We may be winning battles in Iraq, but we are losing on one quiet, but crucially important front.

The United Nations reported last week that acute malnutrition among Iraqi children under the age of 5 has doubled, from about 4 percent two years ago to about 8 percent today.

That means that about 400,000 Iraqi children now suffer from “wasting.” Bluntly, they are dying rather than thriving, usually due to a combination of chronic diarrhea and lack of protein.

A recent Washington Post story said that Iraq’s childhood malnutrition rate now roughly equals that of Burundi and Uganda in Africa, and Haiti in our own neighborhood.

Why?

First, many more Iraqis are drinking dirty water today than two years ago. Second, many are no longer able to buy kerosene to fuel their stoves and fully cook their food. Third, many more are unemployed and unable to buy high-end food containing protein.

Although Colin Powell has become persona non grata in this presidential administration, we should remember his pottery shop rule: If you break it, you own it.

Clearly, the growing insurgency has made it more difficult for the United States to repair the country’s infrastructure and deliver aid.

But, according to the Geneva Conventions, an occupying power inherits the obligation of providing essentials like food and health care to the civilian population. That’s assuming, of course, that Bush administration lawyers have not now dismissed this section of the Geneva Conventions as “quaint” and impractical.

We own this problem, we have not solved it, and we see no solution in sight 16 months after the president optimistically declared that “major combat activities” had ended.

As parents watch their children starve, one can easily imagine their anger turning to hostility toward Americans.

Due to mismanagement and poor planning, the Bush administration has bungled the job of securing the peace. The heroism and dedication of our troops will be for naught if Washington cannot solve these basic issues.