Iraqi Widows, Orphans Left Stranded

[babylonsister]

Iraqi Widows, Orphans Left Stranded
by Kim Gamel and Bushra Juhi


The car exploded near a popular ice cream parlor, sending flames and shrapnel through the busy square and killing 17 people.


It was another deadly explosion quickly forgotten by the outside world. But Aug. 1, 2007, changed the life of 28-year-old Maysa Sharif. It was the day she became one of nearly a million Iraqi women who have lost husbands as the country has suffered through three wars and Saddam Hussein’s murderous regime.

Such vast numbers of widows would tax any society, and all the more Iraq’s. With virtually no safety net and few job opportunities, most widows have little choice but to move in with their extended families and depend on their largesse.

Sharif was five months pregnant and preparing breakfast for her children when the blast shook their house in central Baghdad. She ran to the scene where her 39-year-old husband, Hussein Abdul-Hassan, ran a cigarette kiosk, and saw him on the ground. “Shrapnel hit his body and his head was cracked open. His eyes and mouth also were open,” she said.

“I wanted to close them,” she said, but police dragged her away, fearing a second explosion.

And her nightmare continued. Her 7-year-old son Saif had gone to work with his dad, and she couldn’t find him. Only as her husband was being taken to the holy city of Najaf to be buried did she learn her son had died in the hospital.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/07/8134/

[NMDemDist2]

1. they are the 2nd generation of widows too

the same thing happened in the Iran-Iraq war the 80s

But at least Saddam gave them a pension

:cry:

[EFerrari]

2. He gave them a pension while we imposed sanctions.

:(

[NMDemDist2]

5. yup. sucks huh? n/t

[babylonsister]

3. It's late, but if you see this, please read it. Thanks. nt

[slipslidingaway]

4. K&R n/t