AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Iraq: Why the coalition war for minds and hearts is being lost.
(From Irish Independent)
Two images on television this week were equally shocking. The first was thecarnage at the Baghdad headquarters of the previously inviolate Red Cross. The second was of George Bush, still mouthing his platitudes about victory against the terrorists.
As a recently-returned aid volunteer in Iraq, I was infinitely saddened by the pictures ofchaos amid the smouldering rubble and collapsing buildings at the Red Cross HQ. It wasa bitter irony that an ambulance packed with explosives blew up the building. In the spaceof just one hour on Monday, four suicide bombers killed 34 people and injured 224 asIraq's guerrilla war entered a chilling new phase.
Sniper shootings, car and even suicide bombings are par for the course. However, to target an international aid agency like the Red Cross takes fighting to a new,unprecedented level. Of all aid agencies in the world including the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is synonymous with principles ofimpartiality and independence.
Their dogged neutrality is central to their beliefs and work which does not always makethem popular among the aid community. They have worked in Iraq since 1980 and upuntil Monday, have been untouchable. To choose this particular organisation as alegitimate target sends out a clear message. Any aid agency working in Iraq is fair game.
After the bombings, with the inevitability of a new dawn, President Bush appeared on ourscreen. He said of the bombers: "They hate freedom. They love terror." The naivety with which he views his role in Iraq would almost be touching if it weren't so tragic. What didhe think would happen when his armies succeeded in deposing Saddam?
No weapons of mass destruction have been found and the Senate is breathing down his neck but to admit now to a staggering miscalculation of judgment would be political suicide. Withdrawal doesn't seem to be an option. So much for vanquishing the ghosts of Vietnam and making the old man proud.
- Red Cross' Partial Pullout from Iraq Will Hurt Searches for Missing Relatives.
- Newspaper article from: San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, California) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News) October 31, 2003 700+ words
...Maureen Fan Oct. 31--BAGHDAD, Iraq--The partial pullout from Iraq by the Red Cross is a devastating blow to Iraqi families...hospitals and food and water. The Red Cross had about 100 foreign workers in Iraq in April but reduced the number...
- Why were we targeted by bombers in Iraq? Maybe the Red Cross emblem has lost...
- Newspaper article from: The Evening Standard (London, England) January 12, 2004 700+ words
...volunteers. The world needs the Red Cross more than it ever did. Q: How...Overseas, the work that the Red Cross movement did in Iraq - supported, for example, by...incredibly sympathetic when the Red Cross building in Baghdad was bombed...
- HOME-FRONT BACKING RED CROSS COLLECTING GIFTS FOR SERVICE MEMBERS IN IRAQ.(News)
- Newspaper article from: Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) March 27, 2003 700+ words
...military personnel in Iraq under a weeklong local Red Cross collection drive...blend - to troops in Iraq, when workers read...the Antelope Valley Red Cross drive. ``We were...military personnel in Iraq. (3) Red Cross official Fran Stewart...
- IRAQ SAYS IT'S SET TO EXCHANGE POWS RED CROSS WANTS NAMES.(Main)
- Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY) March 3, 1991 700+ words
...Associated Press Iraq has advised the International Committee of the Red Cross that it is ready...its captured, a Red Cross spokesman said Saturday. Iraq also said any exchange...Montmollin of the Red Cross. Both Iraq's demand for reciprocity...
- The American Red Cross and TransCore Team to Provide U.S. Service Members in...
- Press release article from: Business Wire December 14, 2007 700+ words
...donation to the American Red Cross[R]. The funds will...American troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait...Forces at the American Red Cross. "Enabling service members...member through the American Red Cross and others. The Red Cross...
- Red Cross refuses more comfort items for troops in Iraq; Cites security...
- Newspaper article from: The Washington Times April 10, 2003 700+ words
...TIMES The American Red Cross swamped by donations...to aid troops in Iraq, and doubtful about...said American Red Cross Vice President Sue...already is bound for Iraq, including 5,000 phone cards, said Red Cross spokesman Stacey...
- Terrorists Strike Red Cross Headquarters, Police Stations in Baghdad, Iraq.
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News October 28, 2003 700+ words
...pieces for destroying the Red Cross. They are here to help us." The number of Red Cross personnel in Iraq had already been reduced...body's top envoy in Iraq. "We have been here...said Nada Doumani, a Red Cross spokeswoman. "We do...
- Iraq War: Red Cross respite: First medical convoy arrives at outskirts of...
- Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England) April 5, 2003 700+ words
...road to the southern Iraq city of Basra waves...Committee of the Red Cross. Two trucks packed...Aid at the British Red Cross, said that despite...weeks of fighting the Red Cross is still managing to work in many areas of Iraq, getting crucial...
