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Gandalf Grey
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Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq Subject of July 30th News Conference
By Sherwood Ross
Created Jul 30 2007 - 8:20am
If George Bush were to fall to his knees and weep bitter tears of penance
for the rest of his life over the ruin and suffering he has visited upon the
people of Iraq, he would not live long enough to expatiate his crimes, even
if he lived forever.
Not only have more than 600,000 Iraqis been slaughtered by the illegal war
he has inflicted upon that nation, but his invasion has so corrupted its
polity, so devastated its infrastructure, so corroded the opportunity for
leading an ordinary, peaceful life, that Iraq's people are unquestionably
worse off under the chaotic "democracy" Mr. Bush has imposed upon them than
they ever were under the cruel tyranny of Saddam Hussein. Yes, George Bush
is probably the only man on the planet who could make Saddam Hussein look
good.
Today, July 30th, Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq(NCCI)
will hold a news conference in the Hyatt Amman Hotel in Jordan to issue a
report detailing how the violence in Iraq "is overshadowing a humanitarian
crisis," with one-third of a nation, some eight million souls, "in need of
emergency aid." Here's what their report will say:
# Two million Iraqis have fled their homeland, becoming refugees, mainly in
Syria and Jordan. In short, they have voted with their feet to get out, as
they never did under Hussein, their departure speaking volumes about which
tyrant they preferred to live under.
# More than two million people, "mostly women and children," have been
displaced inside Iraq. (This figure may not include the imprisoned 60,000
Iraqi men scooped up in dragnet arrests by U.S. forces who were almost
universally innocent of any crimes but who have been labeled "terrorists" to
justify the White House war.)
# Seventy percent of Iraqis are without adequate water supplies, compared to
50 percent in 2003, the year Mr. Bush, who knew better than the impartial UN
inspectors, took it upon himself to destroy Hussein's WMD that threatened to
incinerate America. The water shortage, by the way, like the sputtering
electrical system, undercuts Mr. Bush's boast a few years back to make
Iraq's infrastructure the finest in the Middle East. Instead, Dr. Saad
Eskander, director of Iraq's National Library and Archive in Baghdad, told
the New York Times last February 7th about his Internet diary, "I feared
that people would not believe what I would say about daily life and the
state of total chaos and destruction prevailing in Baghdad."
And speaking of infrastructure, The Times recently reported Iraqi
authorities have been refusing to accept shoddy and crumbling construction
projects from U.S. contractors. Back to the new report.
# Four million Iraqis regularly cannot buy enough to eat. And a third more
children are malnourished today than before Mr. Bush struck. "Malnutrition
among children has dramatically increased and basic services, ruined by
years of war and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people," said
Barbara Stocking, director of Oxfam Great Britain.
While the White House has refused to open the doors of sanctuary in America
to any appreciable number of Iraqis (seven thousand?), Syria, which has
already taken in more than 1 million Iraqi refugees, has, not surprisingly,
slammed its doors shut, according to Human Rights Watch, a non-profit
watchdog agency said in a report of its own.
"The United States and UK bear a particular responsibility to help people
displaced in and out of Iraq," said Bill Frelick, HRW refugee policy
director last April. "They undertook a war that has directly caused
thousands of deaths, widespread fear and suffering, and forced displacement.
This precipitated a sectarian conflict that has caused additional violence,
persecution, and displacement on a massive scale."
Frelick says Jordan and Egypt "have pretty much closed their doors to Iraqi
refugees, while Syria is shutting out Palestinians trying to flee Iraq." HRW
made the point, however, that Jordan and Syria have been "the most tolerant
in the region toward Iraqis."
Saudi Arabia is building a $7 billion high-tech barrier on its Iraq border
to keep Iraqis out, while Kuwait "is categorically rejecting Iraqi asylum
seekers," HRW said in a briefing paper issued last April.
Egypt, which has provided sanctuary to approximately 150,000 Iraqis, has
also taken steps to stem the arrival of new refugees, HRW said. Early last
January, authorities began imposing highly restrictive new procedures for
Iraqis attempting to enter Egypt. Since Egypt has no diplomatic mission to
Baghdad, it requires Iraqis to get to the Egyptian consulates in Damascus or
Amman, ensuring a drop in applications owing to the difficulties Iraqis have
of getting to Syria or Jordan.
While there is an urgent need for greater humanitarian assistance, Oxfam and
NCCI believe "that ending the conflict must be the top priority for everyone
involved in Iraq," the two organizations said in their July 30th press
statement, "Iraqi government and multi-national forces must also ensure
their troops respect their moral and legal obligations not to harm civilians
and their property."
That's a polite way to say "stop the killing." An estimated 78,000 Iraqi
civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes in Iraq, as the U.S.
military seeks to hold down infantry casualties engaging in ground combat.
At today's news conference, NCCI and Oxfam will call on the Iraqi government
to extend food parcel distribution, increase emergency cash payments, and
back up local aid organizations. They'll ask the central government to
delegate more authority to local governments to deliver the aid and for
foreign governments, including the US and UK, to support Iraqi ministries in
the relief effort.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Mr. Bush, who is served three square meals a
day and has no difficulty turning on the lights or getting running water and
is in no danger from suicide bombers or aerial strikes or IEDs, continues to
focus on how to defeat "terrorists" in Iraq, with nary a word about the
"humanitarian crisis." If his "management" of the war has been a disaster,
his effort to rescue Iraq's suffering millions has been a calamity. If
Americans will not impeach this tyrant, they do not deserve even the few
remaining freedoms he has not taken from their grasp.
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Sherwood Ross
Created Jul 30 2007 - 8:20am
If George Bush were to fall to his knees and weep bitter tears of penance
for the rest of his life over the ruin and suffering he has visited upon the
people of Iraq, he would not live long enough to expatiate his crimes, even
if he lived forever.
Not only have more than 600,000 Iraqis been slaughtered by the illegal war
he has inflicted upon that nation, but his invasion has so corrupted its
polity, so devastated its infrastructure, so corroded the opportunity for
leading an ordinary, peaceful life, that Iraq's people are unquestionably
worse off under the chaotic "democracy" Mr. Bush has imposed upon them than
they ever were under the cruel tyranny of Saddam Hussein. Yes, George Bush
is probably the only man on the planet who could make Saddam Hussein look
good.
Today, July 30th, Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq(NCCI)
will hold a news conference in the Hyatt Amman Hotel in Jordan to issue a
report detailing how the violence in Iraq "is overshadowing a humanitarian
crisis," with one-third of a nation, some eight million souls, "in need of
emergency aid." Here's what their report will say:
# Two million Iraqis have fled their homeland, becoming refugees, mainly in
Syria and Jordan. In short, they have voted with their feet to get out, as
they never did under Hussein, their departure speaking volumes about which
tyrant they preferred to live under.
# More than two million people, "mostly women and children," have been
displaced inside Iraq. (This figure may not include the imprisoned 60,000
Iraqi men scooped up in dragnet arrests by U.S. forces who were almost
universally innocent of any crimes but who have been labeled "terrorists" to
justify the White House war.)
# Seventy percent of Iraqis are without adequate water supplies, compared to
50 percent in 2003, the year Mr. Bush, who knew better than the impartial UN
inspectors, took it upon himself to destroy Hussein's WMD that threatened to
incinerate America. The water shortage, by the way, like the sputtering
electrical system, undercuts Mr. Bush's boast a few years back to make
Iraq's infrastructure the finest in the Middle East. Instead, Dr. Saad
Eskander, director of Iraq's National Library and Archive in Baghdad, told
the New York Times last February 7th about his Internet diary, "I feared
that people would not believe what I would say about daily life and the
state of total chaos and destruction prevailing in Baghdad."
And speaking of infrastructure, The Times recently reported Iraqi
authorities have been refusing to accept shoddy and crumbling construction
projects from U.S. contractors. Back to the new report.
# Four million Iraqis regularly cannot buy enough to eat. And a third more
children are malnourished today than before Mr. Bush struck. "Malnutrition
among children has dramatically increased and basic services, ruined by
years of war and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people," said
Barbara Stocking, director of Oxfam Great Britain.
While the White House has refused to open the doors of sanctuary in America
to any appreciable number of Iraqis (seven thousand?), Syria, which has
already taken in more than 1 million Iraqi refugees, has, not surprisingly,
slammed its doors shut, according to Human Rights Watch, a non-profit
watchdog agency said in a report of its own.
"The United States and UK bear a particular responsibility to help people
displaced in and out of Iraq," said Bill Frelick, HRW refugee policy
director last April. "They undertook a war that has directly caused
thousands of deaths, widespread fear and suffering, and forced displacement.
This precipitated a sectarian conflict that has caused additional violence,
persecution, and displacement on a massive scale."
Frelick says Jordan and Egypt "have pretty much closed their doors to Iraqi
refugees, while Syria is shutting out Palestinians trying to flee Iraq." HRW
made the point, however, that Jordan and Syria have been "the most tolerant
in the region toward Iraqis."
Saudi Arabia is building a $7 billion high-tech barrier on its Iraq border
to keep Iraqis out, while Kuwait "is categorically rejecting Iraqi asylum
seekers," HRW said in a briefing paper issued last April.
Egypt, which has provided sanctuary to approximately 150,000 Iraqis, has
also taken steps to stem the arrival of new refugees, HRW said. Early last
January, authorities began imposing highly restrictive new procedures for
Iraqis attempting to enter Egypt. Since Egypt has no diplomatic mission to
Baghdad, it requires Iraqis to get to the Egyptian consulates in Damascus or
Amman, ensuring a drop in applications owing to the difficulties Iraqis have
of getting to Syria or Jordan.
While there is an urgent need for greater humanitarian assistance, Oxfam and
NCCI believe "that ending the conflict must be the top priority for everyone
involved in Iraq," the two organizations said in their July 30th press
statement, "Iraqi government and multi-national forces must also ensure
their troops respect their moral and legal obligations not to harm civilians
and their property."
That's a polite way to say "stop the killing." An estimated 78,000 Iraqi
civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes in Iraq, as the U.S.
military seeks to hold down infantry casualties engaging in ground combat.
At today's news conference, NCCI and Oxfam will call on the Iraqi government
to extend food parcel distribution, increase emergency cash payments, and
back up local aid organizations. They'll ask the central government to
delegate more authority to local governments to deliver the aid and for
foreign governments, including the US and UK, to support Iraqi ministries in
the relief effort.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Mr. Bush, who is served three square meals a
day and has no difficulty turning on the lights or getting running water and
is in no danger from suicide bombers or aerial strikes or IEDs, continues to
focus on how to defeat "terrorists" in Iraq, with nary a word about the
"humanitarian crisis." If his "management" of the war has been a disaster,
his effort to rescue Iraq's suffering millions has been a calamity. If
Americans will not impeach this tyrant, they do not deserve even the few
remaining freedoms he has not taken from their grasp.
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
