A Dire Situation: Iraqi War Widows and Orphans Get Little Aid, Struggle to Survive
By Susie Madrak Monday Feb 23, 2009 7:00pm
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/dire-situation-iraqi-war-widows-and-o“If the situation progresses, we will be just like India...They are busy building public fountains when we don’t have water in the sink.”
- Abdulalah F. Alafar, director of the Maryam Establishment for Children charity in Baghdad.
The American invasion of Iraq has left quite a legacy. We've lost billions of dollars in cash meant for Iraq's reconstruction, while the women left widows by our bombing sell themselves for enough money to survive:
Among Iraqi women aged 15 to 80, 1 in 11 are estimated to be widows, though officials admit that figure is hardly more than a guess, given the continuing violence and the displacement of millions of people. A United Nations report estimated that during the height of sectarian violence here in 2006, 90 to 100 women were widowed each day.
In large cities like Baghdad, the presence of war widows is difficult to ignore. Cloaked in black abayas, they wade through columns of cars idling at security checkpoints, asking for money or food. They wait in line outside mosques for free blankets, or sift through mounds of garbage piled along the street. Some live with their children in public parks or inside gas station restrooms.
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.
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