And the contract for school pencils was denied, because one million pencils was just too many for 23 millions Iraqis. The requirements for a doctorate in international law do not seem to have been reduced, however. Students must write a 200 page paper on the topic in French, Arabic, and English. Then they have to defend it in all three languages. The sanctions have destroyed the basic patterns of Iraqi culture.
Women spend hours trying to find food and hauling water.
One man we met sold his clarinet, which he had traveled the world playing, his home and all his furniture to feed his large family. Crowded into three small rooms, there is no work, no food, and nothing left to sell. Dr. Al-Witry emotionally described the simple act of burying the dead. Before the sanctions, people were buried in caskets. Now because there is no wood or money, the dead are put directly into the ground.