02/23/2009 10:50 am
POV
War Widows Strain Iraq's Social Services
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While some women are thriving in post-war Iraq, countless others suffer in silence.
It’s impossible to know how many war widows populate the nation these days, but the numbers are so large that Iraq’s social services are feeling the strain. Leila Kadim, who manages the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, lamented to the New York Times: "We can not help everybody. There are too many." Only one in six war widows receive aid from the government.
Not only are women turning to begging and prostitution to get by, but many are finding haven among insurgents and offering themselves as suicide bombers. Still others are embarking on so-called "temporary marriages" with men who provide for them and their children. The Times explains: "Officials at social service agencies tell of widows coerced into “temporary marriages” — relationships sanctioned by Shiite tradition, often based on sex, which can last from an hour to years — to get financial help from government, religious or tribal leaders." The state, too, has been getting involved in such schemes.
Baghdad Displacement Committee, a city agency, pays men to marry war widows, a plan that highlights some officials’ less-than-helpful sentiments. Said director Mazin al-Shihan:
If we give the money to the widows, they will spend it unwisely because they are uneducated and they don’t know about budgeting. But if we find her a husband, there will be a person in charge of her and her children for the rest of their lives. This is according to our tradition and our laws.
No wonder the state’s not doing enough for women…
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We still like to think we have "won or winning" the war in Iraq and here we see how much of a mess there still is over there with these poor widows who are suffering now. I wonder how these women would be getting on with their lives if we had not invaded that country to start with, all those who voted for this unnecessary war will have a lot to answer for years to come.
I’m sure life in Saddam’s rape rooms was just peachy.
What happened to the german widows after WW2?
Iraq was being run by animals. There is a lot of humanitain work to do. If the liberals had there way we would have left them to their own devices years ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/jul/23/iraq.suzannegoldenberg
Like the man said when he threw his shoes at King George, "This is for all the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
Add to that the Americans who have died and been wounded there and the $billions spent and disappeared there, all for a lie, and you have the Bush legacy.
…and the $billions spent and disappeared there, all for a lie
Almost $3 Trillion now DeBurca
It seems pretty basic and simple to me….
Spend money on America and the American people… good
Spend money on war and killing ….. bad
What is the part that Im missing?
When is Obama going to get us out of Iraq?
Don’t bet too much money on that one.
He’s sending more troops there and Afganistan!
He’s killing thousands of women and children!
Oh the humanity!
What about Gitmo?
What about Halliburton?
.
Why did Bush launch a bogus war in Iraq?
How many innocent men, women and children have been killed because of Bush’s bogus war?
Obama should send more troops to Afghanistan, and deal with the Taliban and finish the hunt for Bin Laden, you remember him right? The tall skinny ugly dude that orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, the guy that Bush let get away, and didn’t think about anymore.
What about Gitmo? How many ppl there are not or should I say weren’t terrorists before being sent there? How many new terrorists did Bush create by torturing ppl that may infact be innocent?
Halliburton, is owned by a swindler that can’t operate a shot gun and shoots his own friends.
Catherine-
Let’s talk about Bill Clinton shall we and how he could of stopped Bin Laden during HIS watch.
Do your research on Gitmo Catherine and ask yourself "Would I feel safe if they were released in my neck of the woods?"
I think Obama did send troops to Afghanistan quite recently maybe he was instructed by Bush to do so and it was in USA Today.
How many American people were killed in 9/11? Do you care about the hell that they went thru? And they certainly didn’t ask for it now did they Catherine.
Tanja, don’t even begin to question my concern over the 9/11 victims and the hell they went thru and the hell that their families are still going thru.
I don’t dispute Clinton may have dropped the ball when it came to Bin Laden, however, the attack happened on Bush’s watch, and it was Bush that dropped the ball in Afghanistan and the hunt for Bin Laden.
Obama, is correct in sending more troops to Afghanistan, however I hardly think Bush had anything to do with that, afterall he stopped thinking about Bin Laden a long time ago.
I have done my research on Gitmo Tanja, thank you very much. It is not so much Gitmo that I am opposed to as it is the violation of human rights that takes place there ie: torture.
Of course you didn’t answer my question, not surprisingly, so I’ll ask again. How many innocent ppl were sent to Gitmo, and tortured that had nothing to do with terrorisim? How many new terrorists have been created by such treatment?
Btw Tanja, it wasn’t just American ppl killed on 9/11, it wasn’t just an American tragedy.