The Iraqi Red Crescent reports that over 1.2 million Iraqi children are homeless within their own country. Many parents are forced to abandon their children to relatives or to the street, as the ethnic strife and overall war in Iraq leaves them unable to care for their children. In Iraq, most of the country is unstable, without water and electricity, and without any jobs.
The greatest concern is the ripple effect the Iraqi youth will have in the long term -- an entire generation lacking basic life skills, surviving with no education, no income and no families, and coping with the psychological trauma of a long and bloody war. Earlier UN reports concluded that 70% of Iraqi children suffered from serious mental health issues.
"The trauma of what's happening to those children is enormous," said an Iraqi spokesman.
Many parents and Iraqi officials feel helpless, as there are low funds and a lack of medical care available to treat the many injured and sick. Some analysis predict a whole new generation of terrorists and anti-American radicalism is being born out of the hell of Iraq.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/09/iraq.children/index.html
