> The physical mutilation was far less painful than the emotional one, however. "I felt that my soul, my life was finished. I was not human anymore," says Wahid. Neighbours told their children not to greet him and he couldn' t find work...Despite the relentless battles in Baghdad between US soldiers and Iraqi insurgents, Wahid is now ecstatic.
The Ministry of Health, which now falls under the control of Iraq's governing council, has decided to compensate people like Wahid by offering them plastic surgery. Last month, Wahid underwent the first in a series of operations to restore his ear.
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The ministry says some 3 000 to 4 000 young men will undergo surgery similar to Wahid's.After his first operation, Wahid's head was covered with a bandage but his face was filled with a large smile.
> "After that, I just wanted to die. I was depressed, I didn't care about life. I wanted them to kill me, but they wouldn't."...In all, an estimated 3,500 Iraqi soldiers had the whole or part of their ears cut off following Saddam's 1994 edict, an effort at using fear to clamp down on increasing army desertion. The first 500 or so deserters caught had the whole of their ear removed, but the measure drew so much wrath, inside and outside the country, with many surgeons refusing to perform the operation, that it was soon reduced to a part of the ear. Later it was rescinded altogether and lashes administered instead.
Ten years on, and in the wake of Saddam's fall, the victims of mutilation are gradually emerging from their pariah existence, looking for jobs and a normal life, while holding out the hope that their deformity might one day be corrected. Six weeks ago, that hope became a reality.
A group of Iraqi surgeons, backed by the Health Ministry, announced that they would perform free reconstructive surgery on victims of Saddam's 1994 mutilation spree, as well as operations they're already performing on bomb and bullet victims.