9 April 2004, Rick McDowell, American Friends Service Committee
Today, April 9, is the one-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. Today is the anniversary of a failed U.S. policy of economic sanctions, preemptive war, and occupation. As you travel the streets, Iraqis are quick to point out that the war never ended and that the majority of Iraq’s 25 million people have been denied any perceptible benefits of occupation.
Iraqis line up to give blood and food for the civilians of Fallujah and other besieged cities, while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reports shortages of medical staff, surgical equipment, oxygen, blood bags, and food supplies for Fallujah’s hospital. There are unconfirmed reports that the bridge leading to the hospital has been closed by U.S. forces, denying access for Ministry of Health staff. Clinics have reportedly been set up at the side of the bridge to respond to growing numbers of casualties.
Muqtada al-Sadr, the young firebrand Shiite cleric and leader of the armed revolt, is nothing if not a product of the calamity of internationally imposed sanctions against Iraq.
Sanctions served as a weapon, striking at the heart of Iraq’s families. They isolated a generation by depriving them of an education and cutting off the flow of books and technology. This 13-year policy lay siege to hopes and dreams, and produced a culture of dependence on the powers that be. The era of sanctions led to nutritionally substandard diets, a health care crisis, diminished United Nations credibility, and a strengthened Baathist regime. After years of suffering, Iraqis tell us they recognize neither themselves nor their beloved country.
Young and old alike now appear as suspects to the occupier, who unilaterally invaded their country on the pretense of weapons of mass destruction and stood by as the ministries were sacked and the infrastructure destroyed. This occupier has failed to gain the trust of the Iraqi people and failed to provide security or restore basic services and functioning government ministries. The occupier flouts the rule of law and democracy, imprisoning thousands of Iraqis without due process and imposing collective punishment on thousands more; it refuses to hold its military forces accountable for their actions, and introduces laws that benefit U.S. interests at the expense of Iraq and her people.
This occupier has failed to give the Iraqi people a place at the table or the space to determine their own future. Contracts are routinely awarded to international corporations rather than Iraqi corporations and ministries. Ill trained and ill equipped Iraqi police receive $120 a month, while U.S., British, and South African security personnel receive $36,000 a month. The occupier’s actions have served to empower a fringe Shiite cleric, in a country where the masses beg for justice, peace, and a future for their children.
We recently returned from the U.S. to our friends and neighbors in Baghdad. We found them overwhelmed by sadness, frustration, and anger at the failed occupation, at Ambassador Paul Bremer and the U.S. administration.
We returned to people whose daily struggle is made harder by the increasing absence of hope. The violence of the past days has frightened and overwhelmed the many Iraqis we’ve spoken with. Perhaps the violence is the culmination of war, sanctions, a brutal regime, and a failed occupation. Regardless, Iraq is in chaos and the future looks increasingly foreboding.
Hundreds of Iraqis are dying alongside scores of American and coalition forces, with no end in sight. Muqtada al-Sadr could be the catalyst that thrusts this country and its estimated 200 militias into further action against the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the coalition forces. The stakes are high, as parties vie for power in an increasingly polarized country. The future could realize everyone’s worst nightmare: civil war.
Even some Iraqis who believe that the perpetrators of the brutal murder of four U.S. security personnel in Fallujah should be brought to justice, question why the U.S. military responded with its full might, placing Fallujah’s civilian population in peril.
The current violence and killing didn’t need to happen. It has much to do with the arrogance of power and the CPA’s refusal to place Iraqi interests above its own. History will judge the merits of the U.S. decision to invade and occupy Iraq and Mr. al-Sadr’s call to arms. The Iraqi people don’t have time on their side or the luxury of judgment, as the struggle for daily life intensifies. If the dogs of war are let loose, Iraq could quickly realize the nightmare scenarios that failed to materialize one year ago.
Concerned friends have asked us why we came back. We tell them that we chose to return because we had work to complete. We returned with the understanding that our days, along with others’ in the international relief community, could be numbered. Like most Iraqis, we cannot decide to leave right now, since the Baghdad-to-Amman road is closed and air-service is fully booked for the next week or so.
This is not the time for us to concede to rhetoric or suspend action, waiting for a brighter day. We can’t give up on Iraq’s people and her families, lest we give up on our own families and ourselves. We must demand the immediate empowerment of the United Nations to assume the responsibility of the failed CPA. We must demand accountability and transparency from members of Congress and the Bush administration. We must work and pray for peace.
As bombs explode in the distance, life goes on. While I write, two neighborhood girls come to our door with flowers for Mary. They sit together on our doorstep and draw pictures. Minutes later, our dear friend Abas, who served 17 years as a conscript in Saddam’s army (fighting in the Iran War and the Gulf War) appears with his son Yasir and proceeds to cook our evening meal.
I met an Iraqi woman yesterday who had just returned, after many years in exile, to work for an Iraqi non-governmental women’s organization. I asked her if she is planning to stay. She said she had no choice, if Iraq is to move beyond the reach of radical elements and into a future.
