Need Grows In Mosque's Shadow
In Baghdad, where most are struggling to survive, Saddam Hussein is spending millions. But, he's not necessarily spending it on the country's needy.
Even in this closely guarded society, reports The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, it's hard to hide the need at a hospital. At Baghdad's Saddam Teaching Hospital, mothers suffer at their children's sides. There are critical shortages of the most basic supplies. And in the oncology ward, diseases that are treatable in other countries are often fatal here. Doctors blame 12 years of economic sanctions.
"[It's] due to bad and improper treatment and management of these cases," says Dr. Murthda Hassan of the hospital staff. "Because of the sanctions and the effect of the sanctions on the availability of drugs."
The hospital could use an infusion of cash, and the government has money. But, much of it isn't being spent on health care. Across town, a gargantuan building project sanctioned by Saddam is going forward.
The concrete shell will someday be the Arahman Mosque. Once completed, it will boast 75 domes and a capacity of 20,000 people. The project manager won't speculate on construction costs, but buildings this size don't come cheap in any country.
The money required for such a project is inconceivable to most Iraqis, who subsist on government food rations. While there are no obvious signs of starvation, some Iraqis admit that they are living on the edge.
Mustafa Hamid, who went to school in the U.S., says food here is always an issue.
"It's available but it's not enough," says Hamid. "The rations that the government gives out is good enough to survive on, but not to be healthy on and live a normal life.
"Most people aren't able to buy the fruits and vegetables and meat they need, so basically children have been suffering from malnutrition because of that."
But even as hunger and the prospect of another war crowd the horizon, there is another addition to the Baghdad skyline.
Massive concrete towers are only the roof supports for what is planned to be one of the biggest mosque in the world, second only to Mecca. Plans include glass floors and a huge man-made lake. And while the opening is unclear, the structure will be named after the man who commissioned it: Saddam.
No one in Iraq would suggest that the millions of dollars spent on construction go for other public needs. Now, the Iraqis can look to a future that includes two new mosques and perhaps not much else.
"It's living day by day," says Hamid. "Whatever they make during that day, they live on. If they don't and it's tough, they do whatever they can."
And it may get worse in Iraq before it gets better. Some observers predict a humanitarian disaster if war comes.