April is shaping up to be among the most lethal months in Iraq since the invasion of the country in March of 2003. More than 60 US soldiers have been killed as of yesterday, and nearly 300 Iraqis were killed last Saturday alone. Horrific as those numbers are, they represent only a fraction of the bad news, and the rest of the iceberg is almost wholly absent from the public discourse in this country.

The UN estimates that 1.9 million Iraqis have fled the country and another 2 million have been forced from their homes but remain in Iraq. That amounts to about 15% of the population. An unknown but unarguably large number of Iraqis have been killed and wounded, presumably at least as many of the latter as the former. If one accepts the Johns Hopkins study placing the dead at around 600,000, then something along the lines of 20% of Iraqis have been killed, wounded or exiled abroad or within their own country.

Iraqi health officials and other sources say that as many as half the country’s doctors have left since the invasion, guaranteeing that many sick and injured Iraqis are dying from lack of care. Iraqis fortunate enough to receive care are dying from shortages of medical supplies and medical equipment; many of them are children. Unknown numbers of Iraqis are suffering mental health problems related to the violence, and the country’s mental health system has completely broken down.

We know how poorly the Veterans Administration and military health care systems are coping with the strains imposed by injured and traumatized US soldiers and veterans: imagine what conditions in Iraq must be like.

Continue reading What does the US owe Iraqis and what will we do about it?