Index: src/Parser/ExpressionNode.cc
===================================================================
--- src/Parser/ExpressionNode.cc	(revision e8ccca35876d4a12c7d0c0a0f282d7ec15159ec1)
+++ src/Parser/ExpressionNode.cc	(revision 78a0b882ee7cc867a4e3e1ce2e54da848ab13e10)
@@ -360,5 +360,5 @@
 Expression * build_unary_ptr( OperKinds op, ExpressionNode * expr_node ) {
 	std::list< Expression * > args;
-	args.push_back(  maybeMoveBuild< Expression >(expr_node) ); // xxx
+	args.push_back(  maybeMoveBuild< Expression >(expr_node) ); // xxx -- this is exactly the same as the val case now, refactor this code.
 	return new UntypedExpr( new NameExpr( OperName[ (int)op ] ), args );
 } // build_unary_ptr
Index: src/Parser/StatementNode.cc
===================================================================
--- src/Parser/StatementNode.cc	(revision e8ccca35876d4a12c7d0c0a0f282d7ec15159ec1)
+++ src/Parser/StatementNode.cc	(revision 78a0b882ee7cc867a4e3e1ce2e54da848ab13e10)
@@ -99,7 +99,19 @@
 	} // if
 
-	Expression * cond = ctl->condition ? maybeMoveBuild< Expression >(ctl->condition) : new VariableExpr( dynamic_cast<DeclarationWithType *>( dynamic_cast<DeclStmt *>( init.back() )->decl ) );
+	Expression * cond = nullptr;
+	if ( ctl->condition ) {
+		// compare the provided condition against 0
+		cond =  notZeroExpr( maybeMoveBuild< Expression >(ctl->condition) );
+	} else {
+		for ( Statement * stmt : init ) {
+			// build the && of all of the declared variables compared against 0
+			DeclStmt * declStmt = safe_dynamic_cast< DeclStmt * >( stmt );
+			DeclarationWithType * dwt = safe_dynamic_cast< DeclarationWithType * >( declStmt->decl );
+			Expression * nze = notZeroExpr( new VariableExpr( dwt ) );
+			cond = cond ? new LogicalExpr( cond, nze, true ) : nze;
+		}
+	}
 	delete ctl;
-	return new IfStmt( noLabels, notZeroExpr( cond ), thenb, elseb, init );
+	return new IfStmt( noLabels, cond, thenb, elseb, init );
 }