Iraq in transition
The debate about the pros and cons of the war in Iraq and how it was handled and whether it was even necessary invariably leads to strong emotions. Regardless of your personal views on the matter, this article from the Christian Science Monitor gives some fascinating insights into the day to day life of an Iraqi family. Irrespective of whether you support the war or not, you can't help but feel for the bleak (?) future these kids seem to be facing.
Different organizations/agencies have quoted the number of casualties (comprising mostly of civilians) as anything between 30 to 50 thousand (these are the numbers that I could dig out). That is a huge number of human lives. The Tsunami claimed approximately 240 thousand lives and there was an outpouring of help from the entire world community. How come we don't see a similar drive to help the people of Iraq? Everyone seems to be too busy debating the war and the right time to pull out US forces to consider the plight of the people in that country. A lot of those deaths were caused as a direct result of the invasion. Doesn't the world community have a moral obligation to try to save the Iraqi people and give them a better future? It can be argued that that is the very reason the US forces are not withdrawing immediately (among other reasons). They want to bring some stability and peace in the area.
However, I am talking about the common (wo)man on the street in the US. There does not seem to be much sympathy for the condition of the people in Iraq such as which is seen when a major disaster strikes different parts of the world. This is understandable to a certain extent since people are more worried about the safety of their own friends and relatives serving in Iraq. However, this still does not change the fact that the situation there is in some ways the direct result of an invasion led by the US and it is equivalent to a disaster in terms of how it is affecting people's lives, so the lack of any significant financial relief/aid funded by the people and/or charity organizations is surprising.
I don't know how such aid would help. In fact, ensuring political stability might be the best way of improving the lives of these people. But people helped out after the Tsunami, they helped out after Katrina, I wish there were a way (and desire) for an average person to help out after this disaster too.
Different organizations/agencies have quoted the number of casualties (comprising mostly of civilians) as anything between 30 to 50 thousand (these are the numbers that I could dig out). That is a huge number of human lives. The Tsunami claimed approximately 240 thousand lives and there was an outpouring of help from the entire world community. How come we don't see a similar drive to help the people of Iraq? Everyone seems to be too busy debating the war and the right time to pull out US forces to consider the plight of the people in that country. A lot of those deaths were caused as a direct result of the invasion. Doesn't the world community have a moral obligation to try to save the Iraqi people and give them a better future? It can be argued that that is the very reason the US forces are not withdrawing immediately (among other reasons). They want to bring some stability and peace in the area.
However, I am talking about the common (wo)man on the street in the US. There does not seem to be much sympathy for the condition of the people in Iraq such as which is seen when a major disaster strikes different parts of the world. This is understandable to a certain extent since people are more worried about the safety of their own friends and relatives serving in Iraq. However, this still does not change the fact that the situation there is in some ways the direct result of an invasion led by the US and it is equivalent to a disaster in terms of how it is affecting people's lives, so the lack of any significant financial relief/aid funded by the people and/or charity organizations is surprising.
I don't know how such aid would help. In fact, ensuring political stability might be the best way of improving the lives of these people. But people helped out after the Tsunami, they helped out after Katrina, I wish there were a way (and desire) for an average person to help out after this disaster too.
posted by MJ at Friday, March 17, 2006
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