‘Friendly Fire’ War Casualties

Doesn’t anyone care that the people of Iraq are still undergoing hellish suffering as a result of the war that “ended” in February?

According to a recent letter from my brother-in-law, who has or had a large family in Iraq, there is still no telephone or mail communication within Iraq. He still has absolutely no idea how many of his family have survived or perished.

According to the Medical Education Trust in London, whose report “Counting the Human Cost” was published in June, the war caused the deaths of up to a quarter-million Iraqi people. Child mortality has doubled; at least 170,000 children under 5 are expected to die in the coming year. UNICEF predicts that as many as 5 million children will die in the region. In addition, 1.8 million people have no homes and the entire infrastructure of the country has been substantially destroyed. Because of economic sanctions that are keeping food and medicines out of Iraq, there are life-threatening shortages. The inevitable result is epidemics, malnutrition and starvation.

SUSAN SHIELDS

Santa Barbara