More Iraqi Kids Hungry Since Ouster of Saddam

Yes, we sure did the next generation of Iraqi children one hell of a BIG favor - we gave them democracy and now they are starving. Sounds like a lot of the kids who go to bed hungry in the United States....see this and this.

From AP's Jonathan Fowler (bold added by Julien's List):

More Iraqi kids hungry since ouster of Saddam

Mar. 31, 2005 12:00 AM GENEVA - Malnutrition among the youngest Iraqis has almost doubled since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, a hunger specialist told the U.N. human rights body Wednesday in a summary of previously reported studies on health in Iraq.

By last fall, 7.7 percent of Iraqi children under 5 suffered acute malnutrition, compared with 4 percent after Saddam's ouster in April 2003, said Jean Ziegler, the U.N. Human Rights Commission's special expert on the right to food.

Malnutrition, which is exacerbated by a lack of clean water and adequate sanitation, is a major killer of children in poor countries.

Children who survive are usually physically and mentally impaired for life, and are more vulnerable to disease.

The situation facing Iraqi youngsters is "a result of the war led by coalition forces," said Ziegler, an outspoken Swiss sociology professor and former lawmaker whose previous targets have included Swiss banks, China, Brazil and Israeli treatment of Palestinians.

Overall, more than a quarter of Iraqi children don't get enough to eat, Ziegler told the 53-nation commission, which is halfway through its annual six-week session.

The U.S. delegation and other coalition countries had declined to respond to his presentation, which compiled the findings of studies conducted by other specialists.

In reporting the 7.7 percent malnutrition rate for Iraqi youngsters, the Norwegian-based Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science said in November that the figure was similar to the levels in some African countries.

Iraq was generally regarded as having good nutrition rates in the 1970s and 1980s, but problems emerged when the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The United Nations later began an oil-for-food program, which allowed Iraq to sell oil to buy food and medicine.

That was credited with nearly doubling the Iraqi population's annual food intake and halving malnutrition among children.

I guess the question here is, where are all the protesters for Terri Schiavo now? These children (and as shown in the links above, US children also), are starving every day - they are not brain damaged, they have a lot of life ahead of them...where are the protesters for THEM???