Outside Saddam's immediate circle, however, only those Iraqis fortunate enough to receive money from relatives abroad are managing to eke out a decent existence, Dawisha says. Hyperinflation has left Iraqi teachers earning barely enough in one month to buy a pair of shoes. In Baghdad, unemployed engineers drive battered taxi cabs, formerly middle class women turn to prostitution and children die in ill-equipped hospitals. According to the United Nations, one third of Iraqi children under 5 are chronically malnourished, and up to 7,000 children a month are dying from lack of food and from illnesses that are too much for half-starved bodies to bear. Education has suffered in a country that once had the highest literacy levels in the Middle East.
Parents lack money to buy books.
The economic spiral has eroded support for Saddam even among supporters from his home village of Takrit and in the elite Republican Guard, Dawisha says. Even if all sanctions were lifted tomorrow, Iraq would take at least two to three years to recover. Copyright 1999 Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.