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Green Zone Attack Confirms That No One is Safe in Iraq
House of Representatives - April 17, 2007

Mr. Speaker, I had intended to rise this evening to focus my attention on the suicide bombing last week in Baghdad that killed and wounded several members of the Parliament, including Osama al-Nujafii. He was a member of the Iraq Parliament who participated in a historic live teleconference I hosted last month linking several of my House colleagues with several Iraq Parliamentarians. I wish him and the others wounded in the attack a speedy recovery.

Watch this floor speech [Get Windows Media Player]

That attack occurred inside the Green Zone, and it confirms that no one is safe in Iraq, no matter how many checkpoints or blast walls or press releases out of the White House. It confirms that the President's military escalation has only escalated the violence and the casualties. It confirms that the President has no control whatsoever on the events on the ground. And it confirms that the American people are right to demand that the President work with the Democratic Congress and establish a firm timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

For now, most Americans are grimly aware of the weekend of bombings and killings across Iraq. But the situation is even worse. The Iraq war will live long after the U.S. forces leave the country.

As a child psychiatrist, I was shocked to learn of a new study looking at the effects this war is having on Iraqi children. I submit the story from USA Today for the Record. It is the first comprehensive look at the impact the war is having on innocent Iraqi children. The Ministry of Health surveyed 2,500 primary school kids in Baghdad, and 70 percent of those young kids displayed symptoms of trauma-related stress.

As the USA Today reported, many Iraqi children have been physically wounded, and many are psychologically scarred. They are the uncounted casualties of the Iraq war. Thousands of innocent Iraqi children are uncounted casualties. But for all these innocent Iraqi children, this war will rage on for them for years to come. They will face a life of anguish, and, in fact, will be the ones who, in the future, are the future violent ones we worry about.

For all these innocent Iraqi children, this war will rage on for years to come. In some cases, these children will face a lifetime of anguish and suffering, and not one of these children is being counted as a casualty.

These children routinely walk through carnage on their way to school, when they go at all.

These children are routinely exposed to random violence and killings that burn images in their minds that will scar them for life.

As a child psychiatrist, I can only echo the conclusions of one Iraqi doctor who was interviewed by USA Today. (full artical below)

"Some of these children are time bombs," said Said al-Hashimi, a psychiatrist who teaches at an Iraqi Medical School.

In this excerpt from USA Today, al-Hashimi said he is concerned Iraqi children could become the next generation of fighters and fuel violence for years to come.

Because of what they are living through as youngsters, "they may think it's better to martyr themselves for religion or country," al-Hashimi said.

The only hope for these uncounted casualties is treatment.

But, as the USA Today story points out, there is only one government run psychiatric hospital in Baghdad--a city of 6 million people, or put more accurately, a city of 6 million casualties.

And then there are the uncounted casualties of Iraqi children in Basra, Rumadi, Najaf, Karbala, Mosul, Kirkuk, Fallujah, Baqubah, and all the other places Iraqi children live.

Until the war ends, there is virtually no chance that thousands of innocent Iraqi children will be treated for their war wounds.

We can only estimate how many thousands of Iraqi children need urgent psychological attention. We know they are not going to get it until this war ends.

There is a timetable for doing just that, and the President should stop listening to his discredited Vice President and start listening to reason and reality.

Now, in the face of that, our Speaker has led this Congress to set a time line that the President says, I will ignore. The President said, I will ignore the people, I will ignore the vote of 2006. No matter what the Speaker does, I am going to attack her.

So the Speaker took the Iraq Study Group's book that said we ought to talk to the people in Syria. For those of you who don't know, Syria is right up next to Iraq. And it is on the border. And there are Presidential accusations that people are coming in from Syria into Iraq, creating trouble and killing our troops. This is on its way to being the most deadly month in 5 years.

Now, for the Speaker to take her time and carefully plan and go over and talk to the leadership of Syria about attacks being made on Americans is, in my view, it is part of her legislative responsibility to the people, not only of her district, but the entire country. And for someone to come out here and accuse her of a violation of the Logan Act. Now this is a 200-year-old act that no one has ever been prosecuted under because there are real questions as to whether it prevents Members of the Congress from using their first amendment rights to talk out on behalf of the people that they represent.

In 1980, the State Department maintained that a visit to Cuba by Senators John Sparkman and George McGovern was not inconsistent with the Logan Act. Nothing in the act, they said, "would appear to restrict Members of Congress from engaging in discussions in pursuance of their legislative duties under the Constitution."

In 1976 the State Department was asked to weigh in as to whether former President Nixon violated the Logan Act by visiting China. The Department stated that Mr. Nixon's trip was taken entirely in his capacity as a private citizen and that the Department "was unaware of any basis for believing Mr. Nixon acted with intent prohibited" by the act. The Department has noted that no one has ever been prosecuted under this act.

This kind of attack on the Speaker will be answered in full again and again. Make no mistake about that.

70% of Iraqi Schoolchildren Show Symptoms of Trauma
By James Palmer
USA Today April 16, 2007
(Entered into the Congressional Record by Congressman McDermott)

Baghdad--About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

The survey of about 2,500 youngsters is the most comprehensive look at how the war is affecting Iraqi children, said Iraq's national mental health adviser and author of the study, Mohammed Al-Aboudi.

"The fighting is happening in the streets in front of our houses and schools," al-Aboudi said. "This is very difficult for the children to adapt to."

The study is to be released next month. Al-Aboudi discussed the findings with USA TODAY.

Many Iraqi children have to pass dead bodies on the street as they walk to school in the morning, according to a separate report last week by the International Red Cross. Others have seen relatives killed or have been injured in mortar or bomb attacks.

"Some of these children are suffering one trauma after another, and it's severely damaging their development," said Said Al-Hashimi, a psychiatrist who teaches at Mustansiriya Medical School and runs a private clinic in west Baghdad. "We're not certain what will become of the next generation, even if there is peace one day," Al-Hashimi said.

The study was conducted last October in the Sha'ab district of northern Baghdad. The low- to middle-income neighborhood is inhabited by a mix of Shiites and Sunni Arabs. Al-Aboudi said he believes the sample was broadly representative of conditions throughout the capital.

In the study, schoolteachers were asked to determine whether randomly selected students showed any of 10 symptoms identified by the World Health Organization as signs of trauma. Other symptoms included voluntary muteness, declining performance in school or an increase in aggressive behavior.

The teachers received training from Iraqi psychologists on how to identify and help students cope with trauma-related stress, al-Aboudi said.

The study "shows the impact of the violence and insecurity on the children and on children's mental health," said Naeema Al-Gasseer, the Iraqi representative of the WHO. "They have fear every day."

The Iraqi government is aware of the problem but largely unequipped to address it, said Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman. "Until we have proper security in Baghdad, there's not much we can do to help these children," Al-Dabbagh said in Washington.

Iraqis Fear War's Long-Term Cost to Kids
By James Palmer
USA Today April 16, 2007
(Entered into the Congressional Record by Congressman McDermott)

Baghdad--Ahmed Al-Khaffaji, 6, refused to leave his house for nearly a year after shrapnel from a mortar shell ripped through his left arm, rendering it useless.

Hussain Haider was only 5 when he stopped speaking after watching his father slowly bleed to death on the living room floor of the family's Sadr City home.

Iraqi psychiatrists worry about the long-term consequences of a generation that has been constantly exposed to explosions, gunfights, kidnappings and sectarian murders. "Some of these children are time bombs," said Said al-Hashimi, a psychiatrist who teaches at Mustansiriya Medical School.

Mental health professionals such as al-Hashimi say that there is a chronic shortage of trained psychiatrists and that schools are the front line for treating traumatized children.

Ahmed's skin was badly scarred, and he suffered burns on both legs when a mortar round slammed into his family's south Baghdad home on Jan. 1, 2006.

His mother, Safia Hussain Ali, said that for nearly a year afterward, her son feared leaving the house and often refused to eat.

Today, Ahmed attends school, but his behavior occasionally regresses, and he retreats from reality.

"Sometimes he refuses to eat and just wants to watch TV or play video games," Ali said.

Haider al-Malaki, 40, a psychiatrist at the government-run Ibn Rushd Hospital, said he has treated children as young as 6 with post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he has also seen children with sleeping and eating disorders that can be traced to the violence.

MORE AGGRESSION

"They have all experienced some kind of psychological trauma, whether they witnessed a murder or survived a kidnapping attempt," al-Malaki said. "When they witness violence, they're more likely to display aggressive and reckless behavior" later.

Al-Hashimi said he is concerned Iraqi children could become the next generation of fighters and fuel violence for years to come. Because of what they are living through as youngsters, "they may think it's better to martyr themselves for religion or country," al-Hashimi said.

Al-Hashimi set up a workshop this year to help teachers and school officials deal with students suffering from war-related trauma. He urges educators to get kids to release their emotions through activities such as academic competitions and soccer games.

"Schools in hot areas are still functioning," Al-Hashimi said, referring to volatile Baghdad neighborhoods. "Unfortunately, many people don't know how to handle the children in this situation."

Attacks on or near schools have forced Iraqi teachers and other school staff to try to protect their students.

"Children are very perceptive of teachers' moods and actions," said Hadoon Waleed, a psychology professor at Baghdad University. "It's very important that teachers are trained to handle their students during stressful situations."

Fawad Al-Kaisi, 59, headmaster at the Al-Hurriyah primary school in south Baghdad, said his staff has learned through experience.

"When explosions go off in the area, the students become very nervous," Al-Kaisi said. "We try our best to create a positive environment to make them feel safe."

Like others among Iraq's professional elite, psychiatrists are scarce, in part because they have been targets of kidnappers and assassins.

Al-Malaki, the psychiatrist at Ibn Rushd, survived two bullet wounds in his right arm from an assassination attempt in his clinic last year. He is among the few psychiatrists who have remained in Iraq and continued to work.

The Iraqi Society of Psychiatrists estimates at least 140 of the country's 200 psychiatrists were killed or have fled the country in the past four years.

LITTLE HELP AVAILABLE

A shortage of psychiatric facilities further limits the availability of mental health care. Ibn Rushd is the only government-funded psychiatric hospital in Baghdad, a city of 6 million people.

For Hussain Haider, now 7, and other children, the need is urgent. He stopped speaking for months after his father was killed in a crossfire between fighters of the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia group, and U.S. forces April 6, 2004.

Hussain's mother, Thuraya Jabbar, said his grades have fallen, and he is awakened frequently by nightmares.

"He starts crying whenever we start speaking about his father," she said.