Another Iraq Casualty: Nearly 900 U.S. Kids Lost a Parent in War, Scripps Finds
NEW YORK The escalating toll of American dead in Iraq (news - web sites) is causing another tragedy that cuts deeper. After studying casualty reports and obituaries and accounts in hometown newspapers, and also conducting family interviews, Scripps Howard News Service has identified nearly 900 U.S. children who have lost a parent in the war.
At least half are under the age of ten. More than 40 troops died without ever seeing their newly born children. At least 60 children lost parents last month.
Although precise comparable data is not available for other U.S. conflicts, military experts told Scripps reporters Lisa Hoffman and Annette Rainville that the number of American children left bereaved or made orphans by the Iraq war is unprecedented in scope.
It represents, as Scripps put it in a graphic, about 18 large school buses fully packed with kids.
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