This RAND study finds that 20 percent of eight-year olds, and 40 percent of all twenty-year olds in Anbar province are fatherless. Moreover, half of all households have reported losing at least one family member. This is, obviously, a tragic story, but also presents a whole host of problems for Iraqi society and governance. The central government must make sure that young residents of Anbar feel a part of the new Iraq, or it’s hard to picture a stable country.
