How about opening the $500b war chest?

Dec.16, 2007


How about opening the $500b war chest?

"The Egyptians write, the Lebanese publish, the Iraqis read." This is a famous Arabic saying that highlights the Iraqi's legendary thirst for knowledge quoted in a McClatchy report that exposes yet another ugly impact of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.
At least 300,000 young Iraqis — the bulk of them 10 to 15 years of age — are not attending school in the countries where their families have sought safety from the terror and insecurity at home, according to aid workers. In Syria and Jordan, Iraqi children can attend public schools for little or no fees and needy families are eligible for UN assistance with books, uniforms and transportation. However, only 30,000 are enrolled in Syrian schools and 20,000 in Jordan since education becomes secondary when displaced and cash-strapped families scrounge for food and shelter. Many parents often rely on older children to help support the family by taking on odd jobs and helping at home. Survival is their priority.
As a result, there is a growing generation of Iraqis who cannot read of write — an irony for a country which once boasted some of the highest literacy rates in the Middle East.
Indeed, the problem started with the sweeping sanctions that were imposed on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Many Iraqis lost their jobs as the sanctions tore into the economy, and they had to depend on state handouts of food while many children dropped out of schools and sought menial work to sustain themselves.
The impact of the sanctions was slightly eased when the UN launched its oil-for-food programme with Iraq in 1997, but the damage was already done. The situation turned worse with the external and internal displacement of more than four million Iraqis following the invasion of their country and the bloody insurgency and ethnic cleansing that brought them into life in terror.
The United Nations Childrens Fund, which cares for children's health and education around the world, is trying to determine the size of the problem. The agency, which is running youth programmes, says that about one of third of the Iraqi participants in the programmes are illiterate or close to illiterate.
The problem could be addressed to a large extent by a well-focused and well-planned effort, but it needs cash. The UN on its own is in no position to fund any such programme; nor could the Iraqi government, which is finding itself grappling with "graver" problems within the country. That leaves the international donor community, which is indeed helping out, but the gap between the need and supply is too wide.
That brings up the question of responsibility for the problem: The one-track minded US approach to the invasion and occupation of Iraq without planning and measures to cope with the consequences. The people of Iraq are paying the price for it.
But then, the US says it has already spent nearly $500 billion for the Iraq invasion and whatever followed it. How about Washington allocating a tiny faction of it — say a billion dollars — for the welfare of children who were thrown out of their schools and homes as a result of its "liberation" of Iraq?