Iraq: a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions

The destruction of Iraqi society—an act that the WSWS has termed “sociocide”—stands as one of the most terrible crimes of the modern period, for which every faction of the American political establishment bears a heavy guilt. This brutal violence has been propelled by one basic aim: to advance the interests of the American corporate establishment by seizing control of Iraq’s territory and material resources. (See “Five years after the invasion of Iraq: A debacle for US imperialism”)

The most stunning indicator of destruction in Iraq is the number of people who have been killed. Last year, the British-based polling agency ORB put this figure at 1.2 million, which substantiated an earlier figure published in the medical journal Lancet by scientists from Johns Hopkins University. Beyond deaths, however, the daily toll of the occupation is present in the disintegration of some of the most basic requirements of modern life.

Several recent reports document aspects of this tragedy. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has collected together some statistics and interviews in a new study titled, “Iraq: No Let-up in the Humanitarian Crisis.” As the report notes, “Five years after the outbreak of the war in Iraq, the humanitarian situation in most of the country remains among the most critical in the world.”

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