The poor struggle, rationed enough food under a U.N.-monitored program to provide little more than a basic diet. U.N. officials, meanwhile, have documented acute problems exacerbated by the sanctions, including a steep rise in infant mortality after the Persian Gulf War and recurrence of diseases due to poor sanitation and the initial collapse of immunization programs. Some of those conditions are improving. Links to the outside world are few. Dropout rates are rising.
College students study from crumbling journals printed before the end of the Cold War.
Medical doctors are puzzled about this phenomenon called the Internet. They had a very strong middle class, intellectuals, engineers, technical people. . . . Their whole life has changed. . . . It's ad hoc, piecemeal. . . . All of the energy goes into survival, coping. . . .