What about the Children of Iraq?

by Jack Dalton

05 January 2005

This past week has shown how people of various religions, nationalities, ethnic backgrounds are able to come together to help in a crisis – the victims of the Tsunami in this instance.

Tens of thousands of children are now orphans, with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, now refugees, to say the least. The death toll, over 156,000, is still rising. No one knows what it will be in the end, but one thing is pretty much certain, it will be a huge number.

It is good to see the outpouring of the world's people doing what they are able to come to the aid of the Tsunami victims.

My question is simply this, where is the worlds concern for the tens of thousands of Iraq's children that have been so completely decimated by the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq?

In the 12 years of U.S. sanctions on Iraq prior to the invasion, over 500,000 children died – as a direct result of those sanctions. Where was the care and concern of the world then? Where were the so-called “compassionate conservatives” of the U.S. then? Oops! Forgot for a moment, they are the ones supporting the Iraq war.

Currently in Iraq over 100,000 (and the number is growing rapidly) Iraqi's have been killed by U.S. bombs, "smart" bombs – that keep going to the wrong address and killing more children – and hand held weapons for up close and personal killing. It has been estimated that well over half of that number have been children.

The "collateral damage" the U.S. keeps referring to, that's the Iraqi children, in large part. Where is the compassion for them? Or is it that they deserve to die simply because they are the children of Iraq?

The sanctions that were in place on Iraq, then the invasion, have been responsible, directly, for the wholesale slaughter of Iraq's children. The infant mortality rate in Iraq is now higher than it was 40 years ago. This also is a direct result of U.S. actions in Iraq.

Then there are the children that will die a slow death, over time, due to exposure to depleted uranium – over 4,000 tons of it to date – that has contaminated Iraq from U.S weapons made from depleted uranium. This has been, and is nothing but, a type of nuclear warfare, pure and simple.

I have yet to see, or hear, reports by U.S. corporate media, the White House, the Department of Defense, or the Pentagon about the children of Iraq who have been killed in the tens of thousands by the Bush administration “policies” and its war on Iraq.

What I do hear coming from that bunch, and its talking heads is, “bomb them all in the name of the Lord.” Not long ago Madeline Albright was asked, “Knowing that the sanctions were responsible for the deaths of over 500,000 Iraqi children, was it worth it.” She took about ten seconds to mull it over, and then said, “Yes, it was worth it.” That pretty much says it all, does it not?

So while Bush and company go about the business of politicizing the horrific disaster the Tsunami caused, the wholesale slaughter of children that was born out of the invasion of Iraq will continue; it is the children of Iraq that have, and will continue to pay, the ultimate and highest cost – their lives.

As a footnote, next month Bush will be asking his Republican cheerleader congress for $100 billion dollars more so he may continue the slaughter in Iraq for another year. His war-profiteering corporate sponsors will benefit greatly – everyone one else will pay the cost – especially the children of Iraq who will continue to be the recipients of the U.S. “smart” bombs made from depleted uranium.

Jack Dalton is a disabled Vietnam veteran and the Co-Editor of the Project for the Old American Century web publication http://oldamericancentury.org/index.htm.