Tuesday, April 17, 2007

What legacy is the Iraq war leaving to the children of Iraq?

About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

The survey of about 2,500 youngsters is the most comprehensive look at how the war is affecting Iraqi children, said Iraq's national mental health adviser and author of the study, Mohammed Al-Aboudi.

Many Iraqi children have to pass dead bodies on the street as they walk to school in the morning, according to a separate report last week by the International Red Cross. Others have seen relatives killed or have been injured in mortar or bomb attacks.

"Some of these children are suffering one trauma after another, and it's severely damaging their development," said Said Al-Hashimi, a psychiatrist who teaches at Mustansiriya Medical School and runs a private clinic in west Baghdad. "We're not certain what will become of the next generation, even if there is peace one day," Al-Hashimi said.

If we are talking about making our world safer it would seem to be only common sense to insulate these children from violence. The death and destruction that is so much a part of their formative years will help raise them to be cold, emotionless killing machines to be used by terrorist's to visit horrible attacks against America, who they universally blame for their situation.

We have helped to create our future enemies.

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