Baghdad clinic battles epidemic of missing limbs

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2006/June/todaysfeatures_June7.xml§ion=todaysfeatures

BAGHDAD - Eight-year-old Ghada Tahseen stood silently as the doctor helped her slip on rubber overalls filled with plaster. It felt strange and uncomfortable but she didn’t complain.

“I am really happy that I will have a new leg,” she said after a plaster model of her missing limb had been made. “Now I can play again with my friends and go back to school.” snip

Since the US-led invasion of March 2003, however, the violence has been random and pervasive, with ubiquitous roadside bombs robbing Iraqis of their limbs.

Some 85,000 people in Iraq have lost limbs, according to the Qatar Red Crescent, which is looking into setting up an artificial limbs center in Iraq.



Demonstrators dressed as U.S. President George W. Bush (L), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, (2nd L), Vice President Dick Cheney (2nd R) and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld protest against Bush's administration in front of the White House in Washington, June 6.

We've made living reminders of our foreign policy that are going to outlast this administration by decades.