Justice for Iraqi children

 

By Jassem Murad

 

Azzaman, May 18, 2005

 

Iraqi children bore the brunt of the brutal polices the former leader Saddam Hussein pursued in his three-decade rule. Today their sufferings have aggravated and have become the main victims of the new era.

 

Almost nothing has changed for the better as far as the Iraqi children are concerned. U.N. reports issued recently have identified no progress in their fate. On the contrary their conditions have worsened.

 

 Malnutrition is still rampant and mortality rates as high if not higher.

 

Saddam had neglected the Iraqi children. He only cared for his cronies, loyalists and the military establishment to preserve his iron grip on power.

 

Little has changed in the new era. Iraqi children are still suffering because the country’s wealth now goes to a clique of thugs and thieves.

 

This gang is stealing our oil revenues and has devised dirty means on how to amass illegal wealth at the expense of the suffering Iraqis and their children.

 

We have been swamped with reports of billions of dollars given to us from international donors, millions of barrels of oil exports and scores of foreign companies involved in reconstruction.

 

Our officials talk about almost everything but the plight of our children. Newspapers are full of statements on what they intend to do but hardly a word on how to combat the diseases behind our unprecedented child mortality rates.

 

We increased the number of our ministries to 31 – perhaps among the highest in the region.

 

But the surge in the number of ministries was made to appease the country’s disparate political factions and not meet actual needs on the ground.

 

We know of no ministry in our bloated cabinet to have the welfare of Iraqi children among its priorities.