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Yesterday, I was chatting with my colleague about the situation in Iraq and specially regarding the social aspect…we both reached an agreement that we would witness a social crisis or a disaster…the Iraqis' ethics and manner have really changed in the years after the war…so many people lost the good sides of the Iraqi manners.
And since he is much older than me, he said that after each war Iraqis losses some of their good manners, and I think he is right.
And today I received an email with some very interesting statistics that are gathered together…and I thought those statistics would be a great way to show my point.
1,000,000 widowed women according to a statistic published by the Iraqi woman's ministry in 2008
4,000,000 orphan child (estimated by the ministry of planning if the average of the Iraqi family is 4-6 children)
2,500,000 killed (according to the statistics of the Iraqi ministry of health and the forensic medicine (morgues) till December 2008)
800,000 missing (according to the ministry of anterior till December 2008)
320,000 prisoners inside the
4,500,000 refugees outside
2,500,000 displaced inside
76,000 cases of HIV (according to the Iraqi ministry of health) (it was 114 cases before the war)
40% of the Iraqi people are under the line of poverty (according to the statistics of the Iraqi human rights' ministry)
126 foreign security companies (registered at the Iraqi ministry of anterior)
43 armed militias (registered at the Iraqi ministry of anterior and ministry of defense)
Well, it's really frightening. Just look well at the numbers of orphans, widowed, killed and missing and you would certainly know why I said where are going to have a social crisis.
May God be with you.
10 comments:
Dr. M.,
I have some thoughts about these numbers. I think some are inflated and I think some portend good news.
1,000,000 widowed women...by the Iraqi woman's ministry in 2008If anything, this strikes me as a remarkably low number. Women out-live their husbands and polygamous marriage is common in Iraq. One man could die of a heart attack and leave 4 widows.
4,000,000 orphan child (estimated by the ministry of planning if the average of the Iraqi family is 4-6 children)This strikes me as an extrapolation of an extrapolation of an extrapolation. I wouldn't take this number as gospel.
2,500,000 killed (according to the statistics of the Iraqi ministry of health and the forensic medicine (morgues) till December 2008)I'm not sure where this number comes from. The discredited Lancet Study said 655,000 as of 2006. That is certainly a highly inflated number and the Iraqi government was saying a more accurate count was 120,000. But even if Lancet was 100% accurate, are you saying the killings were quadrupled since 2006? (Violent deaths in Baghdad dropped 70-80% in 2007.) This number seems too high by a factor of 10.
800,000 missing (according to the ministry of anterior till December 2008)See my point above. Of course, that 800,000 could be among the supposed 4.5 million refugees outside Iraq and the 2.5 million displaced. If there had really been 2.5 million killed since 2003, I would have expected the displaced number to be much higher.
320,000 prisoners inside the USA and government jails (the USA announced the presence of 120,000 prisoners inside their jails)Good. After 4 years denouncing the lack of security in Baghdad and Iraq you should be glad of this, too.
76,000 cases of HIV (according to the Iraqi ministry of health) (it was 114 cases before the war)114 before the war??? Are you kidding me? Do you really intend to take Saddam's numbers at face value? How is it that when the Iraqi government FINALLY starts trying to accurately report on HIV cases, it indicates an impending social crisis?
40% of the Iraqi people are under the line of povertyThis was surely worse under the sanctions.
126 foreign security companies (registered at the Iraqi ministry of anterior)Once again. Hurray for security. When the jihadis, insurgents, and JAM ride into the sunset, more of the security companies will be homegrown in Iraq.
43 armed militias (registered at the Iraqi ministry of anterior and ministry of defense)That's all? Well, at least they are on the government's side now.
Even if these numbers are wrong, to be sure, Iraq has many new social problems to contend with now. It's up to the people of Iraq to find ways to cope with all these problems. It will take a generation or more to work through the loss of civility. Maybe it will be better when Looli is grown.
mashalla, let's kiss America and Iran thank you.
important info thx for posting it.
wish you could ban that american nazi trash CMAR.
"It will take a generation or more to work through the loss of civility."
When there have been four or five successful elections, we can start to be optimistic. Trying to run a functional democracy with human beings rather than angels is always tough. My feeling would be - if the Germans and the Japanese can do it, so can the Iraqis. After all, Iraq has been civilised for a very long time.
many people in iraq die in shelters
had to make safe for him
Hi Mohammed,
The figure with regards to HIV post-war is really shocking, where is it from? And why do you think it is? Is it because of lack of hygiene in hospitals when it comes to treating patients and the shared use of needles?
It is such an alarming figure, mainly because HIV is usually seen as a western thing; it is associated with rampant homosexuality, open sexual behaviour and drug abuse. I didn't think these things had really touched a conservative country like Iraq. Or is it that the figure was wrong recorded pre-war?
well, as I said I got it from an email sent to me by a friend and I'm not sure of it's credibility...but the reason for sure is not shared needles in hospitals...from the way you see the Iraqi society I can tell you are a good girl that lives protected by her good family's borders and that is a good thing, but in case you didn't know we have so many homos. and we have a great degeneration in morals but it's undercover! we have people conducting adultery, people who brought the disease from outside....etc.
well, this number might be a bit raised, and the pre-war might be a bit reduced, I can't tell for sure.
Many of the specific numbers are inaccurate Dr. Mohammed.
I do hope that Iraqis transform their country into a successful state.
Some good news. Oil prices have more than doubled from their recent low; because of early signs of an economic recovery in Asia and the US. This will greatly reduce the Iraqi budget deficit and allow the GoI to increase social spending, reconstruction spending, IA spending and IP spending.
Dr. Mohammed,
Could you please provide the sources from which you got those statistics?
Thanks,
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