Lack of security threatens citizens, relief groups in Iraq
5/23/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.
By Guy Hovey*
The
burned-out hulk of an Iraqi tank litters the street in Baghdad, Iraq.
Aid workers say a lack of security is affecting relief efforts. The
United Methodist Committee on Relief, a member of Action by Churches
Together, is working in Iraq through its ecumenical partners. A UMNS
photo by Guy Hovey, UMCOR - ACT International. Photo number 03-192,
Accompanies UMNS #294, 5/27/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Children
play on an abandoned Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery gun in Kirkuk, Iraq.
Aid workers say a lack of security is affecting relief efforts. The
United Methodist Committee on Relief, a member of Action by Churches
Together, is working in Iraq through its ecumenical partners. A UMNS
photo by Guy Hovey, UMCOR - ACT International. Photo number 03-190,
Accompanies UMNS #294, 5/27/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Children
of families returning to Kirkuk, Iraq, play in the street. Aid workers
say a lack of security is affecting relief efforts. The United Methodist
Committee on Relief, a member of Action by Churches Together, is
working in Iraq through its ecumenical partners. A UMNS photo by Guy
Hovey, UMCOR - ACT International. Photo number 03-191, Accompanies UMNS
#294, 5/27/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
BAGHDAD, Iraq (UMNS) - Dr. Abdul Heelo and his
staff have no idea why a U.S. Abrams tank crashed through the wall of
the Al Rashid psychiatric hospital during the fall of Baghdad.
They
are sure, however, of what happened afterward. A large group of
looters, taking advantage of opportunities provided by the fighting,
poured in through the gap left by the tank. They raped 10 female
patients, stole equipment and destroyed much of the building and its
records, leaving the hospital incapable of providing care.
The
violence at the Al Rashid hospital is just one example of how Iraqi
society is breaking down in the post-Saddam power vacuum. In the
streets, markets, hospitals and places of worship, everyone asks: When
will the Americans bring security?
Many people say security has
deteriorated as criminals have become used to coalition forces and have
learned work around them in the weeks following the fall of Saddam
Hussein's regime. U.S. troops now guard many public buildings, but many
say it's too late - the looters have already struck. Gunfire usually
breaks out at night as gangs of looters fight each other while trying to
avoid U.S. Army patrols. The fruits of the looters' activities can be
seen on sale in the markets around Baghdad in the morning.
The
destruction of public administration buildings means that civil servants
- the people who run the systems - have nowhere to work. Being ex-Baath
Party members also means their future is uncertain.
Hospitals
and medical centers, such as the Mansur Hospital in Baghdad, have run
out of many drugs, although the city does have stocks of medicine. The
drugs are in one of the six medical warehouses that have survived the
war and looting, but systems no longer exist for requesting them,
processing orders and delivery. Doctors try and set up ad hoc
arrangements but are fighting a losing battle.
Several members
of the Action by Churches Together network as well as partners are
helping the institutions, but relief workers say what is needed most is a
functioning government. The United Methodist Committee on Relief, a
member of ACT, is working in Iraq through its ecumenical partners.
ACT
member Diakonie Austria has helped ease the burden with a shipment of
medicines, which was brought in by a Middle East Council of Churches
convoy and then distributed to hospitals in the Baghdad area.
Institutions that benefited included the Al Kinder hospital, which had
been attacked by looters several times and is now being protected by
armed members of the community. The hospital's wards are full of people
wounded during and after the war. The hospital is typical of many,
having lost much of its equipment to looters. Yet the staff continues
its work, despite the personal danger.
A health worker who did
not want to be named said he was grateful to Diakonie Austria for the
medicine. "I don't know what we would have done (without it)," he said.
"We had run out of antibiotics and anesthetics, as well as basic health
care items."
This was reinforced by Djeba Hamid Shah, who was
shot during the confused fighting in his neighborhood. "When I came to
the hospital, I was losing a lot of blood, and the doctors stabilized
me," he said. However, the drugs that he needed soon ran out, and he
began to weaken as his wounds became infected. "Whoever brought the
medicines have saved my life, and I thank them and God," he said.
The
news is not all bad. Rehana Kirthisingha of Christian Aid, a member
organization of ACT, said that after the collapse of the regime, water
ministry workers in Kirkuk returned to their posts and received back at
least half of the equipment that had been looted from the water and
sewerage plants. Many communities in Baghdad have organized themselves
into self-help groups, and a feeling of community solidarity is evident.
Religious divides in some areas have been crossed for the common good.
A
Catholic Chaldean priest in New Baghdad sheltered 300 families -- both
Muslim and Christian -- in his church the night the U.S. Army entered
Baghdad. Families still come to the church compound to collect clean
water from the church well while supplies to their own homes continue to
be disrupted. The good interfaith relations have been strengthened by
the common hardship the communities are experiencing.
United
Methodists can help through donations to UMCOR, earmarked for the Iraq
Emergency Advance No. 623225-4. Checks may be dropped in local church
collection plates or mailed directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room
330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling
(800) 554-8583. # # # *Hovey works for the United Methodist
Committee on Relief and is a credentialed correspondent for United
Methodist News Service in the Middle East. He also is a field
communicator for Action by Churches Together.
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