8 million Iraqis require emergency aid

8 million Iraqis require emergency aid
by Chris in Paris · 7/30/2007 03:49:00 AM ET


And to think the Iraqi people aren't impressed with Bush-style democracy. Go figure.

About 8 million Iraqis — nearly a third of the population — need immediate emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, relief agencies said Monday.

Those Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, said the report by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq.

The report said 15 percent of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat, and 70 percent are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. It also said 28 percent of children are malnourished, compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion.

"Basic services, ruined by years of war and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people," said Jeremy Hobbs, the director of Oxfam International. "Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty."

Maybe they will somehow be distracted by the soccer victory, which is oddly receiving so much media attention in the US. So much attention, in fact, that one might even get suspicious about the miracle on the pitch against Saudi Arabia.