wfn.org | Lack of security threatens citizens, relief groups in Iraq

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

May 23, 2003  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn. 
10-71BI{294}
 
By Guy Hovey*

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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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org