…

Back to the original story, CBS news has a page about how to help the orphans. For some reason you have to e-mail them to find out more information, which I plan to do and will pass it along if I find out anything helpful. If anyone else wants to e-mail, here’s the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/19/fyi/main2949887.shtml

Not to take away from this story, which is unspeakably horrible. I can’t conceive of the evil that would create a situation like this. Its a total nightmare.

No one will care what is going on and certainly the press will not care. They will go somewhere where it is much safer while the Iraqis kill themselves silly.

Stuff like this will never appear in the paper again and the Antiwar can wipe their hands of the whole mess content that everything is hunky dory in Iraq now because the USA is not involved.

It is a sad situation in Iraq. The press only reports the bad, refuses to report the good but once the USA is out…they will report NOTHING.

And the killing will continue. Stories like this will most likely increase but we wont read about them because the press will be covering John Edwards hairdo or Thompsons failure to win an oscar.

superdestroyer said,

…they try to do some hand waving to make it sound like that Iraq will be a great place after the U.S. leaves unlike every other country in the middle east.

Yeah, SD… them po’ folk in the Middle East really need our sympathy and concern…

About 15 miles from this development is where Halliburton is moving it’s corporate headquarters… rough life, eh?

The last thing that the Democratic candidates and the netroots are worrying about is what will happen down the road. They want the U.S. out of Iraq no matter what the situation will be afterward. Of course, they try to do some hand waving to make it sound like that Iraq will be a great place after the U.S. leaves unlike every other country in the middle east.

Did the Clinton Administration care at all what happened in Somalia once the U.S. left? NO. Clinton just wanted somalia off of the front pages. Any future Clinton or Obama administration will be the same.

Looking at the Democratic candidate proposals, it looks like Edwards is ready to throw the Kurds under the bus right now along with anyone who has helped the U.S.

So, in the long run, why should America get itself worked up about any suffering in Iraq when the polls show that Americans do not care about the suffering in Iraq no matter the circumstance.

Also, these children were willfully abuse. Locked in darkness naked with a room full of clothes and food next door? Those caretakers should be taken out and given a fair trial followed by a first class hanging.

I appreciate the issue being put before us. Don’t stop Shaun. One way to help is to keep the issue in the public eye, for us to keep talking about it and adding our actions and words, not just here, but elsewhere with others whenever we can, to write, to tell, to show, to speak … the aggregate of these acts is important, even though each dot of sand we can add toward the good seems so insignificant. But each dot given, matters. It contributes to growing critical mass.

The suffering of little orphans is an issue all across the globe. I could go into any number of villages across the world and bring back pictures from most countries in the world, of little ones suffering equal to these little ones in Iraq. This exact treatment of orphans under Saddam was well known. The orphanages and their conditions were there before the US and other countries came. They will be there after as well… until there is a cultural shift that gives time and care and money to these little lives. Jdledell has a good solution, and I think that ‘eye of the world’ has motivated many to try harder or to hide harder, but hopefully the former.

Are more orphans added by more war? I’d give a brokenhearted yes to that question. Very yes. And too many parents who have to carry their dead and dying children in their arms, also. Presently, Iraq does not allow adoption by people from other nations. Pressure can be brought to bear on that too. My sister adopted two children from Romanian orphanages. The children 1 and 2 years old, had been harmed so long and so deeply, I don’t know if they ever will be healed completely. But that’s another story.

And just this last thought; sometimes we fight with each other because we are brokenhearted, not because we mean to insult… but because we feel desperate and anguished, because we have no immediate answers at hand for an unspeakable situation… especially articulate people, like all the people here, wish they could solve everything wrong in the world, fix it right away. We all wish that… I know I do. And sometimes the strength of what we feel, if not directed, comes out in other ways. I believe in the better hearts of people here. Everyone’s. And I’m no Pollyanna. I ride a big 650, and have been known to wear a knife in my boot.

This is just to say, peace, if you can, peace with each other, lively discussion, yes… but it makes no sense to make war on one another here over a war.

Dr. E.
Below are the agencies I was telling you about.

UNICEF’s work in Iraq includes health and nutrition programs for young children and mothers along with water and sanitation, psycho-social care, and early learning. UNICEF supports a program for the reintegration of street children and children deprived of caregivers in Baghdad including orphans and runaways. See complete information about how to contribute to UNICEF’s work in Iraq at http://www.unicefusa.org/iraq.
Or you can call them directly at 1-800-4-UNICEF.

No More Victims, is an independent non-profit organization that works with children in Iraq.

Childhood Care and Sponsorship Organization in Iraq also works with children in Iraq.

Nintu For Humanitarian Assistance is also working with Iraqi children.

There may be others too. Again, I’d be in touch with your local mosque.

dr.e

And here are my two cents on SD’s comment:
How can you be certain that our military will be able to prevent tragedies like these?

How can you be certain that our military isn’t, in part, causing these tragedies? Our military, is in fact, protecting the government responsible for these children.

There is nothing in the last 4 years that has given me any hope that our military, at the current force levels, can prevent more bloodshed than it’s causing. And democracy is not going to flourish under martial law in the middle of a religious civil war. Much the same can be said of the current crisis in Gaza.

The two sides will either have to be separated, which is happening in a natural yet bloody way, or one of the sides is going to have to win the war outright before we see an end to the violence.

If we’re unwilling to execute the Biden plan, then I don’t see any reason to stay in Iraq any longer.

Can you find any quotation from me above that supports your characterization of my views?

Please don’t jump to the conclusion that just because I am trying to put out a flame-war that I agree with one side or the other.

The story and the picture made me nauseous, actually. I just don’t usually comment on my emotional relations in online forums. Discussing intellectual reactions is already difficult enough.

Perhaps an Iraqi ministry (or NGO) with the specific mandate to inspect orphanages and set standards of care?

Clearly, an Iraqi ministry alone won’t solve the problem, as the orphanage here was under the so-called management of the Interior Ministry. The Interior Ministry has been a debacle in many ways, including findings of sectarian torture chambers. So I don’t think giving them more money is a particularly good idea.

But the idea of funding an NGO to do inspections is a good one IF one can be found that can function in the security situation over there. Doctors Without Borders would probably at least make a go of it, though funding them would be difficult because of their reluctance to accept state funding. The International Red Cross might undertake such a mandate, but their tolerance for security problems is often also quite low.

This is one of those areas where some kind of presence of militarily effective military forces (the usual Bangladeshi UN troops or sectarian Arab League troops won’t do) might be a precondition to effective operations by an NGO.

This is sad stuff is it not. God only knows what happened to that poor child in the forefront of the photograph. Something horrible and unforgivable, but for SD and Jason, not so bad that its worth commenting on.

US actions have undoubtedly played a part in this tragedy and to deny it is neither healthy or honest.

They need to take time out from commenting here and go find their souls.

Exactly what “argument” of his would you suggest I target? The off topic (as in totally unrelated to this post) whining about those who support a withdrawal from Iraq?

Sometimes it’s best to take the high road and a minimalist approach. Why not just say, “hey SD, I think bringing politics into this discussion is inappropriate and I am not even going to respond to them.” and leave it that? Why does bad behavior have to be met with equally bad behavior?

Withdrawing our troops obviously means situations like this orphanage cannot be prevented by the military. Are there other avenues of prevention that we might set up? Perhaps an Iraqi ministry (or NGO) with the specific mandate to inspect orphanages and set standards of care? The US could even fund this new agency. Can you imagine the Iraqi parliment actually turning down establishing this kind of agency and putting up with the bad publicity?

So if we can find alternate means to solve this problem without the military then we are ahead of the game. Keeping our troops in Iraq as an occupation force is leading to far more violence and agony for Iraqis than leaving – but that is another issue.

I want to adopt them all. I wish I could.

Exactly what “argument” of his would you suggest I target? The off topic (as in totally unrelated to this post) whining about those who support a withdrawal from Iraq?

Because I saw nothing in the commenting guidelines about a requirement that commenters engage in strawmen.

Questions about the left or the right become offensive and illogical when they are irrelevant to the subject at hand.
I would find it offensive and illogical if someone inserted gardening tips in a discussion about stem cell research.

This story was about humanity and inhumanity.
The topic and this incident provide fertile ground for reflectin on the human condition in war and in peace. Efforts to divert it into rehashing political
differences are offensive to me, no matter who does it.

A more apt tangent would have been the arrest of a ring of pedophiles in Britain recently, unless, of course, that would have brought on another tirade about the left or the right causing moral degeneracy.