BBC News: Children ’starving’ in new Iraq

Increasing numbers of children in Iraq do not have enough food to eat and more than a quarter are chronically undernourished, a UN report says.

Look, can’t we draw a line under this and move on?

First, the obligatory proviso.

Every time I read about another coalition-caused catastrophe in Iraq, this exchange between Nately and the Old Man from Catch-22 runs through my head:

“Why don’t you use some sense and try to be more like me? You might live to be a hundred and seven too.”

“Because it’s better to die on one’s feet than live on one’s knees. I guess you’re heard that saying before.”

“Yes I certainly have,” mused the treacherous old man, smiling again. “But I’m afraid you have it backward. It is better to live on one’s knees than die on one’s knees. That is the way the saying goes.

“Are you sure?” Nately asked with sober confusion. “It seems to make more sense my way.”

“No, it makes more sense my way…”

I think we’re expecting the Iraqis to live on their knees and die on their knees.

For a child with malnutrition, I imagine there are more pressing matters than who is running the country. And what about those children who weren’t malnourished when Saddam was in power? Yes, yes, I know. But we’re the good guys. Didn’t we invade to save these people from the depradations of a monster? That’s what our betters tell us.

Weren’t these children better off under Saddam? I wonder how far an excuse like “things have to get worse before they get better” washes when it’s your child starving. How much comfort is Iraq as a shining beacon for democracy when you’re burying your kids?