Promises to Iraqi widows go unmet

The rumor would prove false, as it has on many other days. There would be no distribution of pension payments for the Iraqi widows. Often, months pass between payments, with no provisions made for back payments and no explanations given for the gaps in time.

"I have nothing," one widow cried to a government employee peeping out from a half-opened door.

"My children need help," cried another.

Of its unmet social needs, the central government's failure to follow through on promises made to these widows is one of the most visible. Scenes like the one outside the Social Guardship Net office in Qaim are common.

"These protests are taking place in all the [18] provinces," said Samira Musawi, a member of parliament and head of its committee on women and children. She has submitted legislation to provide housing, education and job training for widows and other low-income women, although it has yet to be acted on.

Even when the pension payments are made, they are pitifully small: For example, a widow without children is supposed to get about $34 a month; and a widow with five or more children, about $81 a month.

As with many measures of Iraqi society, there are no firm figures on the number of widows. U.S. government statisticians estimate the number of widows resulting from war at about half a million, saying many husbands were lost through the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991 or since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003. Musawi believes hundreds of thousands of widows remain unaccounted for. Only 84,000 have registered with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as pension-eligible, she said.

The prolonged fighting between U.S. Marines and insurgents for this region increased the number of widows. Many families were caught in the crossfire; when the tribal sheiks sided with the Americans, many men in their tribes joined the fighting.

"All the events that happened here took a lot of our young men," said Sheik Hadi Madrouj Kallefah.

In various spots across Anbar province, the U.S. military and State Department-financed provincial reconstruction teams have met with Iraqi women to discuss their household needs and concerns about their children's health. In Haditha, more than 200 women, many with children in tow, recently packed a small meeting room to explain their struggles to female military personnel.