Iraqi babies for sale:

[ensho]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/06/child-trafficking-iraq


Iraqi babies for sale: people trafficking crisis grows as gangs exploit poor families and corrupt system• At least 150 children a year sold for £200 to £4,000
• Some bartered youngsters become sex abuse victims


Corruption, weak law enforcement and porous borders are compounding a growing child trafficking crisis in Iraq, according to officials and aid agencies, with scores of children abducted each year and sold internally or abroad.

Criminal gangs are profiting from the cheap cost of buying infants and the bureaucratic muddle that makes it relatively easy to move them overseas. Accurate figures are difficult to obtain because there is no centralised counting procedure, but aid agencies and police say they believe numbers have increased by a third since 2005 to at least 150 children a year.

One senior police officer said at least 15 Iraqi children were sold every month, some overseas, some internally, some for adoption, some for sexual abuse. Officials believe at least 12 gangs are operating in Iraq, offering between £200 and £4,000 per child, depending on its background and health. The main countries in which they are sold are Jordan, Turkey, Syria and some European countries including Switzerland, Ireland, the UK, Portugal and Sweden.

-long snip-

Aid agencies are warning parents that many children are used as sexual workers or sold to paedophiles. "We tried to approach many of these families to alert them about what can happen with their kids but we have been threatened and two aid workers were killed after they tried to prevent a child negotiation," said one aid worker, Ahmed Sami.
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we did this to Iraq. as Obama said there is much work to do to Remedy what we did to them.

the shame of it all.....

[Orwellian_Ghost]

1. Utlimate outcome

of colonialism.

Disgusting.

How many Iraqis has the US war machine killed from 1980-present? Straight through. Not even a hiccough in the killings. Across every administration. What does that say?

K&R

[liberalmuse]

2. This is horrifying.

I don't think there's anything the US can do to make up for what we've done to Iraq. We truly do need war crimes trials. I want all those responsible punished.

[Mari333]

3. but,please, dont prosecute the bush admin for this

we have to move forward, dontcha know...