The following information is from three highly esteemed Iraqi
professional people. Their lives are in danger. Two people’s names and
professions have, by request, thus been withheld.
ONE: "There is no way out of this 'Camp Iraq.’ "
Iraq is worse than during sanctions …
"By
February 2006, 224 (health professionals) had been killed. 1000 had
left the country. Since February, I personally know six more highly
specialised doctors who have been killed … Many in medical training
have also left Iraq … Post graduate studies have closed down because of
lack of teaching staff. So a (generation) gap has been created.
Experienced doctors are unable to pass on their experience to new
doctors … Specialised health services have declined.
The airport
road used to be a lovely area, with trees and roses. Families used to
go there for picnics. An American soldier threw a stone at me because I
didn’t stop. My architect friend was killed – shot dead on this road by
Americans. If you don’t stop, the Americans will shoot you …
The US kill civilians and blame the resistance …
A
doctor friend of mine was shot in front of his home by Americans. There
was no apology. Why have doctors been killed – some by Americans? Some
are kidnapped. In Fallujah, why did the Americans go inside the
operating theatre and kill? Why go to a house at night? At 2 AM, there
were helicopters and bombs. He was a neighbour of mine. His name was
Riad Khammal.
A child runs to his mother when he hears a helicopter. A child is now afraid of helicopters …
Once a bullet came into my office, towards me, but it hit the metal on the window…
Omar
Salem Khattab, a urology surgeon, was taken by the US - trained Iraqi
police and National Guard when he was trying to help people in a bomb
blast. He was taken away for detention. I went to ask about him. The
doctor had been abused and hit. He was released. He left Iraq …
There
is a difference in the study of history. In the West, one learned a
little about western history, but nothing about the rest of the world.
In our country, we studied the history of Europe and of the world.
Education
had been free since Saddam. Books were free. It was compulsory for
children to go to school until 1993. Literacy was compulsory for
everyone who didn’t know how to read or write, no matter how old they
were. Before the Gulf War, 92% of the children attended school. And
now? The schools are closed; 362 schools are closed in Baghdad because
of the difficult situation. Dijula school was bombed. Children are not
going to school. People are afraid … I have a daughter. It is dangerous
for her to go out.
There is poverty. The children are outside,
begging. Begging is greater than in the '70s or '80s. There is
malnutrition. Iraqi people want to eat just like all other people.
Why
destroy the electricity, water supply, waste product system? … The aim
is the complete destruction of Iraqi society … The healthy aspects of
home life have disappeared. There is no water, no electricity. There
are no drugs in the hospitals; no theatre gloves. Hospitals need to be
renewed. They were destroyed in the sanctions, and now we can’t renew
them. Twice my hospital has been destroyed – first in 1991, when it
then took two years to rebuild; and again in 2003, it was destroyed
when an American bomb hit the building beside the hospital, causing the
hospital roof to collapse. The hospital needed to be renewed again, but
there was no money - and there was the occupation. The hospital was out
of action for 8 months. Now, the generator is sometimes not working.
This is a danger to the patient during an operation, as the generator
has to be worked by hand.
It is difficult and frustrating for a
patient to go to hospital. There are bombs, no oxygen, no drugs, can’t
do surgery. In the private sector, it is better.
Those inside the wire are not like those outside the wire. We need courageous men inside the wire.
Do
you fight, or do you negotiate? If you negotiate, will you not be
killed anyway? How can you say 'fight’ when are also speaking for the
children, who will be killed?
There is no way out of this 'Camp Iraq.’
The
US should announce that their forces will go out by – X - this date.
And on this date, the UN should move the security forces to Iraq, so no
one can then criticize anyone."
TWO: Heart of Darkness
Another
Iraqi source told me that there is a DU (Depleted Uranium) project in
Baghdad supported by the University of (!) Texas. "Congenital
abnormalities and stillborn children increased five-fold during the
90s, particularly in the Basra region … DU is killing thousands …
Cancer increased 1 year after the bombing in Basra; there were 460
cases that year."
My source suffers from "bad memories – first
from the severe sanctions, then war and imprisonment in a 3x3m cell,
now with the occupation.
It is a long pain, an interruption of
peaceful living. … To live under occupation is Hell. We have elusive
enemies we do not know. We don’t know why they are targeting us …
Many academics had senior posts; for example, they were the head of a department.
Academics
have been subjected to four types of hassle. First, to being
interrogated and detained, right after the war. This was due to an
accusation of participating in the (non-existent) WMD secret programme.
Detention was from a few days to three years. Two women scientists, Dr.
Huda Amash and Dr. Rehab Taha, were only recently released after
confirmation that there was no such secret programme.
The second
hassle is that many have been subjected to 'de-Baathification.’
Hundreds were fired from their jobs because they were members of the
Baath party, although all of them were seniors in different scientific
fields.
The third problem is having to endure threats and
intimidation by students who are motivated by different political and
sectarian parties. Academics receive threatening letters, asking them
to leave the institute and the country. Or they find a bullet in their
letterbox. Some letters are written by students who are not doing well
– a kind of blackmail – but we cannot take chances.
The forth
problem is the assassination list. Those who are still alive try and
survive in the heart of danger – the heart of darkness. Many are trying
to leave Iraq.
Iraq is very chaotic … The academics need
temporary jobs or fellowships to get them away from the risks. They are
the treasures of Iraq. The heart of darkness is overshadowing them."
I ask: And if the US leaves Iraq?
"America
is the germ. We need to flush the germ out. The symptoms can then be
treated and relieved. Then we can restore our living."
THREE: "We need international support"
 Eman Khamas. Photo by Sarah Meyer
Eman says:
"With
every dead man, woman and child, Iraq is killed anew. The bombing
continues to this minute. The US bombs hospitals, and bury the people
under the rubble. Schools are bombed and destroyed. Every time, all
Iraqi’s rights are violated.
It is criminal to kill thousands of
people because there are a few individual criminals. Almost 300,000
Iraqis have been killed in the last 3 years. 1,400 Iraqi civilians were
killed in the last month.
Students cannot go to school.
Professors cannot go to school. Many girls do not go to school. It is
dangerous for girls. The roads are closed, or there is a curfew, or
bombs, or suicide bombing. People have to walk for miles to get to
their school. For some, it is a two-hour, dangerous walk ... We had a
demonstration under the window of the dean of a university. He wouldn’t
look out the window …
We have never had this phenomena in the
past – only since the occupation. 224 (health professionals) have been
killed. 1000 are in exile. The only thing these people have in common
is that they are Iraqi and intellectual. If they are in jail, they are
tortured, released, and then they disappear … People are assassinated
by Americans and insurgents. We don’t know who they are. There are
lists on the wall of people who are going to be killed – so these
people leave Iraq. They are afraid of retaliation. People are
threatened either by being accused by the occupation or by those who
are giving information to the occupation. If one talks about the
occupation, one is fired. It is dangerous to talk about the occupation.
The
United States and the United Kingdom have programmes. There is
collaboration. They are only interested in scientists with certain
qualifications. They want to ensure those scientists stay in the
country, and not to go to the 'Axis of Evil’ countries. They say, 'come
attend a workshop in Jordan,’ for example. There are 'trainers.’ They
might organise something for environmental health, for example, in Oman.
There is no information from any institution. They are not allowed to give information to journalists …
What
is the future of Iraq under occupation? The killing is done by the
militias – political militias, using the religious emotions of the
Iraqi people to gain power. The US know they can do this and get away
with it. There are no official Iraqi investigations. The people in
government are behind this killing …
What about the families of those who have been assassinated?
Displacement,
too, is a problem because of the bombing and fear. These people need
everything. They cannot wait. They need help NOW. There are widows,
orphans. They have no financial help. Their husbands have been killed
or are in jail. There are homeless families, living in tents or in
unsafe structures. There is a problem with a shortage of medicines. The
US apologises for bombing hospitals, but this means nothing.
We
need to work to educate people. It is the right of any people to resist
occupation. Iraqis have resisted because of the killing of civilians –
the bombing of cities. Mainstream Media does not understand the urgency
… The US and Mainstream Media concentrate on political success,
elections, democracy. All of this is irrelevant to the Iraqi people.
The
occupation is responsible for everything that happens. What happens are
the symptoms. The occupation is the disease. The occupation works on
division. The issue they are working on now is civil war. We have never
had civil war in our history. Because the occupation is in Iraq, there
is violence. The US says that Iraqis are not capable. This is a lie.
There are many Iraqis who are capable, given a chance.
We need
international support for the Iraqi intellectuals … I have a
recommendation … to call for Spanish universities and then to the
International Federation of World Universities and the Association of
Arab Universities, and ask them to raise the issue in regular meetings
… Scientists are national treasures.
+
The Dead and Homeless
Refugees. The number of Iraqi refugees is up for grabs. The Displacement and Migration Ministry said two weeks ago that the number of refugees was about 60,000. A 28.04.06 Reuters article quotes the Iraqi vice president as recently saying that there are around 1/2 million refugees.
The number of widows in Iraq is increasing. There is a rising number of orphans
Murdered Academics & Doctors.
On 01.06, The Washington Post reported on the Exodus of Iraqi educated professionals.
The
Iraqi Minister of Health has just declared that "220 health
professionals" have been assassinated. Approximately 190 academics have
been murdered. See the BRussels Tribunal list, report and Madrid
conference resolution here. The Spanish website CEOSI, (Statewide Campaign to End the Occupation and Restore the Sovereignty of Iraq) has further details.
The
BRussels Tribunal needs help from the Iraqi people themselves to
substantiate the number of doctors and academics killed, when, and how.
The dead are victims of war crimes.
Murdered Journalists.
Reporters without Borders
says that 88 journalists and media assistants have been killed since
the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003. Two are still missing. To
put this in perspective, "around 63 journalists were killed in Vietnam
during the 20 years from 1955 to 1975." Read their March ’06 report,
Three Years of Slaughter, here.
Dead Iraqi Civilians.
The Iraq Body Count, 38,661 killed, appears to be incorrect. Mr. Sloboda has tried to defend his figures. Both Media Lens and Gabriele Zamparini at The Cat’s Dream have disputed the Iraq Body Count figures, backed by evidence. William Bowles does not find Mr Sloboda’s Newsnight defense convincing.
In 2004, The Lancet, a UK medical journal, wrote a report, Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey. This report said there were approximately 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians.
The
estimated number of civilian dead now is estimated at between 250,000 -
300,000+. Iraqis are afraid to go to the police if a relative has been
killed.
Suicide Bombers.
There
have been rumours that in Iraq, the US secretly puts bombs in cars and
then sets them off from a helicopter. These rumours are now becoming
more substantiated. See The Independent, 29.04.06, Robert Fisk
+
The url for Iraq: The Occupation is a Disease is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/05/iraq-occupation-is-disease.html
Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK.
Her email is: sarahmeyer@freedom255.com
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