Red Cross details 'unbearable suffering' of Iraqi civilians
Pastor Dale Morgan
Red Cross details 'unbearable suffering' of Iraqi civilians*
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Wednesday April 11, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Iraqi civilians are experiencing "immense suffering" because of a
"disastrous" security situation, deepening poverty and a worsening
humanitarian crisis, according to a report by the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
The ICRC also sees no sign that the US-led security "surge" in Baghdad
is bringing relief to the capital, while hospitals struggle to cope with
mass casualties as malnutrition as well as power and water shortages
become more frequent across the country.
"The suffering Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is
unbearable and unacceptable," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of
operations for the organisation, said at the group's Geneva headquarters.
The report, Civilians without Protection, provides a grim snapshot of
the situation in Iraq but will carry special weight thanks to the ICRC's
reputation as the scrupulously neutral "silent service" of international
humanitarian work. It maintains a presence in Baghdad despite the
bombing of its offices in 2003, and works closely with the Iraqi Red
Crescent.
The report says that more than 100,000 families have been forced to
leave their homes in the past year because of the shootings, bombings,
abductions, murders and military operations.
"Every day dozens of people are killed and many more wounded," it says.
"The plight of Iraqi civilians is a daily reminder of the fact that
there has long been a failure to respect their lives and dignity."
Saad, a humanitarian worker, is quoted as recalling the scene after a
bomb blast: "I saw a four-year-old boy sitting beside his mother's body,
which had been decapitated by the explosion. He was talking to her,
asking her what had happened."
The report quotes a woman as saying: "If there's anything anybody could
do that would really help us, it would be to help collect the bodies
that line the streets in front of our homes every morning and that we
find nobody dares touch or remove." It was "simply unbearable" to face
them every morning on the way to school.
Medical services are in dire straits, with many health workers fleeing
the country after the deaths or abductions of colleagues. At Baghdad's
al-Kindi hospital only 40 of the 208 surgeons who used to work there are
now still on duty.