070&emc=eta1

As the violence continues, students are fleeing Iraq with their parents. Continued violence in schools and the killing of teachers is "paraylized neighborhoods and smashing families." That is why War Kids Relief's Youth Center Work/Study Program is so improtant. Learn more at http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

CNN Reports: Four teachers Gunned Down Near Balad Ruz

2006-05-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

CNN: Gunmen killed four teachers Monday near Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad, an Iraqi official said.

The teachers were traveling to work in a minibus Monday morning when the gunmen stopped their vehicle in the town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, said an official with the Diyala Joint Coordination Center.

The gunmen forced seven teachers and the minibus driver from the vehicle and shot four of the teachers. The other instructors and the driver were allowed to leave, the official said.
The attack came as the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants resumed Monday after a three-week delay.

Link to the whole story: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/15/iraq.main/index.html

Violence like this leads to the Iraqi children not returning to school in incredible numbers. That is why War Kids Relief's Youth Center Work/Study Program is so improtant. Learn more at http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

Washington Post Article

2006-05-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

War Kids was discussed in a Washington Post article this past weekend.

Back from Baghdad

Bad stuff happened in Iraq, stuff Adam Reuter doesn't want to talk about. Not with his friends, not with the line cooks in the burger joint where he worked when he first came home or the tenants in the apartment complex he manages now...

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/13/AR2006051301312.html?referrer=emailarticle

UNICEF - Iraqi Children suffer

2006-05-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

12 May 2006 – Despite the laudable efforts of Iraq’s public distribution of food, many of Iraq’s poorer households still lack enough to eat, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today, citing a new food security and vulnerability analysis.

The survey was considered very comprehensive, covering 98 districts and 22,050 rural and urban households, and employed seven leading indicators: stunting, underweight, wasting, per cent of population who were extremely poor and other factors.

“The chronic malnutrition rate of children in food insecure households was as high as 33 per cent, or one out of every three children malnourished,” said Roger Wright, UNICEF’s Special Representative for Iraq.

Chronic malnutrition affects the youngest and most vulnerable children, aged 12 months to 23 months, most severely. “This can irreversibly hamper the young child’s optimal mental and cognitive development, not just their physical development,” said Mr. Wright. Acute malnutrition was also of concern, with 9 per cent of Iraqi children being acutely malnourished.

The study, based on the most recent data from 2005, was successfully conducted by the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation and Central Organization for Statistics & Information Technology and the Ministry of Health/Nutrition Research Institute, supported by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF.

Continuing food insecurity in Iraq cannot be attributed to any one factor, but stems from several causes, including the lingering effects of war and sanctions, plus the ongoing conflict and insecurity, UNICEF said.

CBS: Youth soccer a uniting force

2006-05-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Allen Pizzey reported on training for the Iraqi national youth soccer team, in a follow-up after its attendance last month at an international youth tournament in Dallas. Pizzey said the time team members spent with Dallas families during their US visit was “freedom they can only dream about at home, an education for them and for their hosts who could never imagine how much the trip meant to them.” Footage shows team members playing video games, riding bikes and hitting a ball with American children. The report profiled a star player who lives in Sadr City and his father said he “lives in fear every time his son comes and goes” Pizzey said. This team is the exact opposite of what is happening in Iraq, Pizzey said: an example of working together that politicians would do well to emulate. “We are all Iraqis,” said one team member. “We are football players.” (Video link: P:\Strat Eff\STRATCOM\NewsClips\Network News Clips\11 MAY 2006 CBS EN.mpg)

Terrorists Hit and Run Strategy

2006-05-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

According to Almada Newspaper, Iraqi security forces found document pertained to Al-Qaeda in Al-Yousifiya city south of Baghdad that describe the terrorist’s strategy in “Hit & Run.” They are to target innocent and civilian people in markets and schools and carry out attacks on Mosques & Hussainiyat to create sectarian sedition, and also the documents showed the terrorists are lacking and running out of new recruiters and new weapons among the Iraqi people to carry out their operations.

School Burning Condemned; IEDs, Weapons Cache Found

2006-05-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

American Forces Press Service
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, May 5, 2006 – The commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76 here condemned today a terrorist attack on a children's school in Laghman province.
Eight people set fire to Katal School in Mehtar Lam on May 2, destroying the principal's office and a storage room filled with supplies, notebooks and Korans.

"This is another example of the Taliban's vision for the future of Afghan children," said Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, CJTF 76 commander. "Extremists want to deny children and education in the name of religion, and they demonstrate their point by desecrating their most sacred books."

According to a witness, four of the eight criminals carried cans of gasoline into the school, while others toted rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Investigators think an RPG was used to spark the blaze. There were no reported injuries to local citizens.

Elsewhere, a Task Force Tiger element discovered a weapons cache in the Parwan province during a patrol today. The cache contained 88 mortar rounds, eight rockets and three rocket warheads. An explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the cache on site.

"Recovering and disposing these weapons increases the safety and security of Afghans, and reduces the danger in the area posed by enemies who might use those munitions indiscriminately to cause harm to the Afghan people, Afghan National Security forces or coalition forces," said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, CJTF 76 spokesman.

Also, Afghan security forces and coalition forces found and disarmed three improvised explosive devices in Paktika, Zabul and Kandahar provinces May 2.

Two other IEDs detonated, one in Kunar province and one in Kabul.

A suicide bomber in Kabul killed himself and an innocent civilian, but failed to harm coalition members traveling in the targeted convoy. The Kunar explosion resulted in no injuries.

"The indiscriminate emplacement of IEDs and use of suicide bombs are the desperate tools of a desperate enemy," said Freakley. "These attacks continue to rob innocent civilians of their lives through the blatant and indiscriminant use of these tactics, which serve only to hold back the growth and progress of the Afghan people."

In other news, Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials announced today the Afghan government will establish a permanent military presence in Kunar Province on May 7 by creating an Afghan National Army Forward Operating Base.

Coalition and ANA forces have conducted security operations in Kunar before. But the new base marks the first time the Afghan government will establish a military presence in Kunar to further peace and stability efforts reached through Operation Mountain Lion.

Iraq Official calls for support

2006-05-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

AMMAN (AFP) - An Iraqi official urged the international community to help build skills in his war-scarred country at the opening of a four-day reconstruction trade fair in Jordan.

"I don't think it is right only to spend money on machines, cars and equipment," said Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Kurdistan Rizgar Jiawook.

"Machines are very simple to buy, but to build skills in people takes time. This is what we need," he said. "Technology is going very fast and we have been disconnected for many years."

See the complete story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060508/wl_mideast_afp/iraqreconstructionjordan_060508114208;_ylt=AuNDpADsnc13Lfv1ME.hh6tX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

War Kids Relief Youth Center Work/Study Program is focused on filling this void. Learn more about our effort at http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

Child Labor

2006-05-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Child Labor is on the decline in most of the world, but unfortunatley not Iraq. The following is a link to a Rueters report on a UN study. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060504/ts_nm/un_children_labour_dc

Postives for Iraq Schools

2006-05-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has released their current report on progress in Iraq. Inspector General Stuart Bowen Jr. reported that more than 90 percent of education projects have been completed, including the repair of 5,108 schools and the training of more than 47,000 teachers.

This speaks highly of USAIDs effort towards education. Unfortunately, because of the current violence, over 30% of the students are not returning to schools and the numbers are much higher in Baghdad. In the last 4 months over 331 teachers have been killed.

While schools are a focused and important effort, we must look beyond that simple solution towards alternative education and employment opportunities, such as the Youth Center Work/Study Program War Kids Relief has developed.

For more information on War Kids Relief visit, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

Teachers Beheaded in front of students

2006-04-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Reuters reported that separate groups of gunmen entered two primary schools in in the Shaab district in Baghdad on Wednesday and beheaded two teachers in front of their students, according to a Ministry of State for National Security statement. NOTE: This report is still awaiting confirmation.

Yahoo Story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060419/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_teachers_slain_5

More than 300 teachers have been murdered throughout Iraq in the last 4 months.

Rising Orphan Numbers

2006-04-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

IRAQ: Ministry Copes with Rising Number of Orphans

BAGHDAD, 18 Apr 2006 (IRIN) - Orphans in Iraq, who often lack protection, food supplies and medical assistance, require urgent assistance, according to officials at the Orphans Houses Department at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

"Orphaned children have become a very serious issue,” said department director Abeer Mahdi al-Chalabi. "We have 23 orphanages with limited capacity, capable of housing only about 1,600 orphans.”

Although there are seven orphanages in the capital, Baghdad, and another 16 in other provinces, “they aren’t enough to provide assistance to all the orphans in the country”, said al-Chalabi. She went on to point out that the increase in the number of orphans countrywide was an inevitable result of the bombings, assassinations and sectarian violence currently plaguing the country.

According to a 2005 report issued by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), there were some 5,000 orphans in the capital alone, many of whom have been ostracised by society and have little hope of finding education or shelter.

“My two brothers and I work with our uncle in the streets of Baghdad as peddlers,” said Ahmed Chaloob, 10, whose parents were killed in a bomb attack two months ago. "I know nothing about orphanages, and I don’t think my uncle would let us go because he needs us to work," added Chaloob, who currently lives in a small room with eight other relatives.

Orphans often live in the streets as beggars or drug addicts. Some are believed to have been used by terrorists to carry out attacks; others have reportedly been forced by criminal gangs to work as thieves, according to ministry officials.

Given the prevailing atmosphere of violence and confusion, there are no reliable statistics for the number of orphans in the country. "We don’t have accurate numbers,” said al-Chalabi. “Officially, there are 642 orphans registered in our orphanages,” he added, estimating this number to represent a mere 10 percent of the total number nationwide.

“I've been here since 1996 with my brother, and I have two sisters living in [another] orphanage,” said Mustafa Hameed, a 15 year-old orphan at Baghdad’s al-Wazeriyah orphanage. “After our mother died in a car accident and our father remarried, we were taken here where we found care and love.”

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs provides some US $2,000 per month to each of the country’s orphanages, and ministry officials hope to eventually increase this amount to cover the requirements of additional orphans in the future.

"Orphans are provided with food, social services, health care, psychological care, education and other activities, such as computer training and painting,” said Abtesaam Rasheed, manager of the al-Wazeriyah orphanage. “But much more is required – we need support from the government and international NGOs to expand capacity and provide training for our social workers.”

Child Detainees

2006-04-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, 18 Apr 2006 (IRIN) - The Iraqi juvenile justice system has suffered from neglect and disruption caused by 25 years of crises, according to officials at the UN’s Children’s Agency, UNICEF.

In an effort to improve the situation, UNICEF has joined local NGOs to work with vulnerable and marginalised groups in Iraq, with particular emphasis on the children currently in detention for criminal offences.

“While it’s critical to address how children in detention are being treated, it’s also crucially important to focus on reducing the vulnerabilities and circumstances that push children…into lifestyles which often result in law-breaking and criminality,” said Roger Wright, UNICEF’s Special Representative for Iraq. Wright was speaking at a three-day conference held in Amman, Jordan, to discuss the matter with senior Iraqi government officials.

Read the rest of the story at http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52835&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ

Finally Some Good News

2006-04-19T06:01:00.000-07:00

CBS reported the Iraqi youth national soccer team was in Texas recently to compete in the Dallas International soccer tournament. Their journey was sponsored by Texas oil man Albert Hubbleston. Some of the team members said they were often scared playing soccer in Iraq. In contrast, many of the same kids spent most of their time in Dallas riding bicycles around their host families’ neighborhoods. The Iraqi team did well in the first stages of the tournament, but lost a close game in the quarter finals. The visibly upset kids were comforted by their host families and friends.

Murdering Teachers

2006-04-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

London Daily Telegraph reported on the growing number of intellectuals targeted around Iraq and the resulting “unprecedented brain drain as those who can move abroad increasingly do so.” The article said at least 182 academics/university professors have been killed since 2003, with many more kidnappings and attempted murders. 331 school teachers have been murdered in the past four months. The article noted it was originally thought the toppling of Saddam would see a flow of exiled intellectuals returning to Iraq. Instead, the opposite has happened.

Kites Banned in Mosul

2006-04-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Children of Mosul are disappointed because of the banning of flying their kites over the rooftops of their homes. The low flying American helicopters are keeping the children from being able to fly their kites. They mentioned the former Iraqi army helicopters were not flying as low as the American helicopters do. The artilce also mentions that the children are hoping the Americans will understand that they only want to fly their kites.(Almada NP)

Education Hampered by Sectarian Violence

2006-04-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs posted a story on Wednesday, 5 April 2006 announcing that "Children's education is being severely affected by ongoing sectarian violence say officials at the Ministry of Education." The story quotes official who say "at least 30 percent of Iraqi students are not attending school, with the situation much worse in districts of the capital, Baghdad, where violence has been most in evidence."

The following is a link to the entire report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52563&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ

War Kids Relief in Blog World

2006-03-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

This morning, War Kids Relief was honored by Jeff Harrell who wrote a fantastic article on his blog, The Shape of Days (http://theshapeofdays.com/2006/03/war_kids_relief.html). This story has been picked up by others as well. War Kids appreciates the continued support of those like Jeff who are civically engaged trying to improve the world we live in.

For more information on War Kids Relief, please visit the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation website http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

Attacks Targeting Children

2006-03-29T07:50:00.000-08:00

“We are in a society of insecurity,” AP quoted Education Minister Abdul Fallah al-Sudani saying. “Schools are not excluded from the suffering of our society.” Driving a wedge between Sunni and Shias, insurgents have stepped up attacks on schools this month, targeting children as civilian casualties mount. AP reported the growing conflict has reached an immense scale in recent weeks, with Iraqi authorities unable to stop the attacks, or in some cases complicit in them. AP said 150 people died in the past two days, “threatening to tear apart Iraq.” Attacks and threats shut 417 schools in the four-month period - most only for a few weeks, but some longer - disrupting the education of thousands of children. Another AP wire documented the killing of a math teacher in southern Baghdad Monday for unknown reasons.

CANDY BOMBS!!!

2006-03-28T04:53:00.000-08:00

Armed groups have gone to a new low in Iraq as reports are beginning to emerge that the Ministry of National Security is warning Iraqis that there are IEDs being hidden inside candy packages and left near schools.

Azzaman Newpaper reports, The ministry of national security has warned the residents and the citizens of the IEDs inside candy packages left in Al-Yarmouk district in Baghdad and near schools by unknown people, and the explosives are packaged professionally, and it is very difficult for the ordinary people to discover them, and this is the 1st time, though the armed groups had bobby-trapped animals, and corpses before to cause more damages among the civilians.

As seen in previous postings on this Blog, children are increasingly becoming targets in Iraq. There is a growing fear among the Iraqi population as this country, once known for having the best schools in the Middle East, is pulling its children from schools and an education that can give them a better future.

War Kids Relief is targeting these children as well, but for a Youth Center Work/Study Program that will provide them the training and education needed to improve their future. You can read more about this project on our website, http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

The children of Iraq are key to its rebuilding. We must engage them and teach them to use the tools to help rebuild their country before others teach them to use weapons to destroy it.

Schools, Kids Becoming Targets in Iraq

2006-03-28T02:37:00.000-08:00

Below is a link to an AP Story about the growing violence towards children in Iraq. Nearly 50% of Iraq's 27 million people are under 18 years old, and as the violence has increased, over 3.4 million have left the traditional school system. This article gives you a better understanding of why that is happening.

Schools, Kids Becoming Targets in Iraq
By Abbas Fayadh, AP Writer

BASRA, Iraq - In just two days, at least 150 people have died in the violence threatening to tear apart Iraq. One of them, Hussein Fadhil, was just 13.

The teenager was in front of his school in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, getting ready to walk into the building when a bomb exploded Sunday, the start of the school week in Iraq.

Cont... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060328/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_schoolboy_killed;_ylt=AtiR2mHPGiJRLNRfu2gzxIgLewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

Children 'starving' in new Iraq

2006-03-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

According to a recent BBC News report the number of children under five who are malnutritioned, has doubled since the US-led invasion, increasing to 8%.

The following is a link to the BBC News report "Children 'starving' in new Iraq."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4395525.stm

Gangs of Child Kidnappers in Iraq

2006-03-21T06:08:00.000-08:00

The following is from a Washington Post article "An Iraq Success Story's Sad New Chapter";

Sebti, the mechanic, was more fearful of sectarian conflict. "People now are afraid to send their kids to school," he said. "I have to take my son to and from the school every day. There are two gangs in Tall Afar now that specialize in kidnapping children. Police can do nothing against that."

Link to the rest of the article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032001897.html?referrer=emailarticlepg

Suicide bomber arrested red handed

2006-03-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

This is the 2nd report I have seen this morning about the school kids.

Suicide bomber arrested red handed

Unarmed security guard of elementary school in Baghdad apprehended a suicide bomber (citizen of Yemen) wearing vest who was walking among the students before detonating the explosives attached to his body, and the terrorist was handed over to the police, and he saved a real catastrophe from happening (names of the guard & the school were not mentioned for security reasons).(Azzaman NP)

Attack on School Children

2006-03-16T05:36:00.000-08:00

The following is from Al-Sabah, a publicly-owned independent daily newpaper. Stories like these provide a better understanding to why nearly 3.4 million Iraqi youth are not in traditional schools.

SCHOOL ATTACK FOILED BY ALERT GUARD
(Al-Sabah) Education minister Falah Hassan al-Soodani says a member of the FPS (facility protection services) has arrested an Arab terrorist who tried to activate an explosive belt he was wearing among a crowd of schoolchildren in Baghdad. The attacker entered the school and the security guard had the courage to detain him and prevent a massacre.
Al-Sabah is a publicly-owned independent daily.

Violence Scars Iraqi Children

2006-03-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

Violence Scars Iraqi Children
Monday 26 September 2005 11:51 AM GMT

Young boys run across a Baghdad garden firing plastic guns at each other in a timeless game enjoyed around the world. But in Iraq, pretending to kill each other is much more than child's play. "Children believe this is a normal way of life," said Harith Hassan, one of the country's leading psychologists. "They are developing psychopathic personalities."

The costs of Iraq's war are often measured in terms of deaths and injuries. But the conflict is also inflicting a heavy psychological toll on future generations exposed to daily bombings and shootings. Faced with the threat of violence every time they step outside, parents rarely take their children to playgrounds.

Few safe places

Amusement halls and movie theatres have closed down and there are few safe places to play sports. Deprived of a normal childhood, an increasing number of youngsters are influenced by guns and bombs, which are on their television screens every day and in their neighbourhoods. When Najim Mekki and his friends imitate battles between US forces and armed groups, they need more than plastic assault rifles and machineguns for a thrill. One of them dives to the ground and lights a firecracker, mimicking the blasts that often echo over Baghdad, as another calls for help on a walkie-talkie.

"We always see the weapons of the Iraqi and American armies on television. We try to imitate their battles in our homes but not in the street because there are bombs in the streets," 13-year-old Mekki said."When the bombs started we were scared. But now we are used to it because wherever you go you see blasts," he said.

Brief respite

Under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, teachers spent much of their time glorifying their leader and educating students about his Baath Party and war "victories" over Iraq's enemies. His overthrow was supposed to reform a rigid educational system and open up children's minds. "When the bombs started we were scared. But now we are used to it because wherever you go you see blasts"

Najim Mekki, Iraqi child

But Iraqi children only had a few months of fragile peace after his fall before the explosion of an insurgency that has killed thousands of security forces and civilians. Now teachers such as Lamia al-A'anee are struggling to divert students' attention away from violence. She spends a lot of time leading them through cheerful songs.

But when it's time for drawing class, boys and girls in her kindergarten sketch images of tanks and fighter planes."Some of the children have seen shooting. Some have seen corpses in the street. Some of their houses have been destroyed with their mothers in them," she said.

Too scared

Al-A'anee added: "I have children who play alone or hit themselves. Others are too scared to make friends." Many children have been victims of the bloodshed, which shows no sign of easing. Toy store owner Ziad Daoud says booming sales of plastic tanks, planes and guns, which replaced teddy bears, have started to decline due to rumours of the risks."These days I am selling less because people started talking about American soldiers mistakenly shooting children carrying plastic guns," he said.

Reuters You can find this article at:http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3616F3F5-B26B-4871-9816-1F2B09612130.htm

Iraq Analysis

2006-02-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

The following is a link to Analysis: 2006 Make-Or-Break Year in Iraq.

"(Special Inspector General Stuart) Bowen said it will take far more U.S. support before the Iraqi government can take control over billions of dollars in reconstruction projects, including problem-plagued oil and electricity improvements."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_analysis_2

In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency

2006-02-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

The following is a link to the following:

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT

In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency

The U.S. and its allies seem to know little about the enemies they are fighting in Iraq, despite volumes of information on insurgent web sites, chat rooms, magazines and videos, which are a large part of their communication with each other and their constituents. Analysis of this undervalued communication suggests armed insurgency groups are less divided between nationalists and foreign jihadis than commonly reported, and are increasingly coordinated, confident and information-savvy. The better the U.S. understands their message and why it resonates, the better it will understand how to win hearts and minds. Coalition forces should take what the opposition says seriously, rather than dismiss it as propaganda, and adjust political strategy accordingly. An anti-insurgency approach based squarely on reducing the insurgents’ perceived legitimacy – rather than, as at present, on military destruction and dislocation – is likelier to succeed.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=3953

A very interesting look at the Insurgents in Iraq.

Iraq Children's Mental Health

2006-02-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

IRAQ: Children's mental health affected by insecurity, say specialists

BAGHDAD, 7 February (IRIN) - The Association of Psychologists of Iraq (API) has released a report stating that the US-led invasion and occupation of the country have greatly affected the psychological development of many Iraqi children.

"Children in Iraq are seriously suffering psychologically with all the insecurity, especially with the fear of kidnapping and explosions," said API spokesman Maruan Abdullah. "In some cases, they're found to be suffering extreme stress."

More than 1,000 children were interviewed countrywide over the past four months for the study, the findings of which were released on 5 February.

According to Abdullah, the survey was undertaken after a noticeable increase in the number of children seeking psychological counselling, many of whom were found to have learning difficulties. "It was incredible how strong the results were," said Abdullah. "The only things they have on their minds are guns, bullets, death and a fear of the US occupation."

Of the children examined, 92 percent were found to have learning impediments, largely attributable to the current climate of fear and insecurity. "The fear of kidnapping has been the main reason for learning deficiencies, especially among children whose parents are government
employees or high-ranking professionals like doctors and teachers," Abdullah noted.

"About 50 of them are in a critical state of fear that could cause mental retardation if it goes untreated," he added. The API further found that inaccurate perceptions of psychological services served to compound the problem."Many Iraqis believe that psychologists treat crazy people," Abdullah said. "For this reason, they don't bring their children in for treatment."

Last July, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) developed a programme to help children suffering from the trauma of war. The project was frozen a couple months later, however, due to a shortage of funding. "Previous studies of children confirmed such psychological effects,"
said IRCS spokeswoman Ferdous al-Abadi. "But, unfortunately, we couldn't continue with studies due to a lack of money and the need to give preference to displacement emergencies."

The API has urged the international community to help establish centres specialised in child psychology and programmes devoted to mental health.

Iraqi Police

2006-02-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

The following link is to an AP article titled "General: Corruption Hobbling Iraqi Police." The author discusses and interview with General George Casey who believes the current Iraqi police force is "hobbled by incompetence, corruption, sectarian and low morale." In the upcoming year, the military will focus on improving this area to ensure that a civil authority exists in a form in which Iraqi citizens can rely. The Gunners worked closely with the Iraqi Police (IP) and struggled with these same issues during our year in Iraq.

During our last weeks in Baghdad the IPs were notorious for arresting Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC), new Iraqi Army, soldiers to show who was in charge. They also attempted to loot both the Palace and Martyrs Monument only to be run off by American Forces. Creating an honest force is critical to the success of the new Iraqi Government.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060208/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_casey

Iraq Audit

2006-01-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

The following is a link to an article outlining Stuart Bowen's, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, report about the current state of Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060130/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqreconstruction_060130222931

Interesting Stats:

Pre-War Current
Electricity 4500 Watts 3995 Watts
Sewage 24% of pop. 19% of population
Clean Water 50% of pop. 36% of population
Oil Production 2.6 Millions 2.1 Millions Barrell/day