Culture — Iraqi Children's Deadly Game
BIRMINGHAM, UK, 15 apr 03 (Birmingham Post)
By Tim Ross

The children of Iraq face a deadly legacy from the coalition invasion that could last years, as Tim Ross explains.

The technology is smart. The targeting was, by and large, precise. But the legacy is indiscriminate, will be deadly and will have a profound impact on generations.
There is no such thing as the fool-proof plan.

Equally, despite the billions spent in investment, there really isn't anything like a smart bomb. For the thousands of bombs that have been dropped on Iraq in recent
weeks and hit the target, there are hundreds that have gone slightly astray and a significant number more that have failed to detonate. The legacy of the coalition invasion is perfectly captured in the story of Achmed.

Many more Iraqi children like this 13-year-old will be maimed or killed unless the coalition takes urgent action to clear up unexploded bombs, campaigners warn.

Pictured being treated by British Army medics, Achmed lost his right hand when, like many boys his age, he became curious about an object on the ground and tried to pick it up.

With fragmentation wounds all over Achmed's body, his father tried to offer him some comfort as he held his son's heavily bandaged arm in disbelief.

But according to Landmine Action, other children will die unless they can receive treatment, as Achmed did from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment in Al Qurna. Many will be killed if coalition forces do not start clearing up the unexploded bombs and shells that are left scatteredacross fields, roadsides and school-yards as the war draws to an end.

Landmine Action director Richard Lloyd said the Ministry of Defence must help pay for the clear-up operation. The longer Iraq was left littered with unexploded ordnance, particularly cluster bombs, the more of these tragic images of dead and wounded children we will see, he said. 'Children very often find items of unexploded ordnance interesting.

“Tragically we will see increasing civilian casualties despite the fact that the bombing in the main conflict is quietening down. Kids are naturally curious - they pick stuff up and that's when it explodes.”

He said the military should be ordered to issue warnings to the local population, start cordoning off dangerous areas and begin clearing away the unexploded ordnance. Mr Lloyd condemned the Government's decision to withdraw field hospital units from the region as 'appalling'.

“With Iraqi hospitals looted and stretched to breaking point, to withdraw British medical resources at this stage shows a callous disregard for the needs of Iraqi civilians as we move into the post-conflict phase. That's appalling.”

He added that there would be 'more than enough' work for coalition medical staff.

“There's no shortage of people that need urgent medical treatment. With Iraqi health infrastructure collapsing and all the looting, it's a gap that I would think British forces would be well placed to fill.”

Copyright © 2003 Birmingham Post. All rights reserved.