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Iraq

Thursday, December 02, 2004

And they were all amazed!

At a photo op today, George W. Bush spoke about the upcoming election in Iraq:

And it’s time for those people to vote and I am looking forward to it.

It’s one of those moments in history where a lot of people will be amazed that a society has been transformed so quickly from one of tyranny and torture and mass graves to one in which people actually are allowed to express themselves at the ballot.

Also today, Medact (an organization of health professionals that exists to highlight and take action on the health consequences of war, poverty and environmental degradation) released a report, “Enduring Effects of War: Health in Iraq 2004," that concludes:

It is estimated that 100,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.  Violence accounted for most of these deaths, particularly air strikes by coalition forces.  The risk of death from violence in the 18 months after the invasion was 58 times higher than in the 15 months before it, while the risk of death from all causes was 2.5 times higher.  No starker proof is required of the disastrous effects of war, even a supposedly short and contained one, on innocent people.  The 2003 war exacerbated the threats to health posed by the damage inflicted by previous wars, tyranny and sanctions.  It not only created the conditions for further health decline, but also damaged the ability of Iraqi society to reverse it.

The report offers the following details:

Water and sanitation: Sanitation facilities, most already non-operational, were looted throughout Iraq during and after the 2003 war.  Half the sewage treatment plants are now working but nearly 500,000 tons of raw sewage and partially treated sewage are discharged daily into the rivers.  Less than half the population in rural areas has direct access to piped potable water.

Nutrition and food security: Damage to the infrstructure that sustains food security has been sustained during the conflict and subsequent periods of neglect, and it continues to be a major concern.  One in four people are still highly dependent on public food distribution system, which in any case does not provide adequate food for the poorest households, who cannot afford to supplement the deficiencies through market purchases.

Crumbling facilities: Offical estimates suggest that 12% of hospitals were damaged and 7% looted in 2003; more than a third of the facilities that provided family planning services destroyed; and about 15% of community child care units closed.  These are likely to be underestimates.  The two main public health laboratories in Bafhdad and Basra were looted and destroyed.  Two of the three rehabilitation hospitals in Baghdad were looted to the extent that they had to close, and the main psychiatric hospital was looted an patients abused, raped and turned loose.  Four of the seven central supply warehouses were looted.  Most hospitals have chronic problems with sewage and garbage disposal, water and power supply and lack of drugs and equipment.  A rapid assessment showed that a third of the hospitals and half the health centres surveyed needed urgent and extensive rehabilitation.

Shortage of drugs, equipment and supplies: After the war there were no antibiotics, insulin and chemotherapeutic drugs at any public hospital or health center in the southern governorate… There is widespread suspicion of criminal involvement in the distribution of pharmaceutical supplies.  Pharmaceuticals are allegedly diverted from the warehouses and appear on the market in neighboring countries.  Supply trucks are intercepted before they reach their destination.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!

Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three, fled Falluja on Thursday morning and arrived with his wife and children in Habbaniya, about 12 miles to the west of Falluja, on Thursday night.

He said families left in the city were in desperate need.

“There’s no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying. People are eating flour because there’s no proper food,” he told aid workers in Habbaniya, which has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000 families sheltering there.

Ubadi from the Iraqi Red Crescent Society said many families taking refuge in Habbaniya and other villages nearby were suffering from diarrhoea and malnutrition and needed medicine as well as basic necessities such as lentils, sugar, bread, tea and candles.

Reuters Story

No Aid Needed

Iraq’s Red Crescent group sent seven truckloads of food and medicine to the city, but U.S. forces blocked the aid convoy at Falluja’s main hospital and said it could not enter. The convoy turned back on Monday after three days of frustration.

“It’s our third day here at the hospital and all we have done is receive promises from the Americans,” Hassan Rawi, a member of the International Federation of the Red Cross, said.

Reuters Story

All Safe

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said he does not believe any civilians were killed in the offensive, which has left 38 U.S. soldiers, 6 Iraqi troops and more than 1,200 insurgents dead. But witness accounts appeared to contradict him.  Washington Post Story

300,000 Vanish, Goats Patrol Falluja

“Innocent civilians in that city have all the guidance they need as to how they can avoid getting into trouble. There aren’t going to be large numbers of civilians killed and certainly not by US forces,” he said. 

Donald Rumsfeld

“Destruction was everywhere. I saw people lying dead in the streets, wounded were bleeding and there was no one to come and help them. Even the civilians who stayed in Fallujah were too afraid to go out,” he said.  “There was no medicine, water, no electricity nor food for days.  U.S. soldiers began to open fire on the houses, so I decided that it was very dangerous to stay in my house,” he said.

Hussein said he panicked, seizing on a plan to escape across the Euphrates River. “I wasn’t really thinking,” he said. “Suddenly, I just had to get out. I didn’t think there was any other choice.”

“I decided to swim … but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river.” He watched horrified as a family of five was shot dead as they tried to cross. Then, he “helped bury a man by the river bank, with my own hands.”

“I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some U.S. snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim. I quit the idea of crossing the river and walked for about five hours through orchards.”

AP Photographer, Bilal Hussein, native of Falluja

Full Story

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Falluja Liberated

Falluja, Sunday: “The city has been seized,” General John Abizaid, of US central command, said. “We have liberated the city of Falluja.”

Lieutenant General John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said: “The perception of Falluja being a safe haven for terrorists, that perception and the reality of it will be completely wiped off before the conclusion of this operation.”

US military chiefs said that they saw no need for the Iraqi Red Crescent to deliver aid inside Falluja because they did not think any Iraqi civilians were trapped there.

“There is no need to bring [Red Crescent] supplies in because we have supplies of our own for the people,” said Colonel Mike Shupp of the Marines.

Will we be forgiven for this crime?

Reuters, Falluja, Sunday: Some locals say the stench of decomposing bodies fills the air. Others tell of children dying because it was too dangerous to get them to help. One family buried their 9-year-old boy in the garden after he bled to death over several hours from a stomach wound. Thousands of refugees are living in makeshift accommodation at camps outside the city, or with relatives.

“It was terrible. We had no water or electricity. I even saw dead bodies lying in the street and a tank rolled over them,” said Mohammed Ali Shalal, a 65-year-old truck driver who fled on Friday and is sheltering with a nephew in nearby Amriya, where 20 people were crammed into a two-bedroom apartment.

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