Living Conditions Tragic in Iraq
It's been more than two years since we invaded Iraq. How are the Iraqis doing? Not so good, according to this new joint Iraqi-U.N. report. In fact, living conditions are called "tragic."
The report estimates the number of Iraqis who have died since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 somewhere between 18,000 and 29,000. Of those deaths, 12 percent were children under 18 years of age, meaning that between 2,100 and 3,500 children have been killed in the war thus far, according to ILCS data.
It's the children who have been suffering the most:
Nearly one-fourth of Iraqi children aged between six months and five years are chronically malnourished, meaning they have stunted growth, the report says. Among all Iraqi children, more than one in 10 suffer from general malnutrition, meaning they have a low weight for their age. Another eight percent have acute malnourishment, or low weight for their height.
In addition, 37 percent of young men with secondary or higher education are unemployed and just 83 percent of boys and 79 percent of school-age girls are enrolled in primary school.
On military damage:
....Military damage to dwellings in the north of the country averages 25 percent of all rural households and in provinces such as Sulaimaniya, 49 percent of all rural homes were damaged.
While the regime of Saddam Hussein built up many of the country's service networks, like electricity grids, sewage systems and water, the systems are widely in disrepair, the report says.
...Key facilities have been neglected for years under economic policies described as misguided and as a result of international sanctions, which cut Iraq off from most trade throughout the 1990s. Infrastructure also been damaged by three wars, the most recent of which was followed by severe looting and vandalism. The report concludes that refurbishing these systems is one of the biggest challenges to rebuilding Iraq.
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