Iraq's national psyche traumatised -- doctor

[leftchick]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04281558.htm

<snip>

"Iraq is one of the most stressed, oppressed countries in the world -- you can see the suffering every day, every hour, even every minute," Hassan told Reuters in an interview.

"Psychologically, it may be the worst affected country in the world. It's something experts are worried about and that we need to look into ... The long-term implications are profound.

"What's going on is really a catastrophe from a psychological and a societal point of view," he said.

Aside from the initial impact of the war, with its "shock and awe" U.S. bombing, Iraqis have had to deal with occupation by foreign forces, the random, widespread death brought about by insurgents, and the growing effects of sectarian tensions.

[jojo54]

1. Thank you very much Mr. B*sh, for giving us the kind of life

we've always dreamed about. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Let us kiss your feet.

[TahitiNut]

2. In other words, we've subjected them to prolonged TERROR.

Sanity and reason have abandoned our public discourse when the obvious is suppressed for so long. A nation of 25 million is being occupied by a foreign army that shares neither language or religion with the indigenous people - Imperial stormtroopers unrestrained by civil law and completely immune to any form of civil communication. Innocent people are subject to death or dismemberment at any time, without recourse, potentially precipitated by nothing more substantive than malicious gossip or rumor.

There's almost no question in my feeble mind that I'd become a berserker under such conditions. "Politics" becomes very personal and local and the abstract niceties of global politics bears absolutely no weight whatsoever. It'd take no literacy or global communications access to recognize that foreign stormtrooper as an enemy of absolutely everything I'd hold dear.

[tblue37]

3. Excellent post, TahitiNut. (eom)

[SillyGoose]

4. Iraq's national psyche traumatised -- doctor

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than two years of war, occupation and insurgency have turned Iraq into possibly the most psychologically damaged nation in the world, one of the country's top psychiatrists said on Thursday.

Dr Harith Hassan, the former head of Baghdad's Psychological Research Center, estimated that more than 70 percent of the private clients he sees each week are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe anxiety condition.

"Iraq is one of the most stressed, oppressed countries in the world -- you can see the suffering every day, every hour, even every minute," Hassan told Reuters in an interview.

"Psychologically, it may be the worst affected country in the world. It's something experts are worried about and that we need to look into ... The long-term implications are profound.

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050804/2005-08-04T122311Z_01_N0494951_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-IRAQ-TRAUMA-DC.html
(more at link)

[Karenina]

5. The long-term implications are profound.

And GLOBAL.

[MountainLaurel]

6. File that under "No shit, Sherlock"

All you have to do is look across the border at Afghanistan to see what a couple generations of constant warfare will do to a people psychologically.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. like this...

here is their father





mother and sisters

[leftchick]

9. Exactly right

and think of the thousands never seen.

:cry:

[sintax]

8. Millions

will have been murdered by the US stormtroopers and the agents of destruction involved in this genocidal operation spanning the last 14 years. But of course Madeleine Albright said "I think it was worth it". This coming from a mother with children.

The death toll will mount for years. This should be on everyones minds as we go through our daily lives saying and DOING nothing.

Silence kills.

Nominated

[meganmonkey]

10. I can barely handle reading this stuff anymore

I can't even begin to imagine what it is like to have to live it

:cry:

[scarletwoman]

11. Nominated. Who can imagine what it must be like to live there?

I think about it all the time.

I live in a rural area, my daily 20 mile commute to work is on a 2-lane highway bordered by forest and farmland.

What would it be like to worry everyday that a bomb might go off on that road as I'm driving along? What would it be like to be subjected to endless checkpoints manned by armed foreigners who don't speak my language and who shoot and kill at will if they think they might be threatened?

What would it be like if my electricity only functioned for a few hours each day? If I couldn't be sure of a supply of clean water? If there was a constant possibility that I might be kidnapped as I left my house?

How could I function if "normal" was unending chaos and uncertainty? If random violence surrounded me every day of my life?

When people parrot the insane lie that "we are fighting the terrorists over there, so we don't have to fight them here", can they never connect with the thought that for the people "over there" this "strategy" is bringing them pure hell?

I am ashamed of and disgusted with my countrymen beyond words...

sw

[NJCher]

14. me, too, scarletwoman

I'm always thinking of what their lives must be like.


Cher

[Libby2]

12. I can't even imagine n/t

[Auntie Bush]

13. Neither can bush!

He has no empathy, sympathy, understanding, compassion or interest in others.