Iraq's humanitarian crisis worsens: U.N. official

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

Iraq's humanitarian crisis worsens: U.N. official
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
Monday, April 7, 2008; 6:43 AM

AMMAN (Reuters) - Iraq's humanitarian crisis has worsened, and decades of conflict and deteriorating basic services are reducing people's ability to cope with the hardships they face, a senior U.N. aid official said on Monday.

"There are wider concerns about the longer-term effect of prolonged conflict, and people's coping mechanisms become strained ... this deterioration of basic services is not yet reversed..." Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told Reuters in an interview.

One effect of the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" were the "worrying signs" of acute malnutrition among four to nine percent of children under the age of five, even though malnutrition was still not a general phenomenon, he said.

"When you get these indicators ... these are alarm bells that you need to take some notice of," said Holmes, who is also the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Four million Iraqis do not have enough food, only 40 percent have reliable access to safe drinking water and about one third of the population is cut off from basic health care, he said.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/07/AR2008040700409.html

[MadMaddie]

1. Hey but didn't McCain say things are going well in Iraq?

[JeffR]

3. And Senator Graham got that great deal on rugs!

The surge is obviously working. Obviously.

[JeffR]

2. Buncha babies!

Can't stop and smell the FREEDOM.

(And the sarcasm icon is, I trust, unnecessary.)

[libodem]

4. Cheneybush

just wants them dead.

[bdamomma]

11. its a ideological mindset

these thugs feel that it is their god given right to be wealthy and powerful and greedy, and to hell with the rest of us. I hope to see the day when these thugs will pay.

[Mnemosyne]

5. KnR for more visibility.Baba Yar. n/t

[jonnyra]

6. Yes but...

we HAD to fight them over THERE so we wouldnt have to fight them over here. See? So its all good.

BTW...did you see the video of Obama bowling? What a hoot.

[pleah]

7. I wonder if anyone will bring this up at the Betrayus gilling today?

[crim son]

8. Our government doesn't give a shit about "people's coping mechanisms."

Not in Iraq and not in the U.S.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cyberpj]

10. There ya go. Not if it gets in the way of their profiteering. Now go watch Dancing With The Stars.

nt necessary

[bdamomma]

12. exactly, and it has to be screamed out by all of us.

[LynnTheDem]

13. George W. bUsh;

WORSE than Saddam Hussein.

"SUCCESS"!

[Baby Snooks]

14. Who cares?

That is the reality. Who cares? Does our Congress care? Do the American people, the good Germans, care? No. If they did, we would't be in Iraq to begin with. All eyes, as always, turn to Madame Speaker.

There is a chilling aspect to this few will talk about that goes back to Samuel Bush and the Rockefellers. The belief in "eugenics of war."

Just one less Iraqi to waste a bullet on. That is the reality of the attitude. All eyes, as always, turn to Madame Speaker.

I will no longer support UNICEF. Does UNICEF care? No. It has promoted the Bushes as if they are humanitarians. They are mass murderers.

And I hope Madeline Albright spends an eternity in Hell trying to convince herself that it was all worth it. No doubt the Bushes will comfort her. Along with Madame Speaker. And the Clintons.

We are not all good Germans. Unfortunately we are the voice silenced in the end. We are kooks. We are malcontents. We are traitors.

We are all the Pink Ladies. The only regret Madame Speaker has is that she cannot have us all arrested and thrown into jail.

Her comment will always be remembered. As will Madeline Albright's.

[happygoluckytoyou]

15. solution here

I HAVE THE SOLUTION.... IT WORKS....

IRAQ.... AMERICA'S 51st STATE....

1) we have a shortage of states starting with I
2) we need a footprint in the middle east
3) they could cast the democratic votes given up in M and FL
4) their unemployment numbers would boost our average
5) could quit refering to it as an occupation, more of an ownership
6) JOHN "THE REPUBLICAN" MCCAIN would have a better excuse to bomb IRAN, since their missles would have range to hit american soil

[defendandprotect]

16. Looks like their going for GENOCIDE . . we've been bombing these people for 20 years now . . . !!!