Boston Globe: "Relief efforts for Iraq are threatening to siphon away funding for the world's other crises, raising questions about why the world treats Africans differently than other people, senior UN officials and humanitarian groups say."

Agence France-Presse: "Southern Iraq is facing a crisis of governance after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's authority rather than a conventional humanitarian crisis that can be solved by substantial relief supplies, aid agencies said Wednesday."

Nat'l Geographic News: "Skies punctuated by columns of black smoke, cities covered with dust, limited access to clean water and sanitation facilities, and looted hospitals are ominous harbingers of the post-war health problems facing the people of Iraq, warn health officials with government and international aid agencies. Saddam Hussein's reign of terror, two earlier wars—the Iraq-Iran war from 1980 to 1988, and the 1991 Gulf War—and 12 years of economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations have devastated the once prosperous country."