A Week in Iraq: The children of Iraq

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/editorial/weekiniraq/39/

A Week in Iraq

A week by week assessment of significant incidents and trends in Iraqi civilian casualties by Lily Hamourtziadou. The analyses and opinions presented in these commentaries are personal to the author.


The children of Iraq

‘Jesus called the children to him and said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”’ (Luke 18:16)

As we in the west celebrate Easter, an increasing number of Iraqi children are going to ‘the kingdom of God’ or simply to the ground. Others lose their families. Childhood, the most important, the most precious and most innocent time in a person’s life is systematically destroyed, defiled and devalued by the daily violence, the daily attacks that do not take them into account when selecting their intended target. The insurgents will bomb the patrol/government building/politician even if there is a school/child nearby; US planes/tanks will attack the homes of suspected insurgents even though there are children inside; soldiers will shoot at a suspected terrorist even when he is holding a child.

As the world marks another anniversary of Orphan's Day on April 5, orphans are increasing in Iraq as violence claims more lives every day. The acts of violence that swept Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have left scores of Iraqi orphans, but the same number of orphanages.

In Mosul Orphanage, children gathered to mark the anniversary by remembering their parents who were killed in the acts of violence. According to Nahla Zannun, an orphanage teacher, some blame the world for their lost parents and others envy the rest of the world’s children because they live with their families. Some scream at night, others cannot speak, a number of them are the only survivors from their families. There are those that try to imagine their families are still alive and will come to get them, even though they have seen them die.

There are fears that these children will start to hate society and will join armed groups and form gangs as soon as they are old enough to do so.

During our holy week around 550 civilians were killed in Iraq; at least 32 of them were children.

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"They sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind."