Caualties of War

Casualties of War

            It shot my conscience into a thousand jagged pieces. It was pain in its purest and most innocent form, embodied in the shameless sobs of a young Iraqi boy in exile as he stated: “They shot my father and my uncle in front of my eyes.” He sobbed as only a child, suddenly and unnecessarily robbed of the pleasant and worry free childhood that is his right, could sob. The anguish on his face was unbearable. This boy represents just one of the many children who have been affected by daily hardships of the war since the U.S.-led invasion four years ago. Since then, children have constantly been surrounded by violence, death and murder, and heavily armed troops, the sight of which has led these children to be severely traumatized. Dr. Saied al Hashimi calls them “silent victims.”

            Studies on the mental health of children in the major cities of
Iraq show just how victimized the children are. One study showed that nearly half of the primary-school-aged children in
Baghdad have experienced a traumatic event since the war began. Another study shows that older children are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result, and 92 percent of those experiencing PTSD have not received any treatment because fifty percent of
Iraq’s psychiatrist have fled the country or been killed since the war began. Young people suffering from the disorder, in the absence of proper treatment, have resorted to other coping mechanisms: one girl strikes whoever is nearest her at the sound of warfare, another girl experiences seizures. One doctor, one of the few still left comments: “Our children became very violent, became very aggressive. We think this is one of the effects of war.”

            In our effort to improve conditions in
Iraq, the Iraqi children have been caught in the cross-fire and are now suffering. We have used violence in our effort to curtail violence, leading children who witness it to become violent themselves. The war against terrorism is terrorizing children; they experience the mental equivalent of Vietnam Vets when they are barely able to read. The point is this: The Iraqi children are the real casualties of this war. They are the ones who will bear the brunt of the violence for the rest of their lives. A tormented and violent childhood void of the simples joys and causing insufferable pain has left us with something bigger than a country’s governmental situation to “clean up.” What happens when these children become adults, become parents, become leaders in their country? Soon the problem in
Iraq will turn from military to mental. The trauma experienced by these children will be with them for the rest of their lives. After seeing that young Iraqi boy, heartbroken and sobbing, on the television, I realized that our new problem in
Iraq isn’t an exit strategy or the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, or radical Islamics: the        real problem is the children who have become the casualties of war.